The Argan Triangle

Argania spinosa is a Tertiary relict — a species that survived the last ice age in this one pocket of southwest Morocco. The UNESCO Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve covers 2.5 million hectares and contains roughly 20 million trees. The trees live 150 to 200 years. Their root systems extend deep enough to tap groundwater, which makes them critical to preventing desertification.

The oil is extracted by hand in cooperatives that employ almost exclusively women. The traditional process: goats eat the fruit and excrete the nuts (this is the famous image of goats in trees). The women crack the nuts with stones — the hardest shell of any nut, requiring 30 kilograms of force per nut. The kernels are either roasted (for culinary oil) or left raw (for cosmetic oil), then ground in a stone mill and pressed.

One litre of culinary argan oil requires roughly 30 kilograms of fruit — about 15 hours of labour. The cooperatives have transformed the economics: before cooperatives, women earned nothing from the oil. Now over 300 cooperatives employ thousands of women across the Souss-Massa region, with fair trade certification and direct export to European and American markets.

The cosmetic market changed everything. Argan oil appeared in Western beauty products in the early 2000s and demand exploded. Morocco now exports over $100 million of argan products annually. The price of raw oil has increased tenfold since 1990.

Amlou is the food that visitors remember — argan oil, almonds, and honey ground into a thick paste, served with bread for breakfast. The roasted oil has a deep, nutty flavour that no other oil replicates. It is drizzled on couscous, salads, and tagines in the Souss. Outside the argan triangle, olive oil takes over.

Explore the full interactive module — with the biosphere mapped, cooperative data, and the extraction process diagrammed — at Dancing with Lions: https://www.dancingwiththelions.com/data/argan-triangle