10 African businesses making the world's most expensive products

Business Insider

Across Africa, small businesses and artisans are making some of the world’s most expensive products.

Transcript

00:00:00 In Tunisia, Mohamed is cracking and scraping at snails to make authentic Tyrian purple

00:00:09 dye.

00:00:10 Further south in Uganda, Akela is pounding and grinding nuts by hand to make this silky,

00:00:18 luxurious East African shea butter.

00:00:22 Across Africa, small businesses and artisans are making some of the world's most expensive

00:00:27 products.

00:00:29 Our first stop is Fez, Morocco, where clay bars have been molded and transformed into

00:00:35 colorful handmade zelige tiles for centuries.

00:00:41 Zelige tiles start out as a simple mixture of clay and water.

00:00:46 But after several days of painstaking work, artisans chisel and transform them into a

00:00:52 complex work of art.

00:00:55 Compared to other popular tiles, zelige tiles aren't cheap.

00:01:00 A square foot can cost $50, while ceramic subway tiles might only cost around 15 cents.

00:01:08 But this art form relies on the skilled artisans that make each tile by hand.

00:01:13 Like Ahmed Almaghari, who has been making zelige tiles for 54 years.

00:01:20 So how are zelige tiles made?

00:01:22 And is this what makes them so expensive?

00:01:30 While perfection is often valued, it's the imperfect qualities of zelige that make the

00:01:35 tiles so unique.

00:01:38 Artisans in Morocco have been hand-making zelige tiles for centuries.

00:01:43 Today, they continue this tradition in the city of Fez.

00:01:48 "Zelige is not like any other craft.

00:01:51 It's not like any other craft.

00:01:53 It's not like any other craft.

00:01:55 It's not like any other craft.

00:01:57 It's not like any other craft.

00:01:59 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:01 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:03 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:05 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:07 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:09 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:11 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:13 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:15 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:17 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:19 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:21 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:23 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:25 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:27 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:29 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:31 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:33 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:35 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:37 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:39 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:41 It's not like any other craft.

00:02:43 Then, in one of many tedious stages to come,

00:02:45 Then, in one of many tedious stages to come,

00:02:47 an artisan kneads the clay using their hands and feet

00:02:49 to make it more malleable.

00:02:51 After the clay has fermented for a day,

00:02:57 a different artisan has the task of

00:02:59 molding it into the proper shape.

00:03:01 [music]

00:03:03 The artisan places the clay into a mold,

00:03:15 smoothing it over with one hand

00:03:17 so the surface is flat.

00:03:19 For every 10 kilograms of clay,

00:03:23 artisans can make over 10 square feet

00:03:25 or about 1 meter of tiles.

00:03:29 After molding hundreds of tiles,

00:03:31 they leave the clay to dry under the sun.

00:03:33 The next stage is vital to ensuring

00:03:37 the tiles will remain intact.

00:03:39 [music]

00:03:41 [music]

00:03:43 Hitting the clay repeatedly

00:04:03 also removes air bubbles.

00:04:05 If the air isn't removed,

00:04:07 the tile may break when an artisan

00:04:09 tries to chisel it.

00:04:11 Once each piece is perfectly square,

00:04:13 the tiles dry again under the sun.

00:04:15 Finally, it's time for the clay

00:04:19 to head to the kiln.

00:04:21 Precision is critical at this stage,

00:04:27 which is why just one person

00:04:29 is trusted to lead the job.

00:04:31 [speaking in foreign language]

00:04:37 [speaking in foreign language]

00:04:39 Abdelwahed glazes the tiles

00:04:59 and then they're fired for a second time.

00:05:01 This second firing

00:05:03 ensures the color won't fade.

00:05:05 It also gives the liege tiles

00:05:07 one of their most distinct features.

00:05:09 Heat doesn't circulate evenly

00:05:11 in a traditional Moroccan kiln,

00:05:13 which is why each tile,

00:05:15 even those with the same color glaze,

00:05:17 will have a slightly different shade.

00:05:19 But these tiles are

00:05:21 just getting started.

00:05:23 After glazing,

00:05:25 the tiles move on to the cutting stage,

00:05:27 where artisans trace the small shapes

00:05:29 they'll later carve.

00:05:31 Chiseling the tiles

00:05:33 requires total concentration.

00:05:35 Artisans must carve

00:05:37 each piece as cleanly as possible.

00:05:39 Otherwise,

00:05:41 it may not fit properly

00:05:43 into the final design.

00:05:45 How well and efficiently this is done

00:05:49 depends on the expertise

00:05:51 of the artisan and a tool

00:05:53 known as the menkosh.

00:05:55 It's a combination of a hammer and an axe.

00:05:57 Because they're hand-chiseled,

00:05:59 no-chews liege tiles

00:06:01 will look exactly the same.

00:06:03 It's the prime feature

00:06:05 that distinguishes liege

00:06:07 from mass-produced tiles

00:06:09 that are notably uniform in color,

00:06:11 shape, and texture.

00:06:13 Arabesque first creates

00:06:17 designs on the computer.

00:06:19 Then Ahmed uses a paper printout

00:06:21 as a guide to assemble the final design

00:06:23 on the floor.

00:06:25 Ahmed inserts

00:06:27 each individual tile by hand,

00:06:29 like a puzzle piece,

00:06:31 making sure every tile

00:06:35 seamlessly fits next to its neighbor.

00:06:37 [music]

00:06:39 After about 15 days

00:07:05 of assembling the pieces,

00:07:07 Ahmed can reveal the finished design.

00:07:09 The final price

00:07:31 of a mosaic like this

00:07:33 is a sum of several factors,

00:07:35 including the number of pieces

00:07:37 and their shape.

00:07:39 This is the average, normal 36 pieces.

00:07:41 The shape of it is very square,

00:07:43 so the price of it is very affordable.

00:07:45 Unlike if we go here,

00:07:47 which is made of stars

00:07:49 and cross.

00:07:51 There are 36 pieces.

00:07:53 So 36 pieces here also,

00:07:55 but the price of this

00:07:57 is four times the price of the other one

00:07:59 because of the shape.

00:08:01 Adil also considers the size

00:08:03 of the tiles within a design.

00:08:05 Smaller pieces are not as simple

00:08:07 to chisel by hand.

00:08:09 The smaller the tiles, the more expensive the design will be.

00:08:11 There are areas

00:08:13 where you have a square foot

00:08:15 that can have 64 pieces,

00:08:17 128 pieces,

00:08:19 360 pieces,

00:08:21 versus 36 pieces.

00:08:23 So if you have one that costs $10 per square foot,

00:08:25 the other one might cost

00:08:27 10 times $100 per square foot.

00:08:29 The price increases further

00:08:31 for more complex designs.

00:08:33 This tile has an interlace.

00:08:35 The interlace is automatically

00:08:37 double the price.

00:08:39 So if you have a $10 square foot,

00:08:41 with the interlace, it's $20.

00:08:43 Centuries ago,

00:08:47 Zalish tiles were reserved for royal palaces.

00:08:49 Today,

00:08:51 they've become synonymous with Moroccan design.

00:08:53 You'll find them covering

00:08:55 walls, floors, and fountains

00:08:57 across Fez.

00:08:59 When we talk about Morocco

00:09:01 and Moroccan architecture,

00:09:03 the first thing that comes to mind is Zalish.

00:09:05 But its influence

00:09:07 goes beyond Morocco.

00:09:09 Demand has grown in the U.S.,

00:09:11 especially in recent years,

00:09:13 as notable designers like Kelly Worsler

00:09:15 incorporate Zalish

00:09:17 into their own work.

00:09:19 But the way some are using the tiles is different.

00:09:21 Rather than mosaics,

00:09:23 they're creating monochromatic back splashes.

00:09:25 Part of the appeal

00:09:27 of using just one color of Zalish

00:09:29 is that it appears ombre

00:09:31 when multiple tiles come together,

00:09:33 thanks to their subtle variation in shade.

00:09:35 But while Zalish becomes more popular

00:09:39 overseas, Adil struggles

00:09:41 to find young people locally

00:09:43 he can trust with the trade.

00:09:45 This is more of a living art,

00:09:49 but it's also a dying tradition.

00:09:51 Nowadays, people are not

00:09:53 patient as much as before.

00:09:55 If you look at

00:09:57 the people who used to work

00:09:59 in this trade, they are very calm,

00:10:01 they are very peaceful,

00:10:03 they have inner peace.

00:10:05 Nowadays, we find extreme

00:10:07 hardship

00:10:09 to train

00:10:11 and adopt people

00:10:13 who can carry this kind of tradition

00:10:15 as Zalish artisans.

00:10:17 [Music]

00:10:19 [Speaking in foreign language]

00:10:21 [Speaking in foreign language]

00:10:23 [Speaking in foreign language]

00:10:51 The quality of Zalish

00:10:53 depends on the hand that makes it.

00:10:55 Preserving it

00:10:57 means finding more artisans like

00:10:59 Ahmed, willing to spend decades

00:11:01 learning the craft behind this

00:11:03 signature Moroccan design.

00:11:05 One way to make shea butter involves

00:11:09 pounding and grinding dry

00:11:11 shea nuts by hand.

00:11:13 Another way requires two people to push a lever.

00:11:17 As a cold-press machine

00:11:19 turns shea nut oil into a creamy,

00:11:21 pale yellow butter.

00:11:23 Regardless of the way it's done,

00:11:25 producing shea butter is tedious work.

00:11:27 And depending on how it's made,

00:11:29 it can cost over $50 a kilo.

00:11:31 But this isn't

00:11:33 just any shea butter.

00:11:35 This is East African shea butter,

00:11:37 the most expensive version of the commonly

00:11:39 known product.

00:11:41 So what makes East African shea butter different?

00:11:43 And why is it so expensive?

00:11:47 When someone hears

00:11:49 shea butter, it's likely they think

00:11:51 of the West African variety.

00:11:53 But in East Africa,

00:11:55 a different kind of shea nut grows,

00:11:57 a subspecies called Nilotica.

00:11:59 The West African paradoxa

00:12:01 tree is farmed, so it grows

00:12:03 more abundantly.

00:12:05 But Nilotica isn't typically planted.

00:12:07 It grows in the wild

00:12:09 in East African countries like Uganda

00:12:11 and Sudan.

00:12:13 East African shea butter can cost more than

00:12:15 the West African alternative.

00:12:17 That's because it's easier to spread

00:12:19 and absorbs quickly into the skin.

00:12:21 This is our Nilotica.

00:12:23 Very low

00:12:25 melting point, like you see.

00:12:27 When I spread it,

00:12:29 it easily melts. And within a few minutes,

00:12:31 it will have sunk

00:12:33 into my skin pores.

00:12:35 But when we come to

00:12:37 our West African

00:12:39 shea butter, when you

00:12:41 spread, this is how it turns out.

