- Title: Amazigh women of Morocco produce what is known as "liquid gold"
- Date: 17th June 2021
- Summary: VARIOUS OF OLD AMAZIGH WOMAN CHECKING ARGAN SEEDS VARIOUS OF WOMAN PUTTING ARGAN SEEDS IN OIL EXTRACTION MACHINE VARIOUS OF ARGAN OIL EXTRACTION MACHINES MACHINE RELEASING CRUSHED KERNEL AFTER OIL IS SQUEEZED OUT OF IT VARIOUS OF MAN POURING ARGAN OIL INTO LARGE POT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF THE INITIATIVES FORUM FOR OASIS DEVELOPMENT OF TIOUT VILLAGE, BRAHIM ERRAMI, SA
- Embargoed: 1st July 2021 10:42
- Keywords: Argan Cosmetics Morocco women employment
- Location: TIOUT VILLAGE TAROUDANT CITY REGION / AGADIR CITY, MOROCCO
- City: TIOUT VILLAGE TAROUDANT CITY REGION / AGADIR CITY, MOROCCO
- Country: Morocco
- Topics: Africa,Arts/Culture/Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA002EHSIDEH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: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 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.
The oil was traditionally used as a flavoring and a savory dip for bread. As an ingredient it is still common in Morocco and now also exported for food.
Its use as a beauty product has created a surge in demand for the oil by international cosmetics companies.
The oil now costs around $30-50 a liter locally, but can sell on the international market in smaller high-end bottles for up to $250 a liter.
In the Tiout oasis near Taroudant (600km south of Rabat), the Taitmatine cooperative employs 100 women to produce argan oil, offering them a salary, free childcare, health insurance and literacy courses.
The cooperative, whose name in Amazigh means "sisters," was set up in 2002.
Although new machines they use to help process the fruit have helped speed up the work, the women still have to remove the hard shell of the kernels by hand by pounding it with a stone, before the inner kernel can be pressed by a machine to extract the oil.
"We work here but we also have fun and sing together," said Zahra Haqqi speaking in a room where dozens of women were grinding outer argan kernels using stones.
Haqi said the job had helped her earn a regular income. ($1 = 0.7119 pounds)
(Production: Abdelhak Belhaki, Hamuda Hassan, Muath Freij) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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