Ylang Ylang Essential Oil: Beautiful Scents from Nosy Be

Welcome again to Harvesters’ Corner, where we take a look at how the growers, harvesters and distillers are supported by doTERRA’s Co-Impact Sourcing and Healing Hands Foundation. Today

we are taking a look at a fragrant flower grown on an island near Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. The dark azure waters of the Indian Ocean caress the white sandy beaches of Nosy Be, located off the northwestern tip of Madagascar which, in turn, gives way to a rich, verdant assortment of trees and shrubs showcasing multiple shades and hues of green. A subtil perfume wafts through the humid early-morning air as multiple yellow flowers open their petals to reach for the morning sun. It is mid-April, and the main harvest season for Ylang Ylang is in full swing.

Nosy Be, literally “Big Island” in Malagasy, the native language of Madagascar, has a surface area of 123.6 square miles (320 km2), and is of volcanic origin. It lies roughly five miles (8km) off the northern tip of Madagascar, and has been known by many different names over the years, including Nosy Manitra “the Scented Island” (1), “L’île Aux Parfums,” or “Perfume Island” in French (2). Its soil is rich in nutrients, thanks to its volcanic heritage, and the industry associated with Ylang Ylang growing and harvesting drives the island’s economy (1).

Why Ylang Ylang?

Ylang Ylang is not indigenous to the island of Nosy Be. The flower was introduced to the island from its original habitat of the Philippines in the 1920s (2). The scent, for which the flower is so highly valued for, permeates the air of the island, especially during the prime growing season. Women of Nosy Be will hide the flowers in their hair, as well as use them to freshen bed linens. The sweet floral scent helps to promote positive moods, and also help provide a restful night’s sleep.

The flowers on mature trees bloom year-round, and progress from a light green to pale yellow as the time approaches for harvesting. The trees themselves are fast-growing, and if left untended, can grow to be nearly forty feet tall (12m). Most Ylang Ylang trees are kept pruned to a ten-foot (3m) height for ease of harvesting. New trees are allowed to mature for four years. Once established, a well-kept tree will produce flowers for thirty years or more. A properly cared-for tree will produce close to twenty-two pounds (9.9 kg) of flower petals a year. (3)  Harvesters typically work for three hours a day during the low season, and upwards of five hours a day during the peak season. It takes 2.2 pounds (1kg) of Ylang Ylang petals to get enough oil for one 15mL bottle of oil.

While flowers can be harvested year-round, the peak harvest season runs from April to June, just after the rainy season.  The actual harvesting is a labor intensive, communal process. Harvesters--mostly women--leave their homes at 6AM to collect the mature flowers from the trees, plucking them off and placing them in the canvas bags worn on the harvester’s shoulders. They know from a lifetime of experience that the flowers ready to harvest have yellow petals and a red center. In years past, some flowers not quite ready were often picked prematurely as a way to try to increase wages paid. Now, through doTERRA’s Co-Impact Sourcing, the harvesters realize that picking flowers early lessens the quality of oil produced and may actually decrease the overall remuneration received. The harvesters work to the rhythm of songs honoring the flower they are harvesting. (2). Once their baskets are full the harvesters head for the distillery, where the baskets are weighed and placed in piles on a platform preparatory for distillation. In order for the best quality, harvested flowers must be distilled within twenty-four hours of harvesting. Like other flowers, Ylang Ylang undergoes a hydro-distillation process, where the collected petals are boiled to extract the oil. The steam is allowed to cool, at which time the oil and water separate. Throughout the process, workers hand-feed wood to the fires to ensure the proper temperature range is maintained for optimum distillation. The overall distillation process takes between eighteen to twenty-four hours to complete, after which the equipment is cleaned and sanitized and made ready for the next day’s operation (4).

Emily Wright with a ylang ylang Harvester

Co-Impact Sourcing and Healing Hands

So how does a partnership with doTERRA impact the lives of these growers, harvesters, and distillers? Through the contracts with Co-Impact Sourcing the islanders have a guaranteed buyer, reducing the anxiety caused by price speculation and bidding wars. Harvesters can allow the flowers to fully mature, as stated before, creating better product. In addition, all involved are able to receive bonuses based on the end product, enabling them to purchase newer equipment, bring more land into service and add more growers to the collective, which helps bring further profits into the community (3). As of 2022, there were 1,335 individuals directly reliant on jobs focused on Ylang Ylang production, with another 6,542 lives supported (3).

