#trees #argan
ARGAN TREE
Morocco

• The Argan tree is one of the oldest trees on earth. It is believed to have grown over 80 million years ago in south Morocco. The first -written record is in the writings of the famous physician Ibn Al Baytar in the year 1219. Today Berber women still obtain argan oil by an ancient process. After the harvest from July to September the fruits are dried in the open air. A stone is then used to crack open the hard nuts and obtain the kernels. These are roasted over an open fire and ground to a pulp in a hand-driven stone mill. This is mixed with water to form a paste which the women then knead by hand to extract the Argan oil. The dried fruit pulp and the press cake left after extraction of the oil are fed to cows and sheep.

• Because of its intensive use as forage for goats and camels and as firewood, the Argan tree population was over-exploited - old trees died and no new trees grew to replace them - so that there was nothing left to prevent desertification and soil erosion. In 1998 the UNESCO therefore declared the Argan region - the Arganerie - a biosphere reserve. Since 1995 the GTZ (German Association for Technical Cooperation), commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation, has been engaged in reforestation of the Argan woodlands. A subproject within the biosphere reserve supports women’s cooperatives based on the production and marketing of Aargan oil.