00:12:43 It will remain on top

00:12:45 because of the waxy texture.

00:12:47 That makes Nilotica

00:12:49 more desirable for cosmetics companies,

00:12:51 which use it for butters, oils,

00:12:53 and soaps.

00:12:55 And according to Lucy, this is one of the reasons

00:12:57 demand for East African shea butter has grown

00:12:59 both locally and abroad.

00:13:01 In Uganda, Nilotica producers

00:13:03 are trying to meet the growing demand.

00:13:05 [speaking in Sheba]

00:13:07 Akelo and her peers have been

00:13:17 harvesting shea fruit since 5am.

00:13:19 They're part of the

00:13:21 Kwoner Adware Moya Women's Group,

00:13:23 a self-help group for women in Uganda.

00:13:25 In Uganda,

00:13:27 shea producers are primarily

00:13:29 organized women's groups like this.

00:13:31 They start their day

00:13:33 early so they can pick the best

00:13:35 fruits before other groups come.

00:13:37 Akelo and the other

00:13:39 harvesters pick the fruits off the ground

00:13:41 once they've already fallen.

00:13:43 Then

00:13:45 they remove and eat

00:13:47 the fruit to reveal the shea nut.

00:13:49 They eat it because they won't need it

00:13:51 to make the butter, and

00:13:53 it's delicious.

00:13:55 [speaking in Sheba]

00:13:57 Quality control

00:14:01 starts here, with only the best

00:14:03 shea nuts moving on to processing.

00:14:05 These are grade A nuts,

00:14:07 which are whole, undamaged,

00:14:09 and untouched by insects.

00:14:11 The nuts are then dried

00:14:13 in the sun for a few days to reduce

00:14:15 moisture.

00:14:17 Next, they're carefully cracked

00:14:19 and the kernels are dried again for two weeks.

00:14:21 Now Akelo can make

00:14:25 the shea butter.

00:14:27 It's usually done one of two ways,

00:14:29 by hand or by

00:14:31 machine, both

00:14:33 requiring heavy manual labor.

00:14:35 Making shea butter by hand is an

00:14:39 intensive process.

00:14:41 After the nuts dry the second time,

00:14:43 producers heat ash over a fire

00:14:45 for 30 minutes.

00:14:47 Then they roast the shea nuts

00:14:49 in the ashes for another 45

00:14:51 minutes, stirring constantly.

00:14:53 This helps

00:14:55 prevent mold and deactivates

00:14:57 free fatty acids, or FFAs,

00:14:59 which are harmful to the body.

00:15:01 But they have to

00:15:03 be careful. Too much

00:15:05 heat could lead to a dark oil with

00:15:07 high, rather than deactivated,

00:15:09 FFA levels.

00:15:11 Then the women spread

00:15:13 the nuts on the ground to cool off.

00:15:15 Producers grind the nuts

00:15:23 three times.

00:15:25 They take turns pounding,

00:15:27 then muddle the mixture further between rocks.

00:15:29 And finally,

00:15:35 refine the mixture in a mill.

00:15:37 This creates a paste,

00:15:39 which they pour into hot water.

00:15:41 Here, the oil they need for the butter

00:15:45 separates from the paste.

00:15:47 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:15:49 The oil is removed and packaged

00:16:11 for sale locally, where a kilo costs

00:16:13 over $5.

00:16:15 It's mainly used for cooking,

00:16:17 but locals also use it on their skin.

00:16:19 And while it's still pricier than

00:16:21 West African shea butter, this

00:16:23 heat-processed butter is a more affordable

00:16:25 alternative to cold-pressed Nilotika.

00:16:27 One kilo of

00:16:29 cold-pressed East African shea butter can

00:16:31 reach $12 in Uganda.

00:16:33 And when exported, it's over

00:16:35 four times that price.

00:16:37 That's because cold-pressed shea butter

00:16:39 is more refined. It's the

00:16:41 cleanest way to extract the oil,

00:16:43 which preserves the nuts' properties.

00:16:45 After harvesting, drying,

00:16:53 and grinding the shea nuts,

00:16:55 producers place them in cloth bags

00:16:57 and load them into a cold-pressed machine.

00:16:59 They've had this machine since 1997.

00:17:03 To use it,

00:17:11 two people need to push each side

00:17:13 of the lever in a circle,

00:17:15 pressing and releasing the oil

00:17:17 from the fat in the shea nuts.

00:17:19 When left to rest, the oil hardens into

00:17:29 shea butter. From nut

00:17:31 to butter, the whole process can take

00:17:33 three weeks.

00:17:35 Today, producers prefer

00:17:37 the cold-pressed method because they can make

00:17:39 larger batches of high-quality shea butter.

00:17:41 It can also enhance

00:17:43 some of the butter's most desired properties.

00:17:45 Studies of Nilotica

00:17:47 have found that it has significantly

00:17:49 higher oleic acid content

00:17:51 than West African shea butter.

00:17:53 It also has lower stearic acid

00:17:55 content, which contributes to the

00:17:57 softness of the butter.

00:17:59 This is the West African shea butter

00:18:01 with a high melting point,

00:18:03 and when it solidifies, it's really hard.

00:18:05 Harder

00:18:07 textures are more difficult to integrate

00:18:09 into cosmetics.

00:18:11 Lucy says that's why Nilotica

00:18:13 has the upper hand in cosmetics.

00:18:15 Her American buyers prefer it

00:18:17 because it absorbs faster into the skin.

00:18:19 But Nilotica

00:18:21 has other special properties.

00:18:23 The demand at the moment

00:18:25 is growing because of

00:18:27 these contents, the olein,

00:18:29 vitamin E, and then

00:18:31 it also has

00:18:33 antioxidants that make it

00:18:35 easy, especially for cosmetics.

00:18:37 It has to have a healing factor

00:18:39 within it.

00:18:41 This growing demand is being met

00:18:43 with limited supply.

00:18:45 The supply is a little

00:18:47 lower because the number

00:18:49 of producers is still

00:18:51 a bit low.

00:18:53 The shea tree fruits only

00:18:55 once a year, and producers are still

00:18:57 figuring out how to bulk their harvests.

00:18:59 And while some efforts are

00:19:01 underway to farm more shea trees,

00:19:03 the nuts are primarily harvested

00:19:05 in the wild, limiting producers further.

00:19:07 Then there's

00:19:09 deforestation.

00:19:11 According to the Ugandan National Forest Authority,

00:19:13 the country has lost 63%

00:19:15 of its tree cover in the past

00:19:17 25 years.

00:19:19 Locals use the wood for charcoal,

00:19:21 firewood, and timber.

00:19:23 But Nilotica producers hope that

00:19:25 as demand continues to grow, and locals

00:19:27 learn more about Nilotica's value,

00:19:29 they'll work to preserve the trees.

00:19:31 And in turn, scale up production

00:19:33 of East African shea butter.

00:19:35 I believe if the marketing

00:19:37 strategies are improved, we

00:19:39 shall have more sales,

00:19:41 more producers, and the more

00:19:43 the buyers, of which the buyers are already out

00:19:45 there.

00:19:47 Making authentic Tyrian purple dye

00:19:51 starts here,

00:19:53 with extracting a murrex snail

00:19:55 gland.

00:19:57 It takes nearly 45

00:19:59 kilograms of these snails

00:20:01 to produce a single gram of pure

00:20:03 Tyrian purple extract.

00:20:05 It's a painstaking

00:20:07 and pungent process.

00:20:09 And the result?

00:20:11 This single gram of dye

00:20:13 that can fetch nearly $3,000.

00:20:15 By

00:20:17 comparison, five grams of a

00:20:19 synthetic version sells for under

00:20:21 $4.

00:20:23 Tyrian purple can be used to dye clothes

00:20:25 or create paints.

00:20:27 In the ancient world, it was

00:20:29 so rare that only royalty

00:20:31 could afford to wear clothes dyed with it.

00:20:33 Even today, at such

00:20:35 an astronomical price,

00:20:37 Tyrian purple pigment is mostly

00:20:39 a collector's item.

00:20:41 So, what makes real Tyrian

00:20:43 purple so hard to make?

00:20:45 And why is it so expensive?

00:20:47 This is Mohamed Ghassan Nwira.

00:20:55 He's been making

00:20:57 Tyrian purple dye in his home in Tunisia

00:20:59 for 15 years.

00:21:01 Today,

00:21:03 Ghassan is one of a handful of

00:21:05 producers in the world bringing this

00:21:07 ancient dye back to life.

00:21:09 Ghassan learned how to make this

00:21:11 dye through an excruciating process

00:21:13 of trial and error. Because there's

00:21:15 no instruction manual, he reconstructed

00:21:17 the techniques he uses from

00:21:19 first century texts.

00:21:21 Oh my god, I must say that I have

00:21:23 gone through a lot of failures.

00:21:25 The historical texts about

00:21:27 the process of making Tyrian purple

00:21:29 are very rare and quite vague.

00:21:31 You have to start everything from scratch

00:21:33 and learn everything on your own.

00:21:35 To make the extract,

00:21:39 Ghassan must navigate a complex

00:21:41 process, and it's this

00:21:43 extensive labor that accounts for

00:21:45 much of the final price.

00:21:47 The part of the murex snail

00:21:49 that contains the pigment is called

00:21:51 the hyperbranchial gland.

00:21:53 The good thing is that the gland is

00:21:55 located right under the shell,

00:21:57 which helps

00:21:59 a little bit in the extraction.

00:22:01 It's the only part of the snail used to make

00:22:03 Tyrian purple, and each gland

00:22:05 contains only a few drops of pigment.

00:22:07 But

00:22:09 before he can extract the gland,

00:22:11 Ghassan has to wash, scrub,

00:22:13 and sort the snails by size.

00:22:15 You don't really want

00:22:17 all of this mud and sand to

00:22:19 interfere with the dye when you

00:22:21 crush the shell and expose the gland.

00:22:23 So this is the first step, and it's a very important

00:22:25 step. You really have to clean

00:22:27 your snails very, very well.

00:22:29 Ghassan can now extract

00:22:31 the gland from the clean snails.

00:22:33 If he hammers each shell too lightly,

00:22:39 it'll take too long.

00:22:41 But if he hits it too hard,

00:22:43 he'll crush the gland.

00:22:45 It took Ghassan two years to learn how to do this efficiently.

00:22:47 And of course, the snail is not wasted.

00:22:49 Then it will be cooked for dinner.

00:22:51 Everything is basically recycled.

00:22:53 To make the extract, Ghassan first

00:22:55 macerates the fresh glands in cold water

00:22:57 and lets them ferment in an airtight container.

00:22:59 Once the glands release their

00:23:01 colorant, Ghassan gently washes

00:23:03 and filters the mixture to separate

00:23:05 the dye from the flesh.

00:23:07 Ghassan then mixes the dye

00:23:09 with the snail's colorant,

00:23:11 which is then mixed with the snail's

00:23:13 to separate the dye from the flesh.

