OLVEA has been working for more than 10 years for the development of sustainable value chains, and is an historic partner of L’Oreal’s Solidarity Sourcing program with its Shea butter supply chains produced in Burkina Faso.

As part of its sustainable development program, L’Oréal is moving towards more responsible supply chains, and wants to support local producers with green practices while ensuring them a fair remuneration.

OLVEA and Agrisud have accompanied L’Oreal in its search for high-quality cosmetic olive oil, by developing a structured and sustainable value chain in Morocco. OLVEA did all the upstream work of identification and initial evaluation of the supplier, and chose the Al Mohammedia cooperative. This cooperative is located in Skoura’s olive grove and counts 39 members, all exploiting their olive trees in an oasis ecosystem.

After 1 year of work, the cooperative has transformed to meet demanding specifications: sanitary approval, hygiene process, safety and quality, improvement of the work conditions and traceability system, etc.

Thanks to the partnership with OLVEA, L’Oreal and Agrisud, the Al Mohammedia cooperative produced 16 tons of olive oil this first year; 6,748 olive trees were conducted according to the agro-ecology principles, being nearly 32 hectares! These numbers are particularly appreciated by the producers, who have received additional gains of 23%, and by the cooperative, which has doubled its margin.