Early March, I stumbled upon an article by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) dealing with the successful socio-economical impact of a food cooperative in Morocco. Aside from being an overall interesting article, it caught my interest because it was about the “magical” argan oil and about the very definition of fair trade, if I may say so.

Moroccan women gather in cooperative to extract the coveted oil from argan seeds.

To access social dignity and economic integration, local women in the arid Southwest Essaouira region of Morocco founded a female-exclusive cooperation to capitalize on their “liquid gold’s” know-how. Besides generating income for poor women, the cooperation contributes to environment protection since its members help replant argan trees. The argan forest provides a “green curtain” against the relentless desertification. Moreover, the community is an outstanding marriage of traditional skills and progress. The difficult,  time-consuming and century-old extraction techniques have been put to sustainable economic use. The tree has medicinal properties, its oil both nourishes and beautifies and the final argan oil product is being sold on their own website and throughout the world.

The techniques of argan oil extraction are ancestral

There you have an inspiring illustration of successful local community involvement that actually goes beyond fair trade and helps the economic activity to take off while protecting the environment. We are proud to carry argan oil and promote their business.