[10] As of 2020[update], the main cosmetics products containing argan oil are face creams, lip glosses, shampoos, moisturizers, and soaps.

To extract the kernels, workers first dry argan fruit in the open air and then remove the fleshy pulp.

The kernels are then later retrieved from the goat droppings, considerably reducing the labour involved in extraction at the expense of some potential gustatory aversion.

Mechanically extracted oil production has started, with the industrial scale driving down prices, impacting the small co-operatives, where work is mostly done by Berber women in the traditional, labour-intensive way.

However, the huge cosmetics company L'Oréal has pledged to source all of its argan oil from the small co-operatives that sign up to the principles of fair trade.

The project involved local populations and helped with improvements to basic infrastructure, management of natural resources, revenue-generating activities (including argan oil production), capacity reinforcement, and others.

[19] As of 2020,[update] there were around 300 small firms, mostly co-operatives, in the area about 25 kilometres (16 mi) inland from Essaouira, on the Atlantic coast.

The women who harvest the seeds are mostly of the Berber ethnic group, with traditional skills dating from generations ago.

[20] The establishment of the co-operatives has been aided by support from within Morocco, notably the Foundation Mohamed VI pour la Recherche et la Sauvegarde de l’Arganier (Mohammed VI Foundation for Research and Protection of the Argan Tree),[21] and from international organisations, including Canada's International Development Research Centre and the European Commission.

[citation needed] However, despite many working a very long day, the women usually make less than US$221 (£170 stg) a month (and even as low as US$50), which is below Morocco's recommended national minimum wage.

Zoubida Charrouf, a chemistry professor at Mohammed V University of Rabat is an advocate for higher salaries, as well as the author of studies into its health benefits.

Morocco's minister of agriculture has asked for Charrouf's help in forcing firms to join trade bodies and commit to paying staff the minimum wage.