Yoga retreats and yoga holidays - improve your yoga practice in Egypt & Morocco

Argan: Morocco's anti-ageing secret

Argan is a Moroccan success story. A few years ago this small, olive-like nut had been largely forgotten. Today there are thousands of women producing spreads, soaps and lotions from this traditional anti-ageing tree. Production co-ops dot the countryside, and a flourishing export market underlines argan's growing appeal.

Argan is effective in reducing wrinkles, lowering cholesterol and assisting healing. High in vitamin E and unsaturated fatty oils its products can be used for cooking (it tastes similar to nutty olive oil), making soap, shampoo and a variety of other products.

Yet it took the efforts of one remarkable Moroccan woman to transform an indigenous recipe into a mainstream ingredient: Zoubida Charrouf.

Charrouf began researching Argan in the early 1990s after hearing about its properties from rural women in Morocco's south west. Her analysis did indeed prove what these women had known for centuries: argan is remarkably good for you.

This led Charrouf further: why had such a valuable resource been more or less ignored? Argan, it seemed, existed only in a backwater. Rural women tried to sell its oil but it was often unreliable and packaged into old plastic bottles and tins. Nobody had heard of it. A new approach was required.

The chemistry professor subsequently spearheaded efforts to form women's co-operatives in the rural south-east. In traditional Muslim societies it's often frowned upon for women to work outside the home but encouraged by the success of early co-ops more than 1000 women are now employed, each earning up to $100 a month (previous income ranged from $20-30). Throughout the countryside around Essaouira vendors sell argan products to passing visitors and wholesalers truck it to the cities.

Argan production is also good for the environment. The argan tree (or Moroccan Ironwood) grows exclusively in north west Africa. With 20 million trees in Morocco it's the second-most important species in the country and its deep roots help to prevent desertification. It has long been used for firewood, however, and with rising energy costs the argan forests of the region have been depleted.

Argan oil promises to reverse that. As its products grow in value, so do the trees. Thus by finding an economic value in its oil, Charrouf has succeeded in providing a stimulus to conservation, benefiting both the natural environment and the people who live within it.

We visit a women's argan co-operative as part of our On Hendrix's Trail holiday. Click here for more information.