00:23:15 This is the first of six

00:23:17 separate rounds of purification

00:23:19 necessary to make a pure

00:23:21 Tyrian purple extract.

00:23:23 Now Ghassan can dry

00:23:25 the pigment mixture.

00:23:27 He applies it to a sheet of glass

00:23:29 and lets it dry under the sun.

00:23:31 He uses glass because it won't

00:23:33 absorb any of the valuable pigment.

00:23:35 So these glands have been drying

00:23:37 for three days. They are half dry now.

00:23:39 They are still malleable,

00:23:41 so you can say this is

00:23:43 the pure colorant, or

00:23:45 more or less pure.

00:23:47 Once the pure colorant mixture

00:23:49 is dried, he scrapes it off the glass

00:23:51 with a razor, making sure to get

00:23:53 every last bit.

00:23:55 And the whole process,

00:23:57 from the liquid colorant

00:23:59 up until the dried,

00:24:01 pure powder,

00:24:03 the whole mass

00:24:05 will have lost at least

00:24:07 98% of its weight.

00:24:09 The dried pigment

00:24:11 is now purified five more times

00:24:13 in a grinding and sieving process

00:24:15 to remove any detritus.

00:24:17 The nearly 100 pounds

00:24:19 of Murex snails are finally transformed

00:24:21 into one gram

00:24:23 of pure Tyrian purple extract.

00:24:25 And acquiring enough

00:24:27 snails is another challenge,

00:24:29 an expensive one.

00:24:31 Ghassan can spend hundreds

00:24:33 of dollars sourcing the snails he needs

00:24:35 for his dye. That's because

00:24:37 mining these snails requires experienced

00:24:39 fishers.

00:24:41 One of the fishers Ghassan works

00:24:43 with is Salim bin Milad.

00:24:45 He harvests Murex snails

00:24:47 from Suliman Beach.

00:24:49 Like Ghassan, Salim and his team

00:24:51 have perfected their technique over time.

00:24:53 [Speaking in foreign language]

00:25:10 It can take Salim four hours

00:25:12 to find the right snails,

00:25:14 or he can dive for a whole day

00:25:16 to no avail.

00:25:18 [Speaking in foreign language]

00:25:32 The bloodmouth snail is particularly

00:25:34 difficult to catch and requires

00:25:36 Salim to dive 15 meters deep,

00:25:38 which makes it more expensive.

00:25:40 And if the weather

00:25:42 is consistently bad, the price

00:25:44 goes up even more. Sometimes,

00:25:46 conditions force Salim and his team

00:25:48 to go a whole month without fishing.

00:25:50 But it's out of their control.

00:25:52 [Speaking in foreign language]

00:26:00 It's dangerous for the snails, too,

00:26:02 which are highly sensitive to climate change.

00:26:04 Since the early 1970s,

00:26:06 the population of Murex snails

00:26:08 has steeply declined due to

00:26:10 temperature changes in the water and over-harvesting.

00:26:12 We have to be

00:26:14 very cautious not to be engaged

00:26:16 in over-harvesting to make sure that the

00:26:18 small specimens are put back into the sea

00:26:20 to preserve the species.

00:26:22 So this is why it takes a lot of time.

00:26:24 And careful management of the snail

00:26:26 population is vital,

00:26:28 as Ghassan and his divers attempt to revive

00:26:30 Tunisia's thousands-year-old

00:26:32 dye-making tradition.

00:26:34 Ghassan

00:26:36 doesn't use all the fresh snails

00:26:38 to make extract.

00:26:40 He reserves some to dye fabric directly.

00:26:42 This time,

00:26:44 he mixes the snail glands with water

00:26:46 and a reducing agent and lets them ferment.

00:26:48 The mixture goes

00:26:50 from a colorless liquid to green

00:26:52 before it turns purple.

00:26:54 Finding the

00:26:56 right pH balance in this step

00:26:58 is crucial.

00:27:00 If it's too acidic, the wool may burn,

00:27:02 and if it's too basic,

00:27:04 it may cause the wool to felt.

00:27:06 So now we're just

00:27:08 monitoring the

00:27:10 pH.

00:27:12 It's about 8, which is perfect.

00:27:14 This is also the moment

00:27:16 when the soluble dye is the most

00:27:18 light-sensitive. Ghassan

00:27:20 must cover the dye vat immediately

00:27:22 to avoid too much exposure to light.

00:27:24 Too much light

00:27:26 can turn the dye from purple to blue,

00:27:28 destroying a week's worth of work.

00:27:30 When the material has soaked

00:27:32 for the appropriate amount of time, Ghassan

00:27:34 lifts the vat lid, exposing the mixture

00:27:36 to light and air.

00:27:38 This allows the mixture

00:27:40 to oxidize.

00:27:42 And this is how the color will gradually start to develop.

00:27:44 But one round

00:27:46 of vat dyeing won't always do the trick,

00:27:48 like with this silk scarf.

00:27:50 It took me like eight months

00:27:52 to produce, and it required

00:27:54 like 800 pounds

00:27:56 of fresh snails, and this is

00:27:58 still not completed.

00:28:00 And it's not always guaranteed

00:28:02 that the color will come out the same shade.

00:28:04 Historically speaking,

00:28:06 there isn't a single hue

00:28:08 or shade of Tyrian purple. It's a range

00:28:10 of shades that ranges from the color

00:28:12 of clotted blood to the color of red purple.

00:28:14 This range is the result

00:28:16 of mixing three different subspecies

00:28:18 of Murex snails.

00:28:20 Hexaplex trunculus, which produces

00:28:22 a violet-blue color,

00:28:24 Bolinus brandaris, which secretes the color

00:28:26 of clotted blood, and the

00:28:28 bloodmouth, or Stromonita

00:28:30 haemastema, which releases

00:28:32 a rich red-purple color.

00:28:34 Tyrian purple dye

00:28:36 dates back to the Bronze Age

00:28:38 and is named after the Phoenician city

00:28:40 of Tyre. Some historians

00:28:42 believe it was produced as early as

00:28:44 the 21st century BC.

00:28:46 Ancient civilizations

00:28:48 from Phoenicia to the Carthaginian

00:28:50 and Roman empires

00:28:52 prospered by producing and trading this dye.

00:28:54 One of the production

00:28:56 sites was Menax on the island

00:28:58 of Jerba, which is now

00:29:00 an archaeological site.

00:29:02 It's a very

00:29:04 precious material.

00:29:06 Roman emperors

00:29:08 decided at the beginning of the empire

00:29:10 to use it only

00:29:12 on the face of the face

00:29:14 to differentiate people.

00:29:16 A text from the 4th century states that

00:29:18 a single pound of Tyrian purple dye

00:29:20 costs three pounds of gold.

00:29:22 But production of this dye

00:29:24 came to a screeching halt in the 15th century

00:29:26 after the fall of the Byzantine Empire.

00:29:28 The study of olive

00:29:30 and olive trees in North Africa

00:29:32 in the old days,

00:29:34 and the study of

00:29:36 the urjouan, the urjouan

00:29:38 that is made from it,

00:29:40 and the rukhan,

00:29:42 all of this is related to trade and the Mawane.

00:29:44 Ali says he's grateful that Ghassan

00:29:46 is reviving this culturally valuable dye

00:29:48 so Tunisians can reconnect

00:29:50 with their ancestry.

00:29:52 Ghassan learned about the dye

00:29:54 at the age of 14 and was

00:29:56 enthralled by its history in Carthage.

00:29:58 Over a decade later,

00:30:00 he found a Murex snail on the shore

00:30:02 oozing purple.

00:30:04 My old passion for red-purple

00:30:06 came rushing from its deep slumber

00:30:08 and I really had this revelation

00:30:10 and this is how my adventure

00:30:12 for reviving this legendary dye started.

00:30:14 Now, he hopes

00:30:16 to ramp up his production,

00:30:18 offering more shades of pigment.

00:30:20 Well, of course, my dream

00:30:22 is to enlarge this project

00:30:24 and to create an old-fashioned

00:30:26 dye factory and to produce

00:30:28 more, but as I said,

00:30:30 the main concern should always be

00:30:32 to preserve the species because

00:30:34 if there is no Murex, there is no dye.

00:30:36 Frankincense and myrrh

00:30:42 are perhaps best known for their biblical connotations,

00:30:44 but this tree sap

00:30:46 has been prized across the world

00:30:48 for over 6,000 years.

00:30:50 These fragrant incense pieces

00:30:52 come from the Bursaaceae family of trees

00:30:54 and are found across the Horn of Africa

00:30:56 and the Arabian Peninsula.

00:30:58 But despite recent attempts

00:31:00 to protect these trees, they could soon

00:31:02 be headed for extinction.

00:31:04 So what makes

00:31:06 frankincense and myrrh so expensive?

00:31:08 There are roughly

00:31:10 550 species of Bursaaceae,

00:31:12 a collection of trees

00:31:14 often referred to as the incense tree family,

00:31:16 recognizable for their flaking,

00:31:18 aromatic bark, and fragrant sap.

00:31:20 But true frankincense

00:31:22 comes from only a small fraction

00:31:24 of those species.

00:31:26 Frankincense is a milky white

00:31:42 resin derived from Boswellia trees,

00:31:44 which are remarkable for their ability

00:31:46 to grow in unforgiving conditions.

00:31:48 In fact, these trees have been known to grow

00:31:50 out of solid rock.

00:31:52 Myrrh, on the other hand, is a reddish

00:31:54 resin extracted from Comefora trees.

00:31:56 The process of

00:31:58 extracting sap from Boswellia and

00:32:00 Comefora trees is virtually identical.

00:32:02 Incisions

00:32:04 or taps are made in the bark of the tree,

00:32:06 which create injury.

00:32:08 The trees produce a gummy resin, like a

00:32:10 scab, as a protection against the injury.

00:32:12 The resin then hardens

00:32:14 into teardrop pieces.

00:32:16 More incisions are made at important

00:32:18 intervals to continue the production

00:32:20 of resin exudates.

00:32:22 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:24 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:26 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:28 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:30 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:32 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:34 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:36 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:38 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:40 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:42 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:44 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:46 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:48 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:50 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:52 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:54 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:32:56 The resin granules

00:32:58 collected from the trees must be separated

00:33:00 into different grades.

00:33:02 First grade A frankincense

00:33:04 is clear, white, and without impurities.

00:33:06 Smaller pieces

00:33:08 of the same high-quality granules

00:33:10 are separated within a sieve

00:33:12 and classified as first grade B frankincense.

00:33:14 The grades gradually

00:33:16 deteriorate based on the size

00:33:18 and the amount of impurities, such as

00:33:20 bark infused into the resin.

00:33:22 Low-quality frankincense is mainly

00:33:24 sold for local market consumption,

00:33:26 whereas grades 1, 2, 3, and 4

00:33:28 are exported.

