The Egyptian village of Shubra Beloula in Gharbia governorate, north of Cairo, is known as the “Jasmine village.” Most of its 50,000 residents work in cultivating jasmine and extracting its oil, with which fragrances are made and exported to European and many other countries around the world.

Hussein al-Fakhry, the owner of the leading jasmine extraction factory in Egypt and head of the executive committee of the International Federation of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy Trade, told Al-Monitor, “We now produce over 2,500 tons of blossoms per season, which represents about 60% of the global production. The village's daily production of jasmine [during the 9-month season] is 10 tons. The harvest is then delivered to a cooperative that buys one ton of jasmine for about 12,000 Egyptian pounds [$762]. Two to three kilograms of jasmine paste is extracted from each ton, a kilo of which is exported for $15,000.”

The scent of jasmine buds fills the village during the harvest season, which begins in September and lasts until May, during which the villagers laboriously collect flowers by hand after the sun sets.

Ashraf Abu Hassan, director of the horticulture department in the Directorate of Agriculture in Gharbia governorate, told Al-Monitor that jasmine is perennial, and each plant can live up to 30 years. He added, "The weather in Egypt is favorable for jasmine flowers to grow, given the moderate climate and low humidity. Flowers are harvested only in the evening, because the jasmine flower is very sensitive to sunlight. It is full of oils and coated with a waxy substance that protects it from heat. If flowers were harvested in sunlight, the wax would melt, the oils would run out and the flower would die. Jasmine flowers must be carefully picked one by one.”