Land policy: implementation, impacts and effectiveness

Authors: Ahmed El Aich, Zoritza Kiresiewa
Coordinating authors: Inma Alados, Ruta Landgrebe, Sandra Nauman
Editors: Alexandros Kandelapas, Jane Brandt

Editor's note 20Mar14: Source D242-5.

Description and implementation

Moroccan land tenure continues to include the domain of the state, registered private property and the collective lands. In the Ait Arfa du Guigou study site, land tenure is a combination of local customary law, French civil law, Moroccan decrees, and Islamic law.

The extent to which the formal laws governs a particular situation as well as the interpretation of the laws is dependent on various factors, such as the location of the land, its ownership, and local control of land matters. Formal law generally governs large commercial land transactions, while residential plots in informal settlements are generally transferred under principles of customary law. The main laws and regulations governing collective land ownership include the following.

Dahir of 27 April 1919 on delineation of collective lands. In order to politically control ethnic communities and encourage the installation of European settlers, the Protectorate established supervision of tribes and their lands. The Minister of the Interior became the guardian of ethnic communities for collective lands with a mission to:

  • ensure the implementation of decisions of the Trusteeship Council and send to it all reports relating to ethnic communities and their goods (disputes, sales, etc.);
  • examine records relating to claims;
  • represent ethnic communities in court or allow themselves to appear, especially for the preservation of communal lands;
  • allow jmaas to spend with third parties contracts concerning agricultural association; and
  • maintain accounting of ethnic communities whose funds are deposited in the Treasury bank.

Since all pasture lands are "common land" ( "terres collectives"), they are managed by the Dahir of 1919, which also formalizes territorialism and enforces rules regarding the customary use of grassland (maintenance transhumance, maintenance of Agdal) and respect for tribal pacts about reciprocal use of resources between tribes.

The management of collective resources, land distribution, and assignment is not the responsibility of the Dahir of 1919 and in principle escapes the control of the administration. Communities retain authority over the internal management of the territory.

Regulation 2977 of 13 November 1957 on sharing of communal lands was a turning point in the management of communal lands. Under its provisions:

  • the division of land between collective heads of families must reflect the quality of the soil, and be of equal area unless otherwise decided by the Jmaa
  • sharing must be maintained for at least 10 years and must not be altered in any way;
  • collectivists returning to the tribe can benefit from sharing from the first marketing year following their return. Also, immigrants to the area may receive the same benefits as collectivists and participate in common expenses, with permission of the tribe; and
  • collectivists who left the tribe for more than a year and collectivists who argued against Jmaa, are excluded from sharing.

Dahir 9 mai 1959 concerning the termination of the concession rights of perpetual enjoyment and the revision of long term lease loans on collective lands. The objective is to recover the collective lands that ethnic groups were obliged to assign or lease by the Protectorate Authority to settlers at low prices. This law enabled the recovery of 35,000 ha. to former owners and the council of Tutelle of the Ministry of Interior.

The basic legal and institutional principles relating to the conservation, management, operation and development of collective lands are laid in dahirs and orders or ministerial viziriels covering:

  • responsibilities between local ethnic and courts (1962)
  • role of enforcement officers at the local level in the defense of property interests of ethnic groups (1963)
  • competence of governors of the northern provinces in fighting against collective dispossession of land
  • topographic operations and administrative procedures on requisitions collective land registration (1967, 1971)
  • the issuing of certificates of ownership, Moulkya (1973, 1974)
  • lease of communal land for stone and sand quarries (1977)
  • the right of ethnic communities to oppose registration of requisitions by third parties. (1992)

Impacts

In the study site, 50 percent of the land is collective and belongs to four ethnic groups. Accordingly, there are four grazing blocks, one for each fraction with an administrative delimitation for each. Within each block, every sheep breeder from the fraction is free to use the land from the fraction. There are, however, minor conflicts between fractions about the land tenure. The impacts of the collective land tenure are the following.

  • The persistence of tribalism without mobility. In the past herders used to move from winter ranges to summer pastures.
  • There is a sedentarization on rangelands since the transhumance between the low lands (Azarhar foothils) the high lands no longer occurs.
  • People start to settle and use the grazing land around the settlements.
  • The numbers of animals and herders are increasing since there is limits on the flock size owned by sheep breeders.
  • Small farmers value their tribal membership by passing contracts with foreigners to their ethnic group.
  • Grazing pressure reached an average of 5 to 6 ewes per hectare, which resulted in great amount of degradation.
  • People are aspiring for a better life. They want more qualitative education opportunities for their children, permanent equipped home. They take care of their farmlands. This explains the changes in the mobility and the trend to sedentarization.
  • Emergence of large sheep breeders with large herds. This type of breeders start to take individual initiative to manage their flocks (rent of lands for grazing their herds).
  • Decrease of the power of the Jmaa (tribe council).
  • A new mobility is taking place on rangelands. Rather their the animals move to the resources, the resources come to animals.
  • Supplementation of animal feed with concentrates.
  • All space is explored.

Effectiveness

To this day, Ait Arfa du Guigou land is governed by the same Dahir and divided among the four fractions of the tribe (Ait Beni Yakoube, Ait Hcine ou Hand, Ait Beni Hcine and Ait M’Hamed). The main provisions of the Dahir are:

  • recognition of collective land ownership only to ethnic communities with legal personality;
  • consecration of the inalienable communal lands;
  • competence of jmaas (assemblies of delegates, leaders) in the management of public goods (including land)
  • providing a simple right of enjoyment to the household head.

However, those provisions are no longer compatible with the current situation given the profound economic, social and demographic changes undergone by rural areas. With regard to collective rangelands, specific problems include:

  • every collectivist claimant is entitled to access and pasture for his flock, without limitation or space nor in time, nor in the herd size or in animal species (sheep, goats, etc.).
  • The collective traditional seasonal grazing (agdal) pasture is less practiced or less respected, especially in times of drought.
  • Former pastoral pacts lose their effectiveness and, are not renewed.
  • Collective land routes are mostly in a state of degradation (sometimes very advanced), the situation that irreversibly impacts on the livelihoods of farmers on collective land, especially during periods of drought.

 

2014-11-28 10:53:17