Aloé d’Oc, the sector promoting the cultivation of aloe vera in Occitanie, is already operational after only a few months of fruitful scientific and agricultural agitation around this plant prized by the food and cosmetics industries.
“It’s going really fast indeed. It must be said that the first ones in cultivation on the plots of our domain of the field of the sisters in Fitou have given complete satisfaction. Despite several episodes of frost, the aloe plants resisted well and we obtained a fivefold increase. In this way, we are offering a sustainable alternative for winegrowers whose plots will suffer from aridity in the future”, explains Laurent Maynadier, the precursor winemaker who is leading this diversification project.
Because aloe vera is perennial. Only prolonged freeze streaks can alter its health. The plant requires little water, except when it is planted, and zero phytosanitary products throughout its life. Just gestures of weeding to optimize its production, which can be valued from the third year. “To initiate the sector, our industrial partners are calling for the rapid production of fifteen hectares. Because the demand is there, present, even pressing, in particular for the supply of an aloe vera made in France”, explains Alexandre Fouet who manages Sens +, the endowment fund based near Alès (Gard), and responsible for accompany, organize and energize this embryonic sector.
Plans available this spring
Very quickly, partners from the world of cosmetics will invest in this fund which initially targets two agricultural areas: Aude, where it all started at Laurent Maynadier, and Pyrénées-Orientales. But the project will end up embracing the entire Mediterranean facade. “Our plans are already available for planting this spring. And the candidates are numerous, in very different soils from each other, which will allow us to observe the climatic adaptation of aloe in very different conditions, plains, valleys or on plots with small altitudes”, explains Thierry Thibault, eponymous spinners in Claira and president of the departmental union of aromatic plant producers.
He too is convinced that the track of aloe vera is the right one, from a double point of view: agrarian and economic. It is also the analysis of agricultural leaders in the Occitanie region that accompanies this project via the Ad’occ structure. “We hope to raise 150,000 euros per year over four years to structure this sector, support it, conduct analyzes on the first plots and even develop photovoltaic projects, build protective shades to produce electricity and protect the aloe vera from waves of extreme cold or frost”, continues Alexandre Fouet.
Above all, it is a question of setting up a leaf processing center in the territory to extract the raw material and supply it to laboratories throughout France. These days good news is rare. And precious.