Isidro Pérez, from Lanzarote, studied business and had been trying for years to create an innovative cooperative in the rural world. One day he heard a professor, Manuel Blasco, say that the prickly pear is a multipurpose product. Blasco had come to Lanzarote with the Milana Association, which values the culture of prickly pear and cochineal.
That was the spark that ignited the research that Pérez carried out shortly after to understand all the uses that prickly pear can have. He first looked towards Mexico, the plant's country of origin, and discovered that "there they eat it since pre-Hispanic times and use it for medicinal and cosmetic uses," says Pérez during an interview with Ekonomus.
The cooperative he founded is called Reflota Sociedad Cooperativa and arose in 2021 as a result of the pandemic and the large number of people who became unemployed then.
"The Department of Social Affairs of Tías proposed promoting a non-profit social entity so that, in some way, it would gradually generate employment, giving preference to people over 45 years of age with difficulties accessing the labor market," explains Pérez.
"The Tías City Council gave us a plot of land here in Mácher where we began to cultivate prickly pear with a view to giving it a gastronomic use until one day an email arrived from a French company, LMVH, which was looking for prickly pear producers."
LVMH, a luxury and beauty business group that earns 50,000 million euros a year
LVMH stands for Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy and is a multinational business group based in Paris, which earns around 50,000 million euros a year and has become a business champion for France, which gave it great prominence in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
Among the 76 luxury brands that make up the group is Dior, the group's parent company.
"They made a first visit and we spent a year negotiating and bringing positions closer. They had other options because prickly pear is planted in many places in the world such as Mexico or the Mediterranean coast."
"Our prickly pear pads go to Dior's men's cosmetics line, for which they do not have any exclusive garden, ours will be the first."
One of the reasons why Dior chose the Reflota cooperative for its prickly pear garden is that the crop is produced regeneratively. "As our mentor Eduardo Franquiz says, regenerative agriculture consists of restoring dignity to the soil, which is the stomach of the plant." Fundamentally through a careful supply of organic matter, microbiology and minerals.
"The landscape of Lanzarote" and the fact of "being a cooperative" also played a very relevant role. "There are countries like Peru that export prickly pear at much lower prices," notes the cooperative member.
"They decided on us and we signed a five-year contract. I didn't know much about cosmetics, but researching, I have seen that each cosmetics company has a reference product. In the case of Dior, for women's cosmetics it has rosehip and a garden where it grows it." The contract does not allow Pérez to reveal the economic terms of the agreement.
Reflota is now in contact with three Dior departments: Marketing, Administration and Search for new materials. "We, who were thinking of a local market, of gastronomic products for restaurants, and suddenly, we found ourselves competing with companies worldwide."
"Our prickly pear pads go to Dior's men's cosmetics line, for which they do not have any exclusive garden, ours will be the first."
A gastronomic line and a volcanic landscape
The farm ceded by Tías has 3,600 square meters, which, based on other productions on the island per hectare, is equivalent to just over 10 tons of prickly pear per year.
"Our contract does not allow us to sell to other cosmetics brands," clarifies Pérez, but it does in other sectors such as gastronomy. For this, we need a premises with sanitary registration. The city council has supported us for 30 months and we are very grateful, but now that we are looking for a premises we need a private investment.
"We are planning to produce pickled prickly pear, hamburgers, jam..."
That investment will be reflected in a second farm, which will be in an area of volcanic landscape, "so that the plantation also has that attribute, like the wine from La Geria." There will be the definitive 'Dior cactus garden', and it will be open to visitors, "we are seeing how to design it, taking into account biodiversity."
The gastronomic line will also have an impact on the staff, Pérez explains: "Now we are two workers, but when we launch the gastronomic line at least three more will be needed. We are planning to produce pickled prickly pear, hamburgers, jam... when we get the premises, prickly pear has many possibilities."
Prickly pear, a "multipurpose product"
"In Mexico, in addition to its moisturizing use in cosmetics, it is also used to regulate blood glucose levels and diabetes. They use it to purify water, as fodder and biomass. Here, traditionally, the first use was with cochineal, to obtain the dye. In addition, the prickly pear gel was mixed with lime when whitewashing houses to produce a waterproofing effect."
Another advantage of prickly pear is that it needs little water. "Between 10 and 20 liters per month, unlike a fruit tree, which needs that amount every two or three days. Prickly pear has the capacity to withstand long periods of drought."
Precisely that quality is one of the main reasons why Dior has decided on this product, its ability to retain water and therefore achieve better hydration of the skin.
"At first, I proposed this project in Mala and Guatiza"
Asked about a possible association with traditional prickly pear farms in Mala and Guatiza, Pérez explains that most of these crops are affected by the plague of wild cochineal, which, unlike the traditional one, does not coexist with the plant but destroys it and that there is also a lack of water.
"At first, I proposed this project there", but to the problem of the plague is added the fact that some of these properties now "belong to many second or third generation heirs", which complicates decisions.
The Mácher farm is fortunately free of this plague at present, thanks to the use of fungicides and acaricides made with lime, sulfur and water.
