Shubra Beloula: The Egyptian Village Supplying Jasmine To The World
by Shahinda Abdalla
Between the months of June and September, in a small village about 97 km north of Cairo in the governorate of Gharbiya called Shubra Beloula (also now known as Jasmine Village), about 2,500 tonnes of jasmine blossoms are harvested each year and processed into jasmine absolute which is later exported and used as an essence in perfumes and body care products worldwide. According to the International Federation of Essential Oils and Aroma Trades (IFEAT), this accounts for about 60% of world production. Almost every piece of land in Shubra Beloula is dedicated to the growing of jasmine. That’s about 257 acres. Only a few farms cultivate another aromatic tree called bitter orange. The village during the summer smells like a beautiful jar of perfume, particularly when the sun sets. Jasmine is a flower that blooms at night, which is why all of the picking must be done in the evening or in the very early hours of the morning before the sun is up and hot. This is because during the day the flowers lose their scent and become unusable as the volatile oils are evaporated by the sun’s heat and light. The plant has evolved to be a flower of the night, and so it gives off its floral pungent scent once the sun sets, making the evening air a lot sweeter not only for us humans but for the night-time insects and pollinators that are drawn to it like magnets.
Jasmine planting was introduced to Shubra Beloula in the 1950s. Now, almost everyone in the village depends on jasmine as a major source of their livelihood and income. From kids who wake up at dawn to pick jasmine for a few hours before they go to school, to women and men who each pick at least 3 kilograms of jasmine a day and so rely on jasmine picking for their income. From grandparent to child, everyone at some point in their life has picked jasmine in Shubra Beloula it seems. Though in recent years, some have been opting out of picking claiming it doesn’t pay them enough. Wages remain very low, and the task of picking is not an easy one requiring not only many hours but a certain degree of care too. Each blossom must be picked one by one to keep their oils, and at the same time be picked quickly enough while not pressing the flowers too hard so that they don’t lose their oils. It seems that for many young men, jasmine picking is no longer financially rewarding as they are paid only 30 EGP for every kilogram they pick and each person can pick an average of 3 kilograms of blossoms in one day, which means they make only 90 EGP a day. One of the reasons for this low price is competition with India, the second largest producer of jasmine after Egypt. Another reason is the process the blossoms go through until jasmine absolute is extracted from them. It is this substance ‘jasmine absolute’ which is used in perfumes and exported worldwide. During this process of extraction, the weight of jasmine blossoms shrinks significantly. Almost one tonne of blossom is needed (6 million blossoms) to produce one kilogram of jasmine absolute.
Image Credit: July 23, 2020. AFP
Despite the low wages, people in Shubra Beloula still wait for jasmine season to arrive to be able to cover their significant financial commitments. People plan their weddings based on the season as it remains still a major source of income for the entire village. Due to increased media coverage in recent years, tour groups have started to come to the village which offers a new potential source of income. Tourists not only come to experience picking but enjoy too the healing benefits of smelling jasmine. In the early 2000s, one of the main factories processing jasmine blossoms in Shubra Beloula developed a method of extraction using petrol-free organic certified solvents in order to cater to the aromatherapy sector and directly extract the essential oil from the jasmine. This method involves steam distillation, which is eco-friendly and provides higher financial rewards to its producers due to the increased popularity of this locally produced jasmine essential oil, making it expensive enough to provide a decent return to its producers.
So regardless of where you are in the world, the next time you use a perfume, whether it be a global brand like Chanel No.5 or some other unique local brand, it is very likely that there is jasmine essence in there which has come all the way from this small sweet-smelling village in the Nile Delta called Shubra Beloula.