00:33:30 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:32 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:34 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:36 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:38 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:40 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:42 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:44 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:46 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:48 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:50 [Speaking in Swahili]

00:33:52 That means that at wholesale,

00:33:54 this sack of first grade A

00:33:56 Ethiopian frankincense is worth about

00:33:58 $430.

00:34:00 Frankincense and myrrh have been

00:34:02 burnt as incense for thousands of years,

00:34:04 and both are deeply ingrained in religious

00:34:06 ceremonial burnings.

00:34:08 In fact, it's estimated that the Roman

00:34:10 Catholic Church alone still uses

00:34:12 an estimated 50 metric tons

00:34:14 of frankincense a year.

00:34:16 Frankincense and myrrh

00:34:18 were some of the most highly prized commodities

00:34:20 in ancient civilizations,

00:34:22 and became the driving force behind the creation

00:34:24 of the incense trade routes,

00:34:26 a vast network of major land and sea

00:34:28 passageways dating back to 300

00:34:30 BC that linked the Mediterranean

00:34:32 to luxury goods from the south.

00:34:34 At the height of their use,

00:34:36 these routes allowed the transport of

00:34:38 approximately 3,000 tons of incense

00:34:40 every year, hauled by camels.

00:34:42 Today,

00:34:44 alongside its medicinal and cosmetic uses,

00:34:46 frankincense has found a surge

00:34:48 in popularity as an essential oil,

00:34:50 which in its purest form can

00:34:52 be sold for as much as $6,000

00:34:54 per liter. Frankincense

00:34:56 essential oil alone generated

00:34:58 more than $190 million in

00:35:00 2018, and that's expected

00:35:02 to exceed $406 million

00:35:04 by 2028.

00:35:06 But with so much money to be made

00:35:08 from damaging a tree, the tapping

00:35:10 process, which should happen only

00:35:12 two or three times a year, is under

00:35:14 threat not only from environmental dangers

00:35:16 such as wildfires, but also

00:35:18 from local untrained tappers.

00:35:20 It can sometimes take decades

00:35:22 for these trees to start producing resin,

00:35:24 so the sustainability of the

00:35:26 species relies on injuring the tree

00:35:28 without killing it.

00:35:30 Unfortunately, the harvesting process

00:35:32 of frankincense is

00:35:34 very damaging to the tree, so every time

00:35:36 people go there and make

00:35:38 wounds and then collect the sap,

00:35:40 that doesn't give enough time

00:35:42 to rest for the tree

00:35:44 and heal itself. So one of our findings

00:35:46 is this tree is really

00:35:48 under a threat.

00:35:50 The International Union for Conservation of

00:35:52 Nature categorized the Boswellia sacra

00:35:54 species as near-threatened over

00:35:56 20 years ago, and the

00:35:58 lack of over-harvesting laws in some

00:36:00 countries means that protecting Boswellia

00:36:02 trees in such remote areas is

00:36:04 virtually impossible.

00:36:06 Experts who surveyed aging Boswellia

00:36:08 papyrifia trees in North Africa

00:36:10 suggested that most hadn't produced

00:36:12 a young tree in half a century.

00:36:14 [Speaking in foreign language]

00:36:43 [Music]

00:36:48 Almost everyone at this market

00:36:50 in Lagos, Nigeria

00:36:52 is here to buy stockfish.

00:36:54 A coveted source of protein,

00:36:56 it sells for $65 per kilogram,

00:36:59 seven times as much as other

00:37:01 popular fish like croaker.

00:37:03 But no one in Nigeria

00:37:06 can actually produce this unique

00:37:08 dried cod.

00:37:10 The fish comes from thousands of miles

00:37:12 away in Norway,

00:37:14 where entire operations are dedicated

00:37:16 to supplying the stockfish demand

00:37:18 in Nigeria.

00:37:20 It's 99.9% for Nigeria.

00:37:25 A full drying rack like this

00:37:27 is worth over $500,000.

00:37:31 But because the supply from Norway

00:37:34 is volatile, prices fluctuate,

00:37:37 and sellers here in Nigeria have no

00:37:39 control over how much fish gets

00:37:41 here.

00:37:43 So how did stockfish first connect

00:37:46 these two economies?

00:37:48 And why is it so expensive?

00:37:51 We add our stockfish.

00:37:54 The stockfish is very important

00:37:56 to Nigerian cuisine

00:37:58 because of the texture and flavor

00:38:01 it gives to the dish,

00:38:03 especially when you want to have

00:38:05 that local smell,

00:38:07 local aroma to your food.

00:38:09 [MUSIC]

00:38:15 This is the fishing village of

00:38:17 Henningsvard in Lofoten, Norway.

00:38:20 It's the ideal location for

00:38:22 drying stockfish.

00:38:24 Cod migrates here at the start

00:38:26 of the winter.

00:38:28 After it's caught, the fish is

00:38:31 graded by size and tied to be hung

00:38:33 on racks, heads and bodies

00:38:35 separately.

00:38:38 The weather here is cold, dry,

00:38:41 and reaches -10 to -15 degrees

00:38:44 Celsius with wind chill.

00:38:47 It's so cold that there are no

00:38:49 insects that could eat the fish,

00:38:51 but not cold enough to freeze

00:38:53 the fish.

00:38:55 And it dries the fish so much

00:38:57 that after a few weeks,

00:38:59 not even birds are interested

00:39:01 in it anymore.

00:39:03 These racks have the capacity

00:39:05 for as much as 4,000 metric tons

00:39:08 of stockfish.

00:39:10 It's a way of conservation.

00:39:12 You know the yield is 23%,

00:39:14 so that means that if you take

00:39:16 out all the water,

00:39:18 it's a way of preserving

00:39:20 the proteins.

00:39:22 Exposed in the freezing wind,

00:39:24 it takes three months for cod

00:39:26 to fully dry and become stockfish.

00:39:29 Once that happens,

00:39:31 stockfish can be stored for up

00:39:33 to three years, making it

00:39:35 an extremely valuable resource.

00:39:38 This is a longer method than

00:39:40 using salt or artificial dryers,

00:39:42 which can dry cod in a week.

00:39:44 But the long wait pays off.

00:39:48 Companies like Nora's buy fresh

00:39:50 cod for 52 kroner,

00:39:52 a little less than $5

00:39:54 per kilogram from fishers.

00:39:56 Once dried, its bulk price

00:39:58 is around 150 kroner

00:40:00 per kilogram.

00:40:02 In Nigeria, it won't be sold

00:40:04 in kilograms, but in 30-kilogram bags.

00:40:09 This heads, after two months

00:40:13 approximately, we can take it

00:40:15 indoor after dry it,

00:40:17 and we press it into 30-kilo

00:40:21 jute bags and ship in 40-feet

00:40:25 containers, and it all goes

00:40:28 to Nigeria, yes.

00:40:31 Up until 60 years ago,

00:40:34 the word "stockfish" meant

00:40:36 little to nothing in Nigeria.

00:40:38 But after the Nigerian Civil War

00:40:41 killed more than a million people,

00:40:43 mostly of starvation in the late '60s,

00:40:46 everything changed.

00:40:48 Among the emergency supplies

00:40:50 other countries sent to Nigeria

00:40:52 to combat the famine,

00:40:54 Norway sent stockfish.

00:40:57 While Norwegians still eat it

00:40:59 in restaurants now,

00:41:01 almost 100% of the stockfish

00:41:03 produced in Norway is headed

00:41:05 to Nigeria, especially

00:41:07 for home cooking.

00:41:09 In 2015, Nigeria imported

00:41:14 $8.94 million worth of stockfish

00:41:17 from Norway.

00:41:19 You know what this is called?

00:41:22 From Norway.

00:41:24 We don't have challenge

00:41:26 selling stockfish around

00:41:28 in the port there, and we sell

00:41:30 as much as we bring.

00:41:32 Nanso is a stockfish dealer.

00:41:34 He's spent 20 years in the business,

00:41:37 going from retailing to dealing

00:41:39 directly with imports.

00:41:41 He sells his stockfish

00:41:43 at the Otowhite Sand Market

00:41:45 in Lagos, Nigeria.

00:41:47 Stockfish, it comes in this

00:41:49 first machine, so there is

00:41:51 the head aspect of it,

00:41:53 which is into three types.

00:41:55 There's one that comes with jaw,

00:41:57 there's also a type of different

00:41:59 heads, so the same way it is

00:42:01 different, the prices are

00:42:03 different. So in two types of

00:42:05 meats, there are the one with

00:42:07 skin, and the one with skin.

00:42:09 Then aside from that one,

00:42:11 there's also the body,

00:42:13 the long one. That one also

00:42:15 is more expensive, and even

00:42:17 that body, there are four

00:42:19 different types.

00:42:21 The hot and humid climate

00:42:23 makes it impossible for

00:42:25 stockfish to be dried here,

00:42:27 so importing it is the only

00:42:29 option.

00:42:31 The stockfish takes six

00:42:35 weeks to get to Nanso

00:42:37 from Norway.

00:42:39 A pack of body here

00:42:41 is above

00:42:43 $500,

00:42:45 and above $300,000.

00:42:47 Then the main body,

00:42:49 the long one, is up to

00:42:51 $800,000 to $900,000

00:42:53 here,

00:42:55 which is more close to

00:42:57 $1,000 or above.

00:42:59 But those prices will not

00:43:01 be the same tomorrow.

00:43:03 Prices fluctuate

00:43:05 depending on the season,

00:43:07 and because it's a more convenient trade currency

00:43:09 than Norwegian kroner,

00:43:11 prices are set in US dollars.

00:43:13 They depend on the

00:43:15 naira to dollar exchange rate of the day.

00:43:17 And even then,

00:43:19 there are two different exchange rates.

00:43:21 The official one,

00:43:23 set by the Central Bank of Nigeria,

00:43:25 and the black market rate.

00:43:27 Black market rates,

00:43:29 although unofficial,

00:43:31 often give a better picture of the real

00:43:33 market conditions.

00:43:35 Most of us

00:43:37 end up going for black market because

00:43:39 it can be in the queue

00:43:41 for dollar for months.

00:43:43 In Nigeria,

00:43:45 these two exchange rates are very

00:43:47 different. Which one you pick

00:43:49 to sell your stock fish can make

00:43:51 or break a business like Nonso's?

00:43:53 That's the major challenge

00:43:55 in every business in this country.

00:43:57 The distribution and

00:43:59 access to gold.

00:44:01 The difference between gold market rates and black market

00:44:03 is over 100.

00:44:05 That's a lot of money.

00:44:07 So it makes the business difficult.

00:44:09 And also makes it expensive for

00:44:11 consumers. So it's a very big

00:44:13 challenge. But for now,

00:44:15 we are dealing with this.

00:44:17 We don't have much option. We have to continue

00:44:19 our business.

