Argan oil offers women economic opportunities in rural Morocco

Argan oil offers women economic opportunities in rural Morocco

TAROUDANT, Morocco – In the arid mountains of southern Morocco, local women harvest argan oil, a natural product they have long used in cooking but which has become highly-prized by the global beauty industry as an anti-aging skin treatment and restorative for hair.

Most argan oil is produced by local cooperatives of Amazigh-speaking Berber women around the cities of Agadir, Essaouira and Taroudant where the argan tree, which bears a small green fruit resembling an olive, is common.

For centuries the oil, among the most expensive in the world, has been extracted by drying argan fruit in the sun, peeling and mashing the fruit then crushing and grinding the kernel with stones.