Co-operative
One casualty was Sidi Yassine, a family-owned company that had been going since 2003. They exported their products mainly to Europe, but CEO Ulysse Müller says the decline in fruit production caused by the drought, coupled with increasing demands from some buyers meant “it cost us more to work than to close.”
“We only earn when we work,” says Zoya* who works for another co-operative, a short drive from Essaouira. She explains that members have no social security and are not reimbursed for health costs.
She has received part of the profit share just three times, the most recent in 2014, and each time a smaller sum. There are some months she doesn’t get paid at all, “but I continue to work because I want to keep the co-operative alive.”
Today, many co-operatives rely on visits from foreign tourists. You don’t have to drive far in the Sous Valley before seeing the signs welcoming drivers to visit one of them. The argan produced here is generally sold locally and all have small shops or sales rooms. A lucky few are stop-offs on the tourist trail.
In Cooperative Marjana the staff mobilise as a couple of minivans pull up outside. The first queue forms by the new toilet block – this co-operative knows its market.
State-of-the-art
The tourists are then shown the room where the women are crushing the nuts. Next it is the sales room for tea, bread and amlou (a local spread made of argan oil, almonds and honey) and a talk about argan’s myriad health benefits.
The wallets come out and for a few minutes the cash register rings up sales. Then the tourists pile back onto the minivans and head-off.
Fatiha, the co-operative’s manager, puts their success down to their reputation, location and the quality of the oil, “that makes the difference compared to other co-operatives that are struggling. This is reflected in the payment and profit share for the women.”
A version of this scene appears in most of the big companies’ marketing material, be it for cosmetics, cooking oil or the tourist trips. This is UNESCO’s cultural heritage packaged up to give a product its authenticity.
The reality is that much of the oil sold internationally today is produced in state-of-the-art facilities, sometimes not even in Morocco.
Kernels
The result is “that all the added value goes abroad,” says Omar Agodim, a project manager at the United Nations Development Programme. When it comes to buying the fruit, “large industrialists have great purchasing power. With their strength, they can influence prices.”
If things are difficult for the co-operatives, they are even harder for those women outside the system.
Locals in the village call it the ‘house with the yellow door’. Inside is a large, sparsely furnished living space. Rugs cover part of the floor and cushions are propped against the wall.
To the right lies a large and small stone, a basket of fruit and one of kernels. This is where Aïcha, a Berber woman, crushes the nuts.
She would like to work in a co-operative and talks about setting one up in the village. But for now, she sells the kernels directly to a wholesaler who pays 80 dirhams (around €7.50) for five kilos of almonds – crushing half a kilo would take one day of continuous work.
Gift
They used to be able to sell argan oil, which commands a higher price, but issues of trust about the purity of the oil means it is no longer sold in the souk – another way market forces now work against the women.
The reality is that the bulk of the value is being added outside of Morocco with profits mainly going to companies overseas.
Meanwhile, the women, the custodians of the knowledge of the tree and the oil that UNESCO thinks so highly of are increasingly pushed to the margins.
Aicha’s friend and neighbour sums it up: “Since we were young, we have always worked with argan oil at home. Our grandmothers used to make it. But today, we no longer give it as a gift, we no longer eat it, and we no longer sell it.
“All we have left of argan is the smell!”
These Authors
Juliet Ferguson, Julie Chaudier and Alice Facchini are reporters with Investigate Europe, a non-profit journalism collective producing cross-border investigations across the continent. This project was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.