00:44:22 In 2021,

00:44:24 to encourage local fish farming,

00:44:26 the Nigerian government added

00:44:28 stock fish to a list of over

00:44:30 40 items that importers

00:44:32 have to buy with actual

00:44:34 US dollars, not Naira

00:44:36 converted into the same amount.

00:44:38 For Nonso, this

00:44:40 made trading stock fish even

00:44:42 more challenging.

00:44:44 15 years ago,

00:44:46 a banana stock fish

00:44:48 could be around 7, 8 million

00:44:50 Naira. But today,

00:44:52 a container of soft fish

00:44:54 would worth between

00:44:56 75 to 80 thousand dollars.

00:44:58 In current black market

00:45:00 rates, that's about from 17 million

00:45:02 to 15 million.

00:45:04 The challenge is assessing for us

00:45:06 through central bank,

00:45:08 where people have left

00:45:10 the business.

00:45:12 The rise in energy costs has

00:45:14 also made the operations in Norway

00:45:16 more expensive to run.

00:45:18 This also reflects on the final price

00:45:20 at the market here.

00:45:22 The way the people go,

00:45:24 for with one they can afford.

00:45:26 So we're now

00:45:28 building a method

00:45:30 that instead of allowing

00:45:32 to be there to spoil, we're now

00:45:34 start slashing. So when you move around the market,

00:45:36 we see people slashing

00:45:38 the stock fish to a smaller size

00:45:40 that people can afford.

00:45:42 I really

00:45:44 can't place a time

00:45:46 frame to how long

00:45:48 I've been

00:45:50 cooking stock fish.

00:45:52 I grew up knowing stock fish.

00:45:54 I learned to use stock fish

00:45:56 also in cooking

00:45:58 the local dishes, the local

00:46:00 delicacies, especially our soup

00:46:02 and stews.

00:46:04 Here

00:46:06 is our

00:46:08 seafood okra

00:46:10 in all

00:46:12 its beauty.

00:46:14 How lovely.

00:46:16 It looks

00:46:18 first of all you feed with the eyes.

00:46:20 The burst of flavours, the taste

00:46:32 all combining

00:46:34 to give this

00:46:36 wonderful aroma.

00:46:38 Back in Norway,

00:46:40 the Nigerian market is too

00:46:42 important to lose.

00:46:44 And it's funny because

00:46:46 we have been trying

00:46:48 to sell to other countries

00:46:50 these products also.

00:46:52 And

00:46:54 every time we think

00:46:56 we try to find, we

00:46:58 found a new market.

00:47:00 Then we find out that

00:47:02 it was really the Nigerians

00:47:04 living in

00:47:06 the Netherlands or England

00:47:08 or the US.

00:47:10 So it's always the Nigerians

00:47:12 who like this.

00:47:14 Argan oil can cost as much as $300 per litre,

00:47:16 making it the world's most expensive

00:47:18 edible oil.

00:47:20 Just 20 years ago, however,

00:47:22 the production of argan oil was

00:47:24 isolated to local villages in Morocco

00:47:26 with international sales

00:47:28 virtually non-existent.

00:47:30 But since then, the formation of

00:47:32 women-run cooperatives has transformed

00:47:34 the production into a billion-dollar

00:47:36 industry.

00:47:38 So, what is the reason for

00:47:40 the rise in the price of argan oil?

00:47:42 It's a billion-dollar industry.

00:47:44 So why has argan oil suddenly gained

00:47:46 such popularity, and what makes it

00:47:48 so expensive?

00:47:50 Argan oil is predominantly used in

00:47:54 high-end cosmetic products and

00:47:56 Moroccan cuisine.

00:47:58 The oil comes from the seed of the argan tree,

00:48:00 native only to the narrow strip of

00:48:02 semi-desert between Morocco's Atlantic

00:48:04 coast and the Atlas Mountains.

00:48:06 The Amasya people of

00:48:08 North Africa have been using the argan

00:48:10 oil for centuries, and the methods

00:48:12 for creating this costly oil haven't

00:48:14 changed in years.

00:48:16 [Argan oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:18 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:20 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:22 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:24 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:26 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:28 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:30 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:32 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:34 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:36 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:38 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:40 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:42 [The oil is collected in a special tank.]

00:48:44 Once collected, the argan fruits

00:48:46 are sun-dried before being peeled

00:48:48 and depulped by hand to remove

00:48:50 the fleshy outer layers.

00:48:52 The leftover argan nut then needs

00:48:54 to be cracked to retrieve the oil-rich

00:48:56 kernel inside.

00:48:58 [Arabic]

00:49:26 The next stage is grinding, which is often also done by hand.

00:49:32 We grind the argan leaves in the traditional way

00:49:36 that our ancestors and the Moroccan traditions have taught us.

00:49:41 This method takes a certain amount of time,

00:49:45 to get one liter.

00:49:47 It takes about two hours.

00:49:49 So we developed it and if we had a lot of requests,

00:49:55 we used the machine.

00:49:57 The machine takes a short time,

00:50:01 in five minutes you can get one liter or two liters.

00:50:04 For argan oil, it is not like other oils,

00:50:09 it is a very expensive oil,

00:50:11 it is called red gold.

00:50:14 It is a very expensive oil

00:50:16 and it requires a lot of effort to produce it.

00:50:20 For a woman who wants to get one liter of argan oil,

00:50:24 it takes about 24 hours.

00:50:27 The leftover pulp removed from the fruit is sold as animal feed,

00:50:32 particularly for goats,

00:50:34 who are intrinsically linked to the argan tree.

00:50:36 In some areas, it's tradition to allow goats to climb the trees

00:50:40 to freely feed on the fruits.

00:50:42 Argan kernels are then collected from their excrement,

00:50:46 saving the laborious work of cracking open the nuts manually.

00:50:49 But nowadays, in most argan forestries,

00:50:52 this peculiar sight is merely used as a tourist attraction.

00:51:18 Traditionally, Amazigh women,

00:51:20 who until 1956 required the man's permission to leave their homes,

00:51:24 made argan oil primarily for culinary purposes,

00:51:27 using methods passed down through generations.

00:51:30 This artisanal oil was occasionally sold on the roadside

00:51:34 in recycled bottles for as little as $3 per liter.

00:51:38 We realized that women who prepared this oil in an artisanal way

00:51:43 had a very soft skin,

00:51:46 and no wrinkles at all.

00:51:48 But we had no scientific evidence.

00:51:50 Zoubida Cherouf first studied the argan tree for her PhD in the late 1980s,

00:51:56 when the species was in dangerous decline.

00:51:58 After conducting scientific research

00:52:01 to support the moisturizing benefits of argan oil on hair and skin,

00:52:05 Cherouf planned to transform the environmental problem

00:52:08 into an economic solution.

00:52:10 The goal was not to keep the results on the drawers at the university,

00:52:15 but to go out on the field,

00:52:17 organize the industry,

00:52:19 organize the industry,

00:52:21 these women who were not organized at all,

00:52:23 who produced argan oil in a traditional way at home.

00:52:26 And so it was very difficult.

00:52:29 It was something new.

00:52:31 They didn't know what a cooperative was.

00:52:33 Then they never left their homes.

00:52:36 And so we started with these 16 women.

00:52:39 And as soon as the others saw what it gave for this first cooperative,

00:52:44 there were many, many women who came to see us,

00:52:48 who also wanted to organize themselves in a cooperative

00:52:51 and take advantage of the commercialization of argan oil.

00:52:56 Sure enough, the rapid rise in popularity of argan oil

00:53:00 not only brought profit to the region,

00:53:02 but also revitalized an entire ecosystem.

00:53:05 The newfound respect for the value of argan trees

00:53:08 ensured stability for the species,

00:53:10 and in turn, the surrounding wildlife and community reaped the benefits.

00:53:14 The argan tree, known locally as the tree of life,

00:53:17 provides food, shelter, and protection from desertification,

00:53:21 and its deep roots prevent soil erosion,

00:53:24 allowing vegetated grass to grow for grazing livestock.

00:53:27 It's estimated that up to 90% of the economy in this region

00:53:31 is owed to the argan tree.

00:53:34 There are almost 3 million people who use argan oil,

00:53:38 because it provides many working days for the local population.

00:53:42 Just by extracting the oil,

00:53:45 it provides almost a million working days.

00:53:49 But the most important role is the environmental role.

00:53:53 Argan oil is really the last open road in the desert.

00:53:57 In just one generation, the international market for argan oil

00:54:02 has risen from just 200 liters to 4,000 metric tons in 2019.

00:54:07 By 2025, the state's ambition is to sell over 10,000 metric tons.

00:54:13 To facilitate this increase,

00:54:15 the area for producing the oil has expanded more than 100 miles south of Aswara,

00:54:19 and is due to expand north.

00:54:22 As with any costly ingredient, argan oil products are often adulterated.

00:54:26 Both cosmetic and culinary argan oil is often labeled as "pure,"

00:54:30 despite the undisclosed percentage of argania kernel oil

00:54:34 being mixed with a host of chemical compounds.

00:54:37 And cheaper, mechanically extracted oil has begun to appear on the market

00:54:42 for as little as $22 a liter,

00:54:44 threatening the stability of the local cooperatives.

00:54:47 However, some cosmetic giants such as L'Oreal

00:54:50 have committed to fair trade programs

00:54:52 to help ensure the stability of their argan oil

00:54:55 and the preservation of the forest's biodiversity.

00:54:58 With the help of the cooperatives,

00:55:00 the traditional skills held by the Amazigh women

00:55:03 have created a booming industry.

00:55:05 But even though this income has granted some financial independence

00:55:08 in a male-dominated society,

00:55:10 the women normally make less than $220 a month,

00:55:14 below Morocco's recommended national minimum wage.

00:55:17 With the argan oil industry predicted to continue its growth,

00:55:21 the prosperity of the Amazigh women remains to be seen.

00:55:26 On day one, harvesters cut out these river reeds.

00:55:30 And in eight days, after drying, burning, and filtering,

00:55:37 the reeds will produce one of the most expensive salts in the world.

00:55:41 Just one tablespoon of river reed salt costs about $1 in Kenya.

00:55:46 Compare that to the four cents it costs locals

00:55:49 for the same amount of sea salt.

00:55:51 So how do producers make salt from river reeds?

00:55:55 And why is it so expensive?

00:55:57 River reed salt, or chumviya kiyenyeji,

00:56:02 is made from the reeds of the machuwa plant

00:56:05 that grow along the Anzoya River.

00:56:07 Once the salt is extracted,

00:56:09 it's typically sold in small quantities

00:56:11 to chefs and luxury hotel owners in Kenya and abroad.

00:56:15 Buyers describe its saltiness as powerful and umami-like.

00:56:19 I buy the river reed salt because of, I would say, the magic in it.

00:56:24 The texture is smooth. It is not rough or coarse.

