One Health in the Argan Forest

We are still in a preparatory phase for undertaking the One Health diagnostic phase in the Arganeraie as we have to gather a multi-disciplinary team composed of Moroccan experts in the fields of livestock health, women health and Argan forest ecology. I am developing this project in close collaboration with Professor Z.Charrouf, from the Science Faculty of Rabat and world expert on the argan oil who not only discovered the unique properties of this product but also created the first women associations to produce this unique natural product.

When I last met Prof. Charrouf in April, we identified which women associations where going to be part of the pilot project and we started to work on the protocol for undertaking the One Health diagnosis. Since this is a pioneering programme, we have to create our own One Health diagnosis methodology for this ecosystem. We are now scheduling the diagnosis phase for October / November to give us enough time for the team building phase and for operating in the field at a suitable time of the year in term of weather.

In the meantime, new aspects of how goats play a key role in dispersing seeds of the argan tree have been elucidated by a team of ecologists. Local goats are well  known for their ability to climb argan trees, eat the fruits and disperse the seeds. It was traditionally thought that they were dispersing the seeds by pooping out the seeds. But researchers just found that they actually spit seeds out during the rumination process, either a few hours after eating them or even days afterwards. This means that the goats might be able to disperse the seeds miles away from the mother tree … Nature at its best!!