What is the source of jojoba?

Answer 1

Jojoba is a perennial woody shrub native to the semiarid regions of southern Arizona, Southern California and northwestern Mexico. Jojoba (pronounced ho-HO-ba) is being cultivated to provide a renewable source of a unique high-quality oil.

Native Americans extracted the oil from jojoba seeds to treat sores and wounds centuries ago. Collection and processing of seed from naturally occurring stands in the early 1970s marked the beginning of jojoba domestication. In addition, the ban on the importation of sperm whale products in 1971 led to the discovery that jojoba oil is in many regards superior to sperm oil for applications in the cosmetics and other industries.

Today, 40,000 acres of jojoba are under cultivation in the southwestern U.S. Much of the interest in jojoba worldwide is the result of the plant's ability to survive in a harsh desert environment. The utilization of marginal land that will not support more conventional agricultural crops could become a major asset to the global agricultural economy.

The oldest commercial jojoba plantings in the U.S. were established in the late 1970s, and present production of jojoba oil is in the range of thousands of tons per year. The major world producers are the United States and Mexico, with considerable quantities of oil being exported to Japan and Europe.