00:56:28 For those who have tasted umami from Japan,

00:56:31 it tastes almost the same, but this one has more of a sharp taste.

00:56:37 So when you're cooking with it, you won't use a lot of it.

00:56:41 Today, only the Bukuzu community in the village of Wibuye

00:56:45 continues the traditional process of making this rare salt by hand.

00:56:50 This is the Anzoya River.

00:56:53 And this is Andrew Anyonyi Sikanga.

00:56:56 Andrew and his sons harvest the reeds that grow along the riverbanks.

00:57:00 Before they go out to harvest, Andrew starts the morning with a prayer.

00:57:04 They pray for protection from the dangers they might encounter at the river,

00:57:13 like snakes and crocodiles.

00:57:16 To avoid coming into contact with them,

00:57:18 Andrew and his sons need to harvest early.

00:57:22 The snakes come in the morning,

00:57:26 but they don't come out at night.

00:57:30 We go out at night because of the danger of the snakes.

00:57:34 Today, they're looking for ripe river reeds.

00:57:39 This is a ripe reed.

00:57:44 If you remove the leaves, you'll find another one.

00:57:48 This one has a nail, but it's still growing.

00:57:54 We look at the nail's length.

00:57:59 I would say two meters, but if it's not there, we cut it off.

00:58:04 If the reed isn't at least two meters tall,

00:58:07 and the flowers at the top aren't wilted and nearly dried,

00:58:10 the concentration of salt will be too low.

00:58:13 Andrew hacks away at the ripe reeds,

00:58:16 being careful not to uproot the plant or cut too close to the roots.

00:58:20 That way, the reeds can regrow more quickly,

00:58:23 and the roots can continue to spread onto other rocks.

00:58:26 Only reeds with a high salt content make the effort worth it,

00:58:30 because from them, Andrew can make enough salt to sell.

00:58:34 It's risky.

00:58:37 Sometimes, if you come with a sick person,

00:58:40 the water will be polluted.

00:58:42 But if you come with a pregnant woman,

00:58:46 you can't cut the reeds off.

00:58:48 If you cut them off, you'll end up with a pregnant woman.

00:58:51 Sometimes, you cut them off like this.

00:58:54 Like this one here.

00:58:56 That's the problem.

00:58:58 Though there was a mild injury, today's harvest was a good one.

00:59:03 After a long day of navigating the waters of the Anzoya River,

00:59:08 Andrew and his sons leave the riverbank with a lot of reeds.

00:59:12 This is what we got in February.

00:59:15 We also got some at home.

00:59:17 We're happy with it.

00:59:19 When we plant these here,

00:59:21 they'll grow to about 2 grams.

00:59:25 Here, they'll grow to about 2 grams,

00:59:29 or about 20 grams.

00:59:32 Those 20 tablespoons will sell for about $20.

00:59:38 Now they can begin the long, manual process of extracting salt.

00:59:43 First, Andrew must dry the reeds.

00:59:47 Drying reeds can take four days when the skies are sunny,

00:59:51 but in cloudier weather, it'll take longer.

00:59:54 To begin processing, he has to burn the reeds for one to three days.

01:00:03 [fire crackling]

01:00:07 Once all the reeds turn to ash,

01:00:11 Andrew places them in a large pot with drainage holes.

01:00:15 Then, he slowly adds water.

01:00:23 The water filters through the ashes and holes,

01:00:26 each drop collecting at the bottom.

01:00:30 He pours those droplets through another filter and into an aluminum pan.

01:00:35 Next, he places the pan over an open fire,

01:00:40 where the solution is left to boil until the liquid evaporates.

01:00:44 Finally, after a full day of work,

01:00:49 Andrew is left with this wet, salty paste.

01:00:52 The next day, he packs the paste into banana leaves

01:00:56 and places them under hot ashes to dry.

01:00:59 [soft music]

01:01:02 After three hours, the salt hardens.

01:01:07 From reed to salt, the process takes at least eight days.

01:01:11 Andrew will sell the salt in the banana leaves.

01:01:15 This is the same long process his family has practiced for generations.

01:01:22 [speaking in foreign language]

01:01:25 It's believed the tradition began in the 17th century

01:01:37 when the Bokuzu people migrated eastward from Congo.

01:01:40 At the time, areas in western Kenya were cut off from salt routes,

01:01:45 so they set out to find a way to extract salt from these aquatic plants.

01:01:51 Centuries later, the salt that was made out of necessity

01:01:55 became a pricey commodity.

01:01:57 At the market, this pack containing just three tablespoons of river reed salt

01:02:03 costs about $3, and this larger pack, $7.

01:02:07 It's likely to sell because local demand is high.

01:02:11 Buyers know the intense work put into making this salt,

01:02:14 so for them, the price is worth it.

01:02:17 Although there aren't studies to confirm it,

01:02:20 market sellers say that part of what keeps the salt in high demand locally

01:02:23 is the belief it has special medicinal properties.

01:02:26 But the most notable feature is its taste.

01:02:30 In fact, Andrew's river reed salt won the title for most unique indigenous salt

01:02:35 at an international gastronomy exhibition in Italy in 2014.

01:02:39 Slow Food, one of the organizers of the exhibition,

01:02:43 established a presidium in 2009 for Kenya's river reed salt

01:02:47 to drive more demand for the product.

01:02:49 But fulfilling that demand would require more supply,

01:02:53 which is difficult when production is so limited.

01:02:56 One of the biggest threats to river reed salt production is climate change.

01:03:01 According to Slow Food, the growing population in Kenya

01:03:05 has led to deforestation.

01:03:07 Indigenous trees along the Angzoya River have long held soil particles together

01:03:12 and provided shade, keeping temperatures stable.

01:03:15 But the loss of these trees, along with higher temperatures,

01:03:19 unstable river levels and landslides,

01:03:21 has contributed to the loss of river reeds.

01:03:24 Andrew tried growing the reeds with other water sources,

01:03:28 but couldn't get the same outcome.

01:03:30 I planted the reeds here,

01:03:34 and then I planted them at home.

01:03:37 When I planted them at home, they died.

01:03:41 When I brought water to irrigate them,

01:03:45 they died.

01:03:47 But when I brought water from the Angzoya River,

01:03:50 they died.

01:03:52 But when I brought water from the Angzoya River,

01:03:55 they died.

01:03:57 Other reeds died.

01:04:00 In addition to conservation efforts like replanting indigenous trees,

01:04:04 Slow Food is working on creating more marshy areas for the reeds to grow.

01:04:08 Since the river reed salt really does well with the waters from the river,

01:04:14 we were thinking that if we try a little bit to divert some of this water from the river

01:04:20 and have a marshy area, plus some of the rocks,

01:04:24 we can actually try to see whether we can increase the number of reeds.

01:04:28 Because I know that as the people continue knowing about this particular salt,

01:04:33 there will be high demand.

01:04:35 This project, along with increased commercial exposure of river reed salt,

01:04:40 hopes to help producers like Andrew and his sons keep their work alive for generations to come.

01:04:48 This massive 50kg Nile perch is a rare catch for these Ugandan fishers.

01:04:54 But it's not the fish meat that will make them the most money.

01:04:58 It's this balloon-like internal organ known as a fish maw or a swim bladder.

01:05:05 Dried fish maws can sell for up to $800 a pound,

01:05:10 but older maws like this one from a large slate cod croaker

01:05:14 are valued as high as $4,000 for a single piece.

01:05:19 Fishers sell it to Chinese markets around the world

01:05:30 where people eat it for its health benefits and supposed anti-ageing properties.

01:05:35 But the supply chain in China is facing a big problem.

01:05:39 Due to overfishing in Chinese waters,

01:05:42 connoisseurs are now looking abroad to places like Uganda for fish maw.

01:05:46 The organ is so prized that smuggling and theft are rampant in the industry.

01:05:52 So why is fishing for maw worth the risk?

01:05:56 And why is it so expensive?

01:05:58 Po-Wing Kong Food Market in New York City's Chinatown

01:06:03 has been selling fish maw ever since it first opened in 1980.

01:06:07 Today it specialises in rare dried seafood delicacies.

01:06:12 Sophia Tsao runs this shop with her parents.

01:06:15 She says that these days fish maw is so rare

01:06:19 that they have to buy it in bulk as soon as it becomes available.

01:06:23 Usually we request a certain size and certain type of fish maw

01:06:27 because we know what sells the best.

01:06:29 And we usually maybe get 50% of what we request because the demand is so high.

01:06:34 Fish maw or swim bladder is an organ that enables fish to control their buoyancy.

01:06:40 Fish maw is traditionally considered one of the four treasures of Cantonese cuisine

01:06:45 along with shark fin, abalone and sea cucumber.

01:06:49 Zhao Xiong, who has worked for Po-Wing Kong for 10 years,

01:06:53 supervises the dried seafood department.

01:06:56 He's an expert on the four treasures.

01:07:00 This is a type of fish maw.

01:07:02 Usually fish maw has a yellowish colour on the tail

01:07:06 and it's also translucent.

01:07:11 So the longer it's aged, the thicker the fish maw becomes.

01:07:16 The fish maw contains a lot of collagen and protein

01:07:21 and it also contains a lot of microorganisms.

01:07:28 The store orders all of its fish maw from a USDA-certified broker

01:07:32 who works directly with traders and fishers in Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.

01:07:38 Usually when we order fish maw it's about 30 to 50 pounds per case

01:07:44 and general prices are between 4 to 8 thousand depending on the quality of the fish maw.

01:07:49 They resell it for anywhere from 200 to 800 dollars per pound

01:07:54 depending on the type and quality.

01:07:57 The Chinese Bahaba or large yellow croaker was a main source of fish maw for decades.

01:08:02 But in 1989 the Chinese government designated it a Grade II state-protected species.

01:08:08 And in 2006 the International Union for Conservation of Nature

01:08:13 also assessed the fish as critically endangered.

01:08:16 Today the majority of fish maw is imported from other countries, including Uganda,

01:08:22 where fishing for an invasive species called Nile perch on Lake Victoria

01:08:27 has become a lucrative business for locals like Amber Francis.

01:08:31 It's early morning on Kisima One Island in Jinja.

01:08:36 Amber is packing up his bait and hooks and preparing his boat to set out on Lake Victoria.

01:08:42 He's worked as a fisher here for the past 10 years.

01:08:51 He says Nile perch sold for much cheaper when he first started,

01:08:56 before there was demand for the bladders.

01:08:58 The islands in the area around Jinja, like Kisima,

01:09:02 are used as a base for the estimated 2,000 or so fishers in the area.

01:09:07 While Ugandans don't typically eat fish maw themselves, Amber has tried it and loves it.

01:09:14 Yeah, we used to eat it and we enjoyed it a lot.

01:09:17 Other people sometimes back there used to throw them away.

01:09:21 Not until they came to realise that it's tasty, it's good, that's when they started to consume it.

