Booming markets for Moroccan argan oil appear to benefit some rural households while threatening the endemic argan forest.

ABSTRACT: Morocco's argan oil is now the most expensive edible oil in the world. High-value argan markets have sparked a bonanza of argan activity. Nongovernmental organizations, international and domestic development agencies, and argan oil cooperatives aggressively promote the win-win aim of simultaneously benefiting local people and the health of the argan forest. This paper tests some of these win-win claims. Analysis of a panel of detailed household data suggests that the boom has enabled some rural households to increase consumption, increase their goat herds (which bodes poorly for the argan forest), and send their girls to secondary school. The boom has predictably made households vigilant guardians of fruit on the tree, but it has not incited investments in longer term tree and forest healt

SUBMITTER: Lybbert TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3161605 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature