MedicineCrow Blog
One Man Pioneering Fair-Trade Organic Frankincense Industry
Somali Immigrant Revolutionizing Frankincense Industry with Fair Wages for Harvesters
Frankincense has been widely regarded as one of the world's most precious sacred scents. Brokers purchase the resin in massive quantities and auction with large markups while the land-owners earn a fraction of the value of the substance, while the harvesters are paid only in food. The trees must be scarified to express the resin, and as international demand rises, the trees are dramatically over harvested, threatening their fragile existence.
As demand far outstrips supply, perfumery and aromatherapy companies resort to using toxic synthetic fragrances. Up to 90% of products labeled as frankincense are actually synthetic counterfeits. The deteriorating political climate in Somalia - yet to be recognized as in independent nation by the United States - forces the nomadic people to simply cut down the trees for firewood, as they lack the infrastructure to take the valuable resin to market and thus afford cooking fuel.
Although the situation is dire, people are working together to improve the quality of life for Somalians by re-creating the frankincense industry from end-to-end by working directly with harvesters, Fair Trade and Organic certifiers, and essential oil distributors. Leading the way is Mahdi Ibrahim, a man from Somaliland who immigrated to the United States to study business and now is working with Floracopeia to bring sustainable frankincense to market.
Floracopeia founder David Crow recently interviewed Mahdi to discuss the state of the frankincense industry and learn from his insights working directly with nomadic harvesters. In this segment, Mahdi introduces himself and describes how he came into this work:
| Download | Name | Play | Size | Length |
 | Introducting Mahdi Ibrahim - Frankincense: Past, Present, and Future (Mahdi Ibrahim in conversation with David Crow) |
5.5 MB | 11:58 min |
Join MedicineCrow to hear the rest of this fascinating interview, and read David Crow's narrative description of the history and therapeutic value of frankincense at Floracopeia.com.
Trackbacks
Comments
 |
 |
 |
   |
Latest Blogs
-
I woke in a cloud of lavender fragrance. The birds of Aurel, unlike the nocturnal festival-goers of Lyon, had been up since the first light in the sky, leaving their homes in the tiled roofs of anci
-
Dear friends: It is the end of the fourth day of our Mediterranean aromatic tour, and evening has settled over the lavender fields in the rolling hills of Vaucluse. Last night in Lyon it was the cr
-
One of the world's great modern herbalists, Richo Cech, was recently interviewed by David Crow and Jai Dev Singh on MedicineCrow Radio. Listen to a segment of their talk, in which Richo describes a
-
Dear friends: A new adventure is about to begin. Next week, Sara and I will fly to Paris, rent a car, and make a month long journey through the south of France, Corsica and Sardinia, in search of
-
Dear friends: It has been a little over one month since Sara and I returned from our adventures in Ecuador. The trip made a deep impression on us, especially our time with Dante Bolcato, his family,
-
My family and I have been eating nettles at least once a day for the last week. Okay, my 6-year-old daughter has only eaten them once, but my wife and I have really taken it upon ourselves to eat t
-
Nuclear Energy Critic Clarifies The DangersWatch the Video... Dr. Helen Caldicott is a widely traveled and well-spoken critic of nuclear weapons and energy technologies. We look forward to hosting h
-
World Renowned Ayurveda ExpertInterviewed on MedicineCrow MedicineCrow was proud to host Karta Purkh Khalsa for an interview with David Crow and Jai Dev Singh. We've had great response from the i
-
Now I am driving back to Guayaquil with Eric and Don Perfecto, into an approaching dusk with the ocean on our right. The afternoon had ended abruptly, but it had to be that way as Eric was a man wi
-
We follow Dante through the village along rutted dirt roads, into a neighborhood on the outskirts of town where the homes have more land, more space, more greenery, less open sewage. The doctor
-
Now I am driving with Eric and Don Perfecto Yagual along the coastal highway to the fishing village of Puerto Lopez. We are on the way to meet Dante, an Italian who speaks neither English nor Spani
-
LISTEN NOW: The Groundbreaking Episode of MedicineCrow Radio In Its Entirety! A Monthly Web Event Featuring The Leading Visionaries of Medicine, Ecology and Spirituality. Last night, March 7th, we
-
Now I am in Ecuador. Nine months have passed since our gathering on the beach. I am here at the invitation of Eric Horstman, a man who has committed himself to the formidable task of protecting one
-
In spite of the unfortunate setback the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association has faced with the dismissal of their case against Monsanto, the movement to expose and regulate genetically modi
-
I am on the beach at Mahabalipuram, under the night sky. A strong wind is blowing off the Bay of Bengal, carrying warm marine fragrances and spraying sand in the eyes of a small group seated around
-
Dear friends: Many of you are familiar with the stories I have told about my first journey to Ecuador six years ago, and the many synchronistic events that led to my meeting the man who distills th
-
David Crow is known for his visionary ecological approach to business, a cosmological view that keeps the focus on the plants in the center of the mandala. This view was never better expressed th
-
MedicineCrow Teacher CommunityRepresented at National Ayurveda Conference National Ayurvedic Medical Association hosts one of the primary conferences for professional practitioners of Ayurved
-
Flower Essence Making on the Islands On this tiny island out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for the Feast of Nectars with the moon illuminating the immense night sky with its venerable champag
-
In most cultures, dew is seen as a life-giving substance both in terms of providing necessary physical nourishment and that of spiritual sustenance and transformation. The droplets of water that
-
David Crow InterviewsDeb Soule Deb Soule is a lifetime herbalist. Her small herbal company Avena Botanicals continues to grow, prompted by friendly visits from government officials. David Crow vi
-
The end of each year brings the temptation to predict the next. This coming year in particular, with the approaching conjunctions of untenable political, unsustainable economic and uncontrollable e
-
An End of the Year Message from David Crow (Completed at midnight on Christmas Eve) I am comfortable on my meditation cushion, wrapped in the silent darkness and shining constellations of winter S
-
Feather JonesSouthwest Herbalist
-
The Poetic Truthof Our Biological Existence Creativity is a fascinating process. At times I have found it to be like an ephemeral breeze, floating here and there without any apparent cause as I wal
-small.jpg)
