Sweet almond oil

The agricultural families of the palm grove and the cooperatives of Toundout.

Almond production in Skoura is family farming in essence. The farms do not exceed 1 to 3 hectares, the trees have belonged to families for generations, and the harvest is still mainly done by traditional digging, the almonds are shaken from the branches using long poles and collected on nets. This ancestral know-how is intact in Skoura, preserved by the local cooperatives which have structured post-harvest valorization.

Folk Oils contracts directly with these cooperatives and groups of agricultural families, without an intermediary trader, without an anonymous exporter. The almonds arrive at our press within a few days of harvest. Each batch is identified by its common source, its variety and its harvest date. This farmer traceability can be communicated to your customers.

The Ouarzazate region also produces almonds in the adjacent valleys, Kelaat M'Gouna and the Dadès Valley to the east, as well as the foothills of Jbel Saghro to the south, allowing diversification of micro-terroirs while remaining in the same documented geographical area.

Morocco, and more precisely the Ouarzazate region, represents a modest volume but an exceptional differentiation profile: non-hybridized Beldi variety, de facto organic cultivation, traceable desert terroir, documented cooperatives. This is exactly what the premium cosmetic and nutraceutical market is looking for, and what industrial production in California or Spain cannot offer.

The Skoura oasis and the Toundout Almond Valley have been supporting Amazigh farming families for centuries, in a fragile economy, far from major markets, often at the mercy of regional collectors who set prices. Folk Oils is building a direct alternative: buying almonds from cooperatives at a guaranteed price higher than the local market, documenting the origin, and exporting added value that remains in Morocco.

Direct contracts with the Skoura and Toundout cooperatives, no intermediary collector. The Folk Oils purchase price goes entirely to the farming families and cooperatives that have structured production and post-harvest valorization.

Guaranteed price higher than the local collector rate, families in the oasis receive a contractually higher price than the local spot market. This economic security is the condition of quality: a farmer whose income is guaranteed takes care of his harvest and his tree.

De facto, certifiable organic culture, the Skoura almond trees do not receive any chemical inputs. Not out of ideology, but because the oasis never needed it. This ground reality is directly certifiable EU Organic / USDA Organic on Folk Oils batches, with certifications already in place for Afoulki products.

Preserving the agricultural system of the oasis, valuing the Skoura almond at its fair value gives families an economic reason to maintain the almond trees in the palm grove, to preserve the seguias and not to abandon this territory for the cities. Every liter of Folk Oils helps keep one of Morocco's best-preserved oases alive.

Rural women at the heart of production, in the cooperatives of the Drâa-Tafilalet region, rural women are very involved in the almond sector, from shelling to valorization. Folk Oils supports this rural female economy by purchasing at a fair price and documenting their contribution in the chain of custody.