In 2014 Emily Wright, Founding Executive and President of doTERRA, visited Nosy Be and met with the workers taking care of the Ylang Ylang production. It soon became evident through the course of their discussions that Nosy Be was lacking in any form of medical care. The small island was not alone in the predicament. Over 60% of Madagascar’s population lives more than 3 miles (5 km) from any form of a medical facility. Journeys to the medical centers often require travel through remote regions over poor-to-non-existent roads, with sparse communication centers. (5) This was definitely the case in Nosy Be, where one needed to travel to the mainland by boat. Imagine having a sick child and having to ride over the rough seas in order to get your child to a doctor. Plans were laid, and by 2016 Healing Hands had established a mobile medical clinic. This clinic travels to ten villages involved in the Co-Impact Sourcing initiative. These villages house close to 900 people working with doTERRA. Each village has chosen a “health officer,” who has been trained in first aid and taught how to use essential oils to help the villagers stay healthy. A doctor travels with the clinic, visiting each village twice weekly. This doctor does make house calls for those who are unable to leave their homes. Dr. Asiata, one of the physicians employed by the clinic observes, “If we’re not healthy, nothing gets done.”

Magnitry Health Clinic

While the mobile clinic was a tremendous improvement over what had existed previously, it was just the beginning. In 2017 a brick-and-mortar facility, known as the Magnitry Health Clinic, was built and subsidized through the profits of the Ylang Ylang distillery. The clinic’s workload was meager in the early days, with 70 to 80 patients seen over a month’s time. That has now grown to over 250 patients a month, including Momody Dimitri, one of the distillery’s workers. He was washing a bottle recently when it shattered, leaving a nasty cut on his left forearm. Ten years ago, this injury would have had a high risk of getting infected in Nosy Be’s sub-tropical environment and caused Momody much grief. With the clinic open, he was able to receive emergency care, along with stitches and sanitary bandages to protect the gash. After several months of care, Momody was able to return to work. (6)

Momody’s story isn’t unique. Zafitiana, a harvester with one of the co-ops partnered with doTERRA states, “Working here has been great. It has been a big change being paid consistently. Our neighbors have also noticed the benefits we get. A big benefit has been the treatment at the clinic.” (7) Magnitry Health Clinic has been so successful that a new addition was started in 2022 and is close to opening [as of November 2023]. Dr. Asiata looks forward to the extension opening. “We're hoping with this new extension to be able to offer treatment to the public, not just our employees,” she states with a broad smile on her face. (7) Dr. Mouidiny, Head Physician at the clinic has even higher aspirations for Magnitry Health Clinic. “My greatest hope,” he states with an eye focused on the near future, “is for this clinic to open a surgical center. At that point, we will be able to offer this area everything that they would need in terms of health care.” (7)

In less than ten years medical care on Nosy Be has gone from a dream to a reality. From the humble beginnings of the mobile medical clinic to the soon-to-open expansion of Magnitry Health Clinic, doTERRA and the Healing Hands Foundation have labored to provide services that were once only a dream.

Have you had experiences with Ylang Ylang essential oil? If so, feel free to leave them in the comments below. To experience the restive properties of the fragrant oil, click here to purchase a bottle. And lastly, click here to donate to the Healing Hands Foundation as they continue to provide support to growers, harvesters, and distillers around the world. Thank you for your time, and we will see you next time, here at Harvesters’ Corner!

Sources

1. Wikipedia “Nosy Be.” <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosy_Be> 17 October 2023.

2. Symrise AG. “Madagascar: Ylang Ylang, A Sun Scented Flower”  14 December 2020.  Online. <https://blog.symrise.com/madagascar-ylang-ylang-a-sun-scented-flower/> Accessed 17 Oct 2023.

3. doTERRA: Source to You: Ylang Ylang. <https://sourcetoyou.com/en/ stories/story/ylang-ylang> 17 October 2023.

4. doTERRA Living, US Edition, Fall 2015.

5. United States Agency for International Development (USAID). “Global Health: Madagascar.” <https://www.usaid.gov/madagascar/global-health> 6 November 2023.

6. doTERRA Healing Hands Foundation. Instagram post, 3 November 2023. Accesses 6 November 2023.

7. doTERRA. “Making a Difference in Medical Care: Nosy Be Clinic, Madagascar [Video, YouTube] Sept 29, 2023. Accessed 6 November 2023.

8. All photos are used with permission of doTERRA.