Just south of the busy city of Agadir lies the rural Chtouka Ait Baha region of Morocco. Despite its proximity to several spots along Morocco’s tourist trail, Chtouka Ait Baha’s empty desert mountainscapes are worlds away from the colourful, bustling streets of the country’s cities. However, the relatively remote area is home to the incredible argan tree. A treasure of Morocco, the argan tree not only provides one of the country’s most valuable exports, argan oil, but is also endemic to the region and only grows naturally in and around Morocco!  

These drought- and heat-resistant trees have been cultivated for centuries in the Ait Souab-Ait Mansour area of the Chtouka Ait Baha region. Argan trees can withstand temperatures of up to 50 degrees and play an irreplaceable role in the lives of the region’s communities. Local people living in these arid and semi-arid lands have created an incredible production system based on the argan tree. These local communities make oil and other products from the argan trees, farm on the land around the trees and rear goats who scale the short trees and eat argan nuts. For this reason, it is known as an agro (farming)- sylvo (trees)- pastoral (goats) system.