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Afoulki women processing the Argen seeds. ©: SalaamGateway
CS team:
Food and agriculture organization, Sub-regional office for North Africa
The CS in a nutshell:
For several decades, Morocco has been working on an enabling environment for professional organizations, which include development programmes supporting their establishment, including cooperatives. In 2004, a rural women’s cooperative was created which aimed at improving the livelihoods of rural women through the valorisation and commercialization of argan oil. The Afoulki cooperative, started with 30 members, now has more than 60 active members and is the main source of revenue for many rural women in the Region of Souss Massa (in Agadir). Considered as innovations in this region, cooperatives were supported financially and technically by national institutions and international organizations. The Afoulki cooperative has been actively contributing to the sustainable development of Souss Massa
More information is available here.
About the area:
The co-operative is based in Agadir, Village of Ait Hssain, rural municipality of Idmine, Souss Massa region. It has boundaries that correspond to an administrative level. The area under study is a rural area which, given its climatic conditions, is based on subsistence family farming. Rural unemployment and migration are important. In 2007, poverty rate was 12.5%, and the rural unemployment rate was 5.3%. Literacy rate for males is 70.3% and for women only 42.5%.
Location of Idmine in southern Morocco. © Google Earth Pro & mapbox.com