Morocco: Taliouine Village, top producer of SAFRON, Most Expensive Spice in the World

 

Taliouine village, near the city of Taroudant, in the southern Souss Region of Morocco, is known for its large production of Crocus sativus, commonly known as saffron. Other villages in the area also produce the coveted spice but the village of Taliouine has the largest market share of saffron production. According to the Moroccan Regional Agricultural Development Office, the volume of production of saffron in this town, of 12,000 people, is estimated to be around 7000 pounds per year. The total area dedicated to this traditional culture in Morocco is about seven and a half million square yards with 1285 farmers. The country is currently classified as the forth saffron producer in the world, after Iran, India and Greece.
Saffron is used in cuisine, medicine and cosmetics. It remains a traditional culture that uses few modern tools. Most of the work is done by hand. Farmers, Bent to the ground, must distinguish between small flowers in order to pick a specific one. It takes about 150,000 flowers to produce one single kilogram of saffron. This hard work does mostly benefit the middlemen who are making large profits at expense farmers who remain dirt poor.
Exports by the Exchange Office, have reached $6 million in 2009. Spain and Switzerland are the main importers of Moroccan saffron.
In Morocco, Saffron, or the red gold, as it is called, is primarily marketed in a traditional manner and out of official circuits. The agricultural cooperatives and the tourism circuit account for the remaining share of volumes sold.
Currently, the price of saffron is around $2,268 per pound but the price of this product has fluctuated over the years. A pound of saffron that used to cost $286 in 1991 has swelled to almost $2,000 in 2009.

In December of 2009, an application for a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) has been filed for the Taliouine saffron. The goal of the PDO is to help keep some of the profits that are currently being made by middlemen both in Morocco and abroad, locally. The Marketing campaign should favor direct links between local farmers, large distributors and retail stores. The aims to improve life conditions and increase the incomes of women and rural families that live in these highlands. The PDO approach looks to create new jobs for young people in the entire chain: production, drying and marketing and bolster saffron production as a special regional product.
The PDO encourages the organization of small farm producers into groups that are represented by a cooperative, a solution that reflects local realities as it preserves traditional ties, social, economic and cultural links and defends the rights for the farmers of a special and unique spice.

source : http://www.moroccoboard.com/news/34-news-release/860-morocco-saffron-most-expensive-spice-in-the-world-produced-taliouine-village-