There is a lack of members of Ait Arfa Guigou in Azarhar, compared to other tribes of the Bbeni M’Guild confederation. The Ait Arfa Guigou are stationed on the plateau of the Middle Atlas on both sides of Timahdit. They are therefore obliged to make agreements with adjacent tribes about where they spend winter and allow other tribes to spend the summer in the Ait Arfa Guigou high altitude grazing lands. During 1930-1935, the Ait Ahcine Ben Yakoub of Ait Guigou du Guigou send on average 48,000 sheep to Irklaouen on the plateau of Ito in the Azarhar.

During the 1930s there is a rapid increase in acreage of cropland and herd numbers. This growth is linked not only to population growth, but also to the introduction of a market economy after pacification and the opening of Morocco, and improved communication and transportation. This boom is followed by the dramatic crisis of 1945-1946, leading to sharp reduction of livestock herds and acreage of cultivated land. The crisis brings important changes to the cropping system: durum is replaced by the more suitable barley and wheat. Also, sheep husbandry is shown to be particularly fragile and many people switch to goats and cattle.

Intervention by the State consists of

• delineation of the forest. A total 101,000 hectares (one third of the confederation territory) is designated as forests and declared state land. This is largely perceived as an infringement of rights and thousands of trials for grazing offenses take place each year.
• Delineation of collective land. Tribes have full land ownership under the supervision of the Ministry of the interior which formalizes territorialism and enforces rules regarding customary use of grassland and respect for tribal pacts about reciprocal use of resources. All pasture lands are common land, "terres collectives", and each tribe has its own land that is used by its own people.

(Semi-)nomadic life is a strong collective organization. It is heavily guided by social norms and time honoured practices regulating seasonal movements according to altitude, tent agglomeration and position, keeping of animals at night, ploughing plots for winter crops etc.

The Jmaa council is attended by notables (experienced warriors or fathers of several boys) each year after the harvest and designates a head, "the amghar", in charge of enforcing decisions. With the agreement of the "Jmaa" the "amghar" decides the date of transhumance, planting and harvesting and administers justice.