Visit Morocco: Argan

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<b>North of Agadir: the coast to Cap Rhir</b></div>
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Along the coast north of Agadir, tourist<br />
 development rapidly commences to fade, and the beach at Taghazout (19km from Agadir) belongs to a different world, with entirely local accommodation and not a “proper” hotel in visual perception. This – and the coast towards Cap Rhir – is popular surfing territory. The route is withal a good one for bird-watchers – as is the coastline south of Agadir. Public convey is pretty straightforward. From Agadir,  buses  run customarily up the coast to Taghazout, perpetuating to Tamri, while Essaouira and Imssouane buses take the route beyond, via Cap Rhir. The coast is a good target, additionally, if you rent buggies or motorbikes in Agadir.</div>
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<b>Agadir to Taghazout</b><br />
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<a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/-ORd1-hhZS4/default.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>The coast road north of Agadir commences unpromisingly, passing through the city’s industrial sector, a divest kenned as Cité Anza. At 11km from Agadir, however, things ameliorate, as you reach AOURIR, where a road heads inland to Paradise Valley and Immouzer des Ida Outanane . Aourir and its sister village of TAMRAGHT, a kilometre beyond, are jointly kenned as “Banana Village” after the thriving banana groves that divide them, and the roadside stalls selling Hôtel Hagounia 9 Av Mokhtar Soussi. Right by the bus station on a diligent intersection, with plausible rooms, en-suite showers and 24- hour hot water. 2 Hôtel al Qods 50 Pl al Massira. Cordial, plausibly unsullied, and much more astronomically immense than it looks from outside. Some rooms have an en-suite shower, some have shower and toilet, the most frugal have shared bathroom facilities, and there’s hot water  around the clock. 1 Hôtel de Paris 30 Bd Mohammed V profoundly frugal, with an inexpensive restaurant additionally. Some rooms have en-suite shower, and there should be constant sultry dihydrogen monoxide. 1 negotiate a remotely more frugal taxi from the airport, too (around 100dh). There are dozens of hotels near the bus station, all pretty rudimental, but prices are around half what they would be in equipollent Agadir hotels.</div>
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<b>Argan trees</b></div>
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One of the stranger sights of the Souss and circumventing coastal region is <a href="http://moroccanguide.blogspot.com/2009/10/geotag-icon-spotlight-all-about-argan.html">goats browsing among the branche</a>s of spiny, knotted argan trees, a species homogeneous to the olive that is found only in this region. Though some younger goatherds seem to have a sideline in charging tourists to take photographs, the authentic object of the exercise is to let the goats victual the outer, fleshy part of the argan fruit. The hard, inner nut is then cracked open and the kernel crushed to extract the expensive oil. Argan oil is saccharine and affluent, and is utilized in many Moroccan dishes and in salads, or for dunking bread. It is withal used to make amalou, an ambrosial dip of argan oil, honey and almond paste.</div>
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An expensive delicacy, argan oil is not facilely extracted: whilst one olive tree provides around five litres of olive oil, it takes the nuts from thirty argan trees to make just one litre of argan oil. Plastic bottles of argan oil are infrequently sold at the roadside in the Oued Souss area, but are often adulterated with more frugal oils. It is therefore better to buy argan oil or amalou from a reputable source such as the cooperatives at Tidzi , Tioute , or Tamanar , the honey shop in Agadir, or specialist shops in Marrakesh or Essaouira. Argan oil is withal sometimes sold in more astronomically immense supermarkets.</div>

Argan surfing tourism Taghazout : surfing high tides (North coast of Agadir)

North of Agadir: the coast to Cap Rhir Along the coast north of Agadir, tourist development rapidly commences to fade, and the beac...