01:09:28 Amber says he can make around $4,000 a month selling fish maw to traders,

01:09:37 depending on the size of his catch.

01:09:42 Each kilo, they can buy it at 25,000, only a kilo.

01:09:47 When I get that one which weighs like 10 kilograms, that's 250, which is a lot of money in Uganda.

01:09:54 But finding the biggest fish requires some special tricks and knowing where to look.

01:10:00 The weather right now is good for fishing, but in two to three hours, the water will be rough.

01:10:07 He focuses on the deep water and he baits his hooks with a live young catfish, known locally as ensuma.

01:10:15 If the water is too cold, the ensuma can die instantly and Nile perch won't go after dead fish.

01:10:26 Each hook is demarcated with a bottle so he knows which lines belong to him.

01:10:31 Because these fish are so valuable, theft is also an issue on the lake.

01:10:36 Unfortunately, you go there, you find nothing, when everything was taken by those thieves.

01:10:42 Once he's baited his lines, he leaves them in the water and returns to the island to rest until evening.

01:10:48 Now we are going to rest for some time, like three to four hours,

01:10:54 after we come back and check our hooks, what we have put there, to see whether there's Nile perch on it.

01:11:03 Amber says he typically catches six or seven fish per day, usually all weighing under 20 kilograms.

01:11:10 The biggest one he has ever caught was a massive 98 kilograms.

01:11:15 I feel good when it pulls me. Yeah, that's what I enjoy, it's like a game to me.

01:11:21 Today he caught only six fish, but the biggest one was about 30 kilograms.

01:11:31 I didn't expect to get more than this. Yeah, actually it's a bad day to me.

01:11:38 The fishers don't remove the bladders themselves.

01:11:42 Tomorrow, Amber will sell his fish directly to the trader, who hired him at the local market in Masese.

01:11:57 Amber's boss is Hakim Magumba, who has been working in the fishing industry for about 23 years.

01:12:03 He previously traded tilapia to buyers in Kenya, but he now works with Nile perch because it's much more profitable.

01:12:11 I fish because I need fish more. Because fish more is like gold to my side, you understand.

01:12:19 We used to throw it back, we used to throw the bladder, because it was no sense, we wanted that.

01:12:27 That meat, but nowadays, money.

01:12:31 Hakim says he has 22 boats and 30 fishers like Amber working for him.

01:12:37 Once they deliver the fish to him, they are weighed, sorted and priced based on their size.

01:12:44 This fish weighs 12 kilos. After weighing, we are going to cut it and see the bladder which is in it.

01:12:55 The bladders must be removed and cleaned by hand.

01:12:58 We sell it at the 500,000 Ugandan shillings.

01:13:03 The rest of the fish doesn't go to waste. Hakim sells it to the locals in Uganda, where it's a popular delicacy.

01:13:12 The moor will eventually make its way to Chinese exporters who dry it and ship it to Hong Kong and other locations worldwide.

01:13:21 Hakim is just one of many traders in the area trying to make a living in fish moor with competitors all around him.

01:13:27 We have people from Kenya, people from TZ, their own competitors. Very many.

01:13:38 Aside from the competition, Hakim says one of the biggest challenges the fishers in Uganda face is run-ins with local authorities.

01:13:47 The guys who are in business of fish moor, they don't have the license. So when you don't have license, you are caught with the soldiers.

01:13:56 Crime is also an issue on land, according to Hakim. He says some of his colleagues have been robbed while transporting their goods to Chinese buyers.

01:14:06 The theft is too much. Too much. Mostly on the loads when you're taking it to the Chinese.

01:14:15 And getting into the industry is costly. Not everyone can afford the initial investment of equipment, which includes a government-licensed boat, an engine, plus regulation hooks and bait.

01:14:27 Yeah, actually it requires a lot of capital to deal in fishing in Alpach. Like me as a fisherman, just one boat I require like 15 million shillings.

01:14:42 But fishing has already been detrimental to many fish species around the world.

01:14:46 A large croaker in Mexico's Gulf of California called the totoaba is now in danger of extinction due to the fish moor trade.

01:14:54 But this fish, often dubbed the cocaine of the sea, is still illegally trafficked into China.

01:15:01 In April 2023, US Customs seized $2.7 million worth of totoaba fish moor hidden in a shipment of frozen fish fillets in Arizona.

01:15:12 Even so, demand for fish moor is not slowing down.

01:15:17 On a weekday morning at Po Wing Hong, the aisles are as busy as ever, with customers scouring the shelves for dried seafood products as soon as they open.

01:15:28 While fish moor is more popular among the older generations, Sophia says younger people have started incorporating it into their diets as well.

01:15:36 I feel that nowadays a lot of younger people are eating fish moor because it reminds them of dishes that they had in the past and it's a little bit of nostalgia.

01:15:45 Also they want to embrace their culture and relearn the dishes that are really traditional.

01:15:53 And that rare $4,000 fish moor they have on hand? It's so special to Po Wing Hong that it's not even for sale.

01:15:59 We keep it just as a keepsake. We just have it as part of our collection.

01:16:08 Today, Victor is climbing trees up to 40 feet high, equipped with a homemade axe, a rope and his own bare feet, which he's using to reach something very valuable.

01:16:24 The fruits that'll be turned into red palm oil.

01:16:29 Standard palm oil, or palm kernel oil, is known for being quite cheap, but red palm oil can cost three times as much.

01:16:37 When it's shipped to the US or the UK, it can sell for even more, up to $20 for a single litre.

01:16:45 Workers like Victor face snakes and the risk of falling just to harvest this valuable fruit.

01:16:57 But what makes red palm oil different from palm oil and what exactly makes it so expensive?

01:17:04 This is what palm oil looks like. Our local palm oil. I actually prefer to cook with red palm oil because of the taste.

01:17:20 Red palm oil has a mildly floral flavour and a buttery texture.

01:17:25 Palm oil generally is used for our local food. All the time, all the time, all the time.

01:17:31 Here in Ondo State, Nigeria, making this local favourite is a labour-intensive and artisanal process.

01:17:44 Thousands of fleshy palm fruits are transformed into yellow-brown sludge and then red-orange oil.

01:17:52 Over the course of a week, it all starts on oil palm plantations like this one in the village of Ayi.

01:17:59 Every few weeks, expert climbers are called in to harvest the palm husks.

01:18:04 The trees here can be as high as 60 feet.

01:18:08 Climbers like Victor don't wear any protective gear, relying on just handmade harnesses and axes to help them up the palm trees.

01:18:18 And this is our rope, and I take it and cut it.

01:18:27 Victor makes new ropes with fresh palm fibres whenever he feels his current one isn't strong or tight enough.

01:18:34 This is important because old rope can become brittle and snap.

01:18:41 Sometimes, some people use their life. See my rope now, I'm telling you, they use it.

01:18:48 It doesn't sit, it doesn't hold, and it doesn't break.

01:18:51 I'm a climber, gentle, gentle, no rush. Use my axe, and you can fire it.

01:18:58 It takes three years for oil palm trees to bear fruit, but once they do, they can be harvested year-round.

01:19:06 Sometimes they cut 200.

01:19:13 Every person wants to learn this work.

01:19:18 All this, and all the green, make this rope grow up.

01:19:24 It will be cleaner than it was.

01:19:27 I want to cut it now.

01:19:30 The biggest obstacle Victor faces once he's climbing is snakes.

01:19:34 If you carry your axe, and one cuts, that snake will touch your rope, and that person will fall.

01:19:41 The risk of falling has led some workers to stop climbing, and instead help with collecting the palm husks from the safety of the ground.

01:19:49 I need a climb tree. We've got a tree here.

01:19:54 Before, they climbed this banger. This banger is so dangerous.

01:20:00 If you climb, if you go there, you will see snakes fall off.

01:20:05 It's very difficult to separate the fresh fruit from the thick, sweet, bitter pulp.

01:20:21 From the thick, spiky palm husks.

01:20:25 So, they're left out to dry.

01:20:28 This time also allows the fruit to ferment, which elevates the oil's flavour.

01:20:33 After three or four days, the fruits are ready to be dehusked.

01:20:38 Randy and other workers use axes to break the husks, and sift the fruit to separate them from dirt.

01:20:49 Did you look where I went? Back over there.

01:20:51 They collect the fruit in large sacks, and transport it to a processing site in the nearby village of Ileze.

01:21:12 Randy delivers the palm fruit to his wife, Deborah, who is one of the many workers toiling away to transform the fruits into red palm oil.

01:21:21 The sacks of fruit are dumped into buckets and large drums.

01:21:30 For that one drum, you need to put two of them in a bucket.

01:21:35 So, like this, it doesn't ferment.

01:21:38 If it doesn't ferment, some people say it doesn't rot. It doesn't rot.

01:21:42 Water is added to the drums to boil the fruit.

01:21:46 I go pour water. But make the water not too much.

01:21:50 I get on the water and make a water pot.

01:21:52 We know the taste. We are local.

01:21:55 So, we know the taste of the fruit.

01:21:59 We are not the art chemicals.

01:22:01 After one hour, the fruit is ready to be drained and taken to the miller.

01:22:07 Inside this drum, it boils. See the water, it doesn't change.

01:22:13 What we do before, if they don't go cut and farm, we don't pick and finish.

01:22:20 We get more people who don't do by ourselves.

01:22:23 We don't carry cement, do it very well.

01:22:27 If they don't cook and finish, they go to the market and we finish.

01:22:32 But the mill still involves a significant amount of labour,

01:22:36 as someone must manually load and empty the fruit.

01:22:40 After the mill, it's time for another recently acquired machine.

01:22:55 A hydraulic press.

01:22:57 The fruit, which has been milled into a pulp, is pressed to release its oil.

01:23:04 No kernel oil is released here, because that would require the seeds to be dried and cracked.

01:23:13 Some locals do produce kernel oil, but since it's more difficult to make without special machinery, it's not as common.

01:23:22 While oil palms originated in West Africa, colonisation led to the rapid expansion of oil palm plantations throughout Southeast Asia.

01:23:31 Eventually, Southeast Asia took over the global palm oil industry,

01:23:36 and as other oils also grew in popularity, West Africa never quite caught up.

01:23:41 West Africa's rainy season, which typically lasts from May to October, is also an ongoing issue.

01:23:50 In the rainy season, if it rains and falls, if you climb a palm tree,

01:23:54 it means that you don't plant, you want to kill yourself.

01:23:58 Because you know government, if you climb when it rains and falls, the palm tree will drop.

01:24:02 So when it's raining, no one is climbing the trees, which means the fruit often goes rotten.

01:24:09 And thanks to climate change, the rainy season has been lasting longer, causing more damage.

01:24:16 This decreases the already low supply of palm fruits and raises the price of red palm oil.

01:24:22 In contrast, palm kernel oil plantations harvest on a massive scale and rely on heavy machinery for the bulk of their production.

