Agroecology Through Women’s Eyes: In Skoura M'daz, Twenty Women from Safirate Al Aachabe Are Taking Their Plants Beyond Their Territory

08/10/2026

In Skoura M'daz, a rural commune in Boulemane Province, twenty women have given their cooperative a name that already expresses their ambition: Safirate Al Aachabe, “Ambassadors of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants.” Since FAO in Morocco began supporting them through the “Agroecology Through Women’s Eyes” project, they have transformed the way they produce, process, and make decisions. This is the story of a cooperative building its place, one step at a time.

In Skoura M'daz, things are changing

In Skoura M'daz, in the heart of the Middle Atlas, the air smells of thyme and bay leaf. In the Safirate Al Aachabe cooperative’s nursery, rosemary, sage, and rose plants grow in neat rows, nourished by solar-powered drip irrigation. Nearby, a solar dryer works quietly. Within a few hours, it transforms the morning’s harvest into material ready for distillation. Until recently, this process took fifteen to twenty days, with plants left to dry in homes, hanging under white sheets.

For the twenty women behind the cooperative, the difference is about more than equipment. It represents a change in scale, dignity, and outlook.

A name chosen by the women themselves

Before talking about the project, the nursery, or the value chain, it is worth understanding what these women said to one another one evening, gathered around a newspaper.

“I was sitting alone, reading a newspaper, and the idea came to me,” recalls Habiba, the cooperative’s president. “Safara means travelling. I thought: I will call them Safirate Al Aachabe, so that they can make the plants travel.”

The name stuck. It captures the direction of the cooperative: its members do not see themselves simply as gatherers or beneficiaries, but as ambassadors of a plant heritage that they want to take beyond the boundaries of their territory.

Six friends, one decision

The story began in 2019. Six long-time friends from Skoura M'daz decided to establish their own cooperative. They had previously been part of another organization where, Habiba explains, “they were not given a chance.”

“We wanted to show the determination of women and the ambition of women. We wanted them to go far. We wanted women to become the driving force for other women, and for women as a whole to become the driving force of their families.”

They started with the plants they knew, the ones their mothers and grandmothers had gathered: rosemary, bay leaf, thyme, lavender, mint, and verbena. Then they ventured into saffron, despite the region not traditionally being suited to it. Then came roses. At every stage, they have focused on quality rather than volume.

What FAO’s support has changed

Since 2025, Safirate Al Aachabe has been the first women’s cooperative in Morocco to receive support from FAO under the “Agroecology Through Women’s Eyes” project. An investment of approximately MAD 320,000 has helped the cooperative move from small-scale production dependent on weather and seasons towards a more integrated and controlled value chain.

A community nursery, solar-powered drip irrigation system, solar dryers, a steam distillation unit, and an essential oil extraction unit: each piece of equipment responds to a concrete challenge.

“Before, drying our plants took fifteen to twenty days,” Habiba recalls. “With the solar dryer, we can do it in a day. We save time, but above all, we preserve the quality of the plants.”

Training has followed the same path: agroecology, cooperative governance, financial management, functional literacy, digital skills, and leadership. The ambition is no longer simply to produce, but to know how to produce, negotiate, and make decisions.

A changing environment

The project also takes a gender-transformative approach. Rather than working only with women, it engages men, families, and community leaders, helping create an environment in which women can pursue and strengthen what they are building.

The results can be seen even in people’s attitudes.

“Some men have changed their minds because of us,” Habiba says. “How many times has a woman told us: my husband saw you, and he liked what he saw. He tells her, ‘Look at these women.’ When we hear those words, it makes us want to do even more.”

Producing for the future

The stakes extend beyond the cooperative. By moving from wild harvesting towards more controlled cultivation, Safirate Al Aachabe is also helping protect the plants themselves.

“If we do not cultivate them, the plants will disappear,” Habiba warns. “Before, companies from outside would come and uproot everything. They did not know the land. Now, we decide which plants to harvest and which ones to leave.”

The women’s economic autonomy and the preservation of biodiversity in the Middle Atlas come together in the same effort.

Taking Skoura’s plants beyond its borders

Over the next five years, Safirate Al Aachabe has a clear dream.

“We want to become a modern cooperative, with our own headquarters and our own logo, and take the plants of Skoura beyond Morocco,” Habiba says. “Since our name is Safirate Al Aachabe, we want to become ambassadors for Skoura’s plants, in Morocco and abroad.”

As part of the International Year of Women Farmers 2026, she also has a message for women in the Middle Atlas and beyond:

“They should believe in themselves. They should hold on to their dreams and ambitions. If a woman has something to offer, she should bring it forward. Even if she makes a mistake, she has to step forward. We make a mistake once, we make another mistake, then we correct it, and eventually we succeed.”

In the nursery, the rose plants will soon bloom. The solar dryer keeps turning. And the plants of Skoura are beginning to travel.