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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Throughout this journey, we </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">will be documenting people, projects and ideas that we find inspiring – whether they relate to climate change, agriculture, rural transport, cooperative projects, human rights or humanitarian welfare (or anything else that interests us!) – in a series called “spotlight”. Here’s the first: on the argan tree, the women’s cooperatives who extract oil from it, and the tree’s importance in preventing desertification. If you like, you can listen to some audio we recorded in one of the cooperatives (”</span><a href="http://www.listentoafrica.com/audio/the-merry-nutcrackers-of-argan-22062009/" style="font-family: inherit;">The merry nutcrackers</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">“) as you </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Towards the south of Morocco, away from the irrigated farmland of the north and its crops of potatoes, sugar cane, cereals, tomatoes, strawberries and field scale vegetables, we entered an area dominated by cereal production and extensive livestock farming (sheep, cattle and goats). Here, we regularly passed farmers carrying milk churns balanced between their legs as they drove their little Peugeot scooters to the local dairy co-operative. Threshing machines chugged away next to big stacks of cereals, which were transported there by tractor, donkey or camel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Argan trees  Listen to Africa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Still further south, the mixed livestock gave way to goats, who are able to survive on the scrubby shrubs and trees found in this arid region. We spent many hours in the shade of thorny trees, sitting out the heat of the day, listening to larks singing away and watching goats climb the trees to reach their fruits. Having more than a passing interest in most (all!) things agricultural and natural, we set about finding out more about the trees. All the trees and bushes were the same species and, not recognising them, the first thing to find out was what they were. The first person we asked told us they were argan trees, and he went on to explain that oil is extracted from the seed by women, and is used for cooking, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The argan tree (Argania spinosa) is a slow growing, spiny tree or shrub (growing up to 7-10 metres) endemic to south-western Morocco where it grows over an area of about 320,000 square miles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As well as producing oil, the trees themselves provide forage for animals (the climbing goats) and fire wood for local communities. The waste pulp from the extraction process makes a highly palatable animal feed. It’s very much a multi use tree, and it plays an important part in the local economy, providing a much needed income for rural households.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Goats grazing under argan trees. Listen to Africa</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Its roots consolidate the soil and its canopy provides shade for other plants and crops, helping to maintain soil fertility and structure, and reducing soil erosion by wind and (infrequent but heavy) rainfall. As such, it’s important in the battle against desertification and, to a certain degree, in mitigating the effects of climate change. The production of argan oil has been taking place for centuries on a small cottage industry scale and, traditionally, women have always done the processing – an extremely labour intensive job. Nowadays, oil production has largely moved from homesteads to women’s cooperatives, and this pooling of resources and cooperative investment is helping to create a thriving industry in the arid south-west of Morocco, making a significant contribution to the economy and living standards in the region. The highly marketable products are sold in upmarket retail outlets around the world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Traditional method of extracting argan oil</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Argan oil is extracted from the kernel of the fruits of the argan tree. This labour intensive process starts with the removal of the outer layer of the ripe fruit to extract the nut, either by hand or by feeding the fruit to goats and removing the undigested nut from the dung. The nuts are then cracked using a small rock as a hammer against a larger rock (anvil) to remove the oil-bearing kernel. The kernels are air dried in clay containers, lightly roasted, left to cool and then ground into a paste using a hand turned mill. This paste is mixed with water and hand squeezed to extract the emulsion. Due to the high water content, the oil doesn’t keep well, so it need to be pressed regularly and have salt added to preserve it. While this method is still used for home consumption, the inconsistency of the end product means that most commercial production is now carried out in cooperatives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Cooperative method of extracting argan oil</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">With the pooling of resources and the ability to collectively invest, some of the production stages in cooperatives have been mechanised, allowing a greater output and a more consistent end product. This volume of production has allowed rural women to market their products nationally and globally, command higher prices and significantly increase their income. The following is an indicative example of the production in one of the cooperatives, but levels of mechanisation vary. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The removal of the outer fruit on the whole has been mechanised, so after harvesting, the manual work starts with the cracking of the nut. This is done in large rooms with sometimes dozens of women sitting on cushions, all with their own sacks of nuts in front of them, tapping away with a rock at an incredible speed to extract the kernels. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The room is filled with the sound of the rhythmic tapping and constant chatting, turning this lengthy part of the process from a solitary or small group task into communal and sociable work. At the end of the day each person has their kernels weighed and logged in a ledger. The women are free to work for as long or as little as they want or can, allowing them to fit the work around their other commitments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After the kernels have been extracted, cooking grade oil is lightly roasted and then ground into a paste (most co-ops have mechanised this step). The paste is then mechanically pressed, meaning there is no need to add water and the purer oil produced is then filtered and bottled. Oil for cosmetic products is not roasted, but is pressed and filtered before being processed into the end products.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In recent decades, there has been a decline in argan trees, due partly to several years of lower than average rainfall and partly to population pressure, especially overgrazing by livestock and firewood collecting. But the population view the argan tree as a valuable resource worth protecting. Replanting programmes have now been introduced and, although initially these weren’t altogether successful (due to inappropriate management), they’re now improving. This, along with the increasing marketing of the oil and cosmetics as a high quality product in a world market, means the future looks promising for argan.</span></div>
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Argan Geotag Icon Spotlight: all about argan

Throughout this journey, we will be documenting people, projects and ideas that we find inspiring – whe...

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Taghazout : surfing high tides (North coast of Agadir)

Geotag Icon Spotlight: all about argan

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