01:24:31 We work hard, but we suffer for this.

01:24:35 Government doesn't support us.

01:24:41 My children, my wife, my friends, they suffer.

01:24:45 We have a family engine.

01:24:49 We don't have money to buy a big one, or the one that will guarantee us a good life.

01:24:58 So now it's...

01:25:00 After enough oil has been collected in the large bowls underneath the press,

01:25:05 workers carefully scoop the orange-red liquid into other bowls and buckets.

01:25:11 The oil is poured into drums for a final boil.

01:25:17 After one hour, the fire is put out and the oil is left to cool off.

01:25:25 The finished oil is moved into buckets, then funnelled into jerry cans.

01:25:30 Deborah says some customers travel all the way from Lagos state, which is about five hours away by car, to buy her red palm oil.

01:25:39 Some people think I will do more than 15 kegs, 30-30 litres.

01:25:44 These kegs sell for $30 each.

01:25:47 Although the price can change depending on the supply of palm fruits.

01:25:53 I don't have a lot of oil, so I don't carry it around.

01:25:56 I sell it for my house and get plenty of customers.

01:25:59 The price of red palm oil can also vary depending on location.

01:26:05 A four-litre bottle at a supermarket in a bigger city like Lagos can cost around $18,

01:26:13 making it the same price or even cheaper than some imported vegetable oils,

01:26:18 thanks to Nigeria's volatile exchange rates.

01:26:23 Meanwhile, the red palm oil that is exported outside of West Africa is exponentially more expensive,

01:26:30 ranging from $15 to $20 for one litre in the US, and the cost may only be getting higher.

01:26:37 Cooking oil prices have been on the rise thanks to weather-related supply shortages in countries like Argentina and Canada.

01:26:46 The Russian invasion of Ukraine also cut the world off from the region's supply of sunflower oil

01:26:52 and led Indonesia to ban some exports of its palm oil.

01:26:56 All this raised the global price of cooking oils even higher.

01:27:00 As a result, the local cost of red palm oil in Nigeria has also increased,

01:27:05 but for many people, the price is worth the taste.

01:27:09 I believe in my own knowledge, it's better.

01:27:14 The price at the expense of me, they don't tell me, say, don't go up more, more, more, more,

01:27:19 because they work, not the use.

01:27:21 It can take 30 kilos of raw wool to make a single Moroccan rug.

01:27:31 Women tie each knot by hand, one row at a time.

01:27:35 Instead of using guides, they work from their imagination.

01:27:39 What we do is to express our feelings and our lives.

01:27:45 Every rug has its own story.

01:27:48 When sold online, authentic rugs can cost over $2,000,

01:27:54 but the women who make them often receive the least profit.

01:27:58 The most Fadma has sold a rug for? $600.

01:28:03 Most of the profits are taken by middlemen, who buy the rugs from artisans and sell them for several times more in big markets.

01:28:10 Authentic rugs also compete with knockoffs made outside of Morocco.

01:28:30 Today, dozens of cooperatives are working together to fight for a fair wage.

01:28:34 We went to Morocco to find out why these artisans struggle to earn a profit, while the rugs are so expensive.

01:28:41 Deep in the Atlas Mountains, there are thousands of artisans weaving rugs like this.

01:28:48 They've been woven throughout Morocco for centuries by Amazigh tribes.

01:28:54 This type of rugs are very difficult to make and very expensive.

01:28:59 Fadma has been making rugs her whole life.

01:29:03 She says weaving is much more than just a job.

01:29:07 When I was young, I used to make rugs to see how they were made.

01:29:17 Her day starts with making bread.

01:29:21 Besides weaving, the women here are responsible for childcare and household chores.

01:29:25 Artisans use wool from local sheep, but there's a lot of work to do before this wool is ready to weave.

01:29:32 Raw wool starts out like this.

01:29:35 Artisans carry the wool to a nearby river to wash it, removing any dirt or debris.

01:29:41 Once the wool dries, artisans spin it into yarn.

01:29:48 These large combs untangle the fibers in a process called carding.

01:29:52 Artisans spin the wool two times, combining threads for a sturdier result.

01:29:59 It's patient work, but Fadma says working together makes it more enjoyable.

01:30:08 We work together.

01:30:10 We all have our own jobs, so why not?

01:30:13 If you're having a hard time, you can't do it alone.

01:30:18 If we work together, we can share our joys.

01:30:23 We don't feel tired.

01:30:26 We can work together, eat together, and sleep together.

01:30:30 We can work well together, and we can make money together.

01:30:33 It's not like we're alone.

01:30:37 These women are part of the Kasbah Doznakht Cooperative, one of around 50 in the region.

01:30:42 Their aim is to help each other weave and to sell rugs directly, cutting out the middlemen.

01:30:48 It's hard to work together.

01:30:51 You need to be patient, and then you can share your joys with your friends.

01:31:05 Having several artisans is especially useful when weaving a large rug.

01:31:09 They measure out the length and hammer two stakes into the ground.

01:31:13 Artisans walk the yarn back and forth dozens of times to start the rug.

01:31:18 The rest of the rug is woven into this base.

01:31:22 From here, artisans unravel the yarn and attach it to the loom.

01:31:28 This marks the start of weeks of work.

01:31:31 Moroccan rugs are thick, soft, and durable, thanks to the wool from local mountain sheep.

01:31:38 The Bakh has around 300 sheep and goats.

01:31:42 He shears them in a march and sells most of the wool.

01:31:46 He's also a very good farmer.

01:31:49 He's a very good farmer.

01:31:53 He's a very good farmer.

01:31:59 The Bakh sells his wool for around $10 per kilogram.

01:32:03 It's a very good wool.

01:32:06 It's a very good wool.

01:32:10 It's a very good wool.

01:32:14 It's a very good wool.

01:32:18 It's a very good wool.

01:32:23 The Bakh sells his wool for around $10 per kilogram.

01:32:26 It's very difficult to make.

01:32:29 It's very difficult to make.

01:32:32 We have to buy water, and we have to buy a lot of things.

01:32:35 We have to buy a lot of things.

01:32:38 We have to buy a lot of things.

01:32:43 Back at the cooperative, artisans are busy dyeing the wool.

01:32:52 They use natural ingredients that create rich and varied colours.

01:32:56 Artisans mix alum stones in boiling water to help the yarn absorb the dye.

01:33:03 Fadma uses ingredients like rosemary and henna.

01:33:07 She uses pomegranate peel to make yellow.

01:33:10 Keeping track of what the raw materials cost and factoring that into the price of a rug is another challenge.

01:33:17 Artisans who use natural dyes instead of chemical dyes need more raw materials.

01:33:22 And some of these ingredients, like madder, a root used for red dye, are expensive when bought in large amounts.

01:33:29 This dyed yarn forms Fadma's palette of colours that she weaves into the base to form a design.

01:33:37 When all the materials are ready, Fadma starts to weave.

01:33:43 The most difficult stage is the knot.

01:33:50 Each knot is tied individually, one row at a time.

01:33:54 After decades of practice, Fadma is able to quickly weave dyed yarn through the base.

01:34:00 We make the stuffing and then we weave it.

01:34:10 We weave it until it's ready to be used.

01:34:15 Then we continue weaving.

01:34:18 We weave the yarn in a single row, one by one.

01:34:27 Each region of Morocco has its own designs and motifs.

01:34:32 Like Bini Oryan from the Middle Atlas,

01:34:36 or Daznakhd rugs from northwestern Africa, which use several weaving techniques to create complex patterns.

01:34:43 On large rugs, artisans work side by side.

01:34:47 The more complicated the pattern, the harder it is to weave.

01:34:51 Large rugs can take months to make.

01:34:54 And the bigger the rug, the more expensive it becomes.

01:34:59 We weave the yarn in a single row, one by one.

01:35:08 We are happy to be able to work with someone who has a lot of experience.

01:35:20 We are happy to be able to work with someone who has a lot of experience.

01:35:29 Unfortunately, weaving a beautiful rug doesn't guarantee a profit.

01:35:35 Most weavers live and work in rural areas with limited access to transportation.

01:35:40 They don't have access to the markets and are exploited by middlemen.

01:35:45 These obstacles make it challenging for women to sell their rugs directly.

01:35:49 We sell our rugs in the market.

01:35:52 The woman makes the rug and the man sells it.

01:35:58 We have a cooperative, where we sell our rugs to the customers.

01:36:05 We sell them on WhatsApp.

01:36:08 We hope to sell them on the internet.

01:36:12 We don't have a lot of readers.

01:36:19 We need to work with the community to sell our rugs.

01:36:28 We hope to have a website on the internet and Facebook.

01:36:35 We want to teach our customers how to make a living.

01:36:40 We want to help people to sell their rugs.

01:36:52 Several direct trade companies partner with weavers and pay a higher price for their rugs.

01:36:59 After shipping costs and import taxes, the final price of a large rug can easily exceed $1,000.

01:37:08 The pay artisans receive from these companies varies.

01:37:10 It can range from only 20% to over 60% of the price you see online.

01:37:15 Within Morocco, rugs are sold in markets like this that can be found across the country.

01:37:21 Janah has sold rugs for 30 years.

01:37:25 He says his customers are around 60% locals and 40% tourists.

01:37:31 There are many types of rugs in the market.

01:37:39 The third type is the old-fashioned rugs.

01:37:43 They are yellow, saffron, and black.

01:37:49 They are used in summer and winter.

01:37:57 This type is called the Amazigh yellow.

01:38:02 It is a type of rugs that has linen, saffron, and leather.

01:38:09 In the past, rugs were sold in markets and in weddings.

01:38:19 Now, people live in rugs and read about them.

01:38:27 But the further a rug gets from the weaver, the more expensive it becomes.

01:38:31 And while joining a cooperative can help increase pay, it doesn't guarantee it.

01:38:36 The middlemen are the ones who sell the rugs.

01:38:43 The rest of the cooperatives sell the rugs.

01:38:48 But the women are the ones who lose the most money.

01:38:55 The rugs are sold for 500 dirhams per square meter.

01:38:59 The women sell them for 700 dirhams.

01:39:02 The men sell them for 1,500 dirhams per square meter.

01:39:06 It's double the price.

01:39:09 Authentic wool rugs also compete with rugs made outside of Morocco that imitate traditional designs.

01:39:16 Some of these are made of wool, but many use cotton or polyester.

01:39:22 Like many traditional crafts, passing on rug making has been a challenge.

01:39:46 But these artisans say it's important to preserve this tradition.

01:39:53 The traditional rugs are not a place where you can learn about the culture and the way of life of the people.

01:40:02 You have to learn to make them.

01:40:05 Rugs are a cultural heritage of the country.

01:40:11 They are a way of life, a way to spend your time.

01:40:22 They are a way of life, a way to spend your time.

01:40:32 [Music]

01:40:36 [Music]

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