ensuring sustainable development in the Arganeraie. RARBA has been involved with several major projects, including the Moroccan national antidesertification programme (Programme National de Lutte contre la desertification, PAN/LCD). 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. Social The production of argan oil has always had a socioeconomic function. At present, its production supports about 2.2 million people in the main argan oil–producing region, the Arganeraie. Much of the argan oil produced today is made by a number of women's co-operatives. Co-sponsored by the Social Development Agency with the support of the European Union, the UCFA (Union des Cooperatives des Femmes de l’Arganeraie) is the largest union of argan oil co-operatives in Morocco. It comprises 22 co-operatives that are found in other parts of the region. there were around 300 small firms, mostly co-operatives, in the area about 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. Employment in the co-operatives provides women with an income, which many have used to fund education for themselves or their children. It has also provided them with a degree of autonomy in a traditionally male-dominated society and has helped many become more aware of their rights. The success of the argan co-operatives has also encouraged other producers of agricultural products to adopt the co-operative model. 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), and from international organisations, including Canada's International Development Research Centre and the European Commission. However, despite many working a very long day, the women usually make less than (£170 stg) a month (and even as low as ), 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. She says that some companies pay drivers to bring tourists to their facilities, to sell them the oil, rather than pay their workers properly. Morocco's minister of agriculture has asked for Charrouf's help in forcing firms to join trade bodies and commit