Argan Oil Women's Cooperative
On our way to Essaouira, we had the opportunity to stop at a women's cooperative and learn about argan products. When booking our trip, I was excited about the chance to see a social enterprise in action, one that benefited women in the local community. I had read about initiatives to protect traditional argan harvesting practices, to regrow argan trees and to empower women.
However, by this point on our tour, I had become sceptical. I assumed we were getting hustled through another well-worn tourist trap and doubted the truth of the claim "100% women-owned argan cooperative" made on the giant welcome sign.
Greeted at the bus door by a female staffer, we, along with a couple other bus loads of tourists, were taken to look at an argan tree and learn about the argan fruit. The fruit consists of a thick peel, pulp, a hard-shelled nut and one to three kernels inside.
Moving inside one of the buildings, we observed women working at a series of stations, demonstrating the traditional method of extracting the argan oil. To get at the kernels, the fruit is dried in the sun and peeled by hand. The nut is cracked on a stone, again by hand, and the kernels extracted. For cosmetic oil, the raw kernels are stone-ground and the pure oil is collected. For culinary oil, the kernels are roasted prior to being ground. The oil is decanted and the suspended solids filtered as much as possible.
Using this method yields oil that is considered organic. The products we bought were USDA Certified through ECOCERT. I would caution you to look carefully at the label and ask questions. Anyone can print organic claims on a label for a store in the backstreets of a busy medina (I don't think there's much of an organic watchdog presence).
The pulp and kernel mash are generally used as feed for cattle and goats. Speaking of goats, the other way to get at the kernels is to allow goats to eat the argan fruit right out of the tree and collect the kernels from their dung. While it would save the women some work, the kernels get a distinct goat-poopy smell which is less appealing to put on your hair, face or food. It can also lead to animal cruelty if the goats are forced to eat only argan fruit or to remain in the argan trees for too long. Or forced to stay aloft all day so tourists can take photos of the famous tree-climbing goats... Fortunately, our guide informed us of this practice, and we all made the decision not to take part in road-side photos with the argan goats.
Argan trees themselves are very important to the Moroccan environment. The deep roots and wide canopy of the trees are perfect for preventing desertification and erosion. They create great habitat for animals and help support aquifers.
Despite learning quite a bit about argan oil and traditional practices, I doubted the authenticity of the cooperative as we drove by dozens more on the highway to Essaouira. It was hard to believe there are enough local, rural women argan farming to support so many cooperatives and that there were all genuinely owned and operated by women.
Throughout the Essaouira and Marrakesh medinas we saw stores boasting "Argan Women's Cooperative" and "100% organic argan oil". These shops were invariably owned and run by men. Their product labels touted traditional and organic oil, but in speaking with one shop owner, he stated that mechanical extraction is better. It gets more oil than the oil extracted by hand and lowers his prices. He contradicted the claims made on his own product labels.
It's hard to know what is true and good. I have to believe buying from the cooperative we visited was the best chance I had of positively supporting local women's socio-economic development. They have a solid reputation and care about their workers, product and certifications. If you're interested, check out the Cooperative Marjana product website and their Facebook community.
I hope what we saw was genuine, and I have reason to believe it is. There are international organizations supporting and invested in these women's argan cooperatives, including one by the king of Morocco - the Fondation Mohamed VI pour la Recherche et la Sauvegarde de l’Arganier (Mohammed VI Foundation for Research and Protection of the Argan Tree). Growing beyond individual cooperatives, there are emerging unions of cooperatives extending through the whole argan-growing region.
If you're looking to ethically buy argan products at home or in Morocco, the best advice I can give is to ask questions. Is the shop or cooperative owned by women? How do the women benefit - wages, profit shares, both? How is this oil produced? What agency certified it as organic? I bought my argan products sight-seen at a cooperative that was able to answer my questions, giving me as much confidence in my purchase as I can get.
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