"Rural Land" Activity

The "Rural Land" Activity, with a budget of around $32.6 million and the purpose of the “melkisation” of collective land located within the irrigation perimeters, consists in the transformation of joint ownership of this land into private properties for the benefit of rights holders. 

This activity is carried out by the government in application of the High Royal Directives of His Majesty the King Mohammed VI calling for “joint efforts to ensure the success of the titling process of the collective land for the benefit of right holders within irrigation perimeters and free of charge” (Message to the attendees of the “National Conference on state land policy and its role in economic and social development" – December 2015) and to make collective land a lever for economic and social development in rural areas (Royal Speech of the Opening of the autumn parliamentary session, October 2018).

As ultime goal, the “Rural Land” Activity aims to build a development model of the collective land within the irrigation perimeters to fight poverty in rural areas, through the establishment of the necessery conditions for the standard living improvement of the target population, the increasing of agricultural investments, the boosting of the land market and the support to empowering beneficiaries and job creation.  

The actions planned under this activity concern:

• The development of an optimized procedure in terms of costs and deadlines for the “melkisation” of collective land located within the irrigation perimeters;
• The implementation of this optimized procedure, on a pilot basis, on nearly 66,000 Ha of collective land located within irrigation perimeters:  51,000 Ha in the Gharb pilot area (Provinces of Kenitra, Sidi Slimane and Sidi Kacem) and  15,000 Ha in the Haouz pilot area (Province of Kelâa des Sraghna).

The number of direct beneficiaries of this melkisation pilot operation is estimated at approximately 30,800 beneficiaries (25,000 in the Gharb pilot area and 5,800 in the Haouz). This number is expected to increase as socio-economic measures are implemented.

The implementation of this pilot operation is carried out in close collaboration between the various institutional stakeholders including the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests, The National Agency for the Land Conservation, Cadastre and Cartography (ANCFCC), The Gharb and the Haouz Agricultural Development Regional Offices (ORMVAG and ORMVAH) and the MCA-Morocco Agency.

Furthermore, to maximise the benefits of this melkisation pilot operation, accompanying measures are also being considered, in order to ensure a better agricultural land development and an inclusive development of the target population by promoting its qualification and empowerment. These measures include facilitating access to finance, management of joint ownership, functional literacy, strengthening farmer’s technical and professional capacities and development of income-generating activities and jobs, especially for women and youths. These measures are developed in partnership with the Crédit Agricole du Maroc Group (GCAM), the Fight against Illiteracy National Agency (ANLCA), the Agricultural Consulting National Office (ONCA) and the Rural Affairs Directorate (DAR) at the Ministry of Interior.