King Mohammed VI Unveils Strategy to Boost Rural Development Through Collective Lands

The strategy put in place first consists of enhancing national agricultural production. Then, a process of professional integration of young people in rural areas must be put in place. Similarly, collective lands must be prioritized, in order to also create profitable opportunities and programs for rights holders and public and private investors. This will foster a rural middle class, reports La Map.

"The collective lands of an area of about 15 million hectares are full of opportunities for investment in various sectors," said El Hankari Abdelmajid, governor director of rural affairs at the Ministry of the Interior. Thus, the partnership between the sectors concerned will have to be strengthened. An environment will be put in place to motivate young people in the rural world through the creation of businesses and training mainly in the field of agriculture. "The challenge now is to mobilize an additional 1 million hectares of agricultural land free from any individual exploitation to make it available to eligible and private investors," he stressed.

This strategy will consist of detecting and geo-referencing the lands with the support of the local and provincial authorities concerned. Then the lands will be divided into economically and technically viable plots and leased through calls for tenders. "All the financial revenues collected will be made available to the owner communities to decide freely on their fate, either to reinvest them in the form of development projects for all members of the community, or to distribute them among the rights holders, based on a list respecting the required criteria," said Mr. El Hankari.

Similarly, the budget that will be devoted to this project will help to lift part of the rural world out of precariousness as part of the solidarity agriculture carried by the Green Morocco Plan and the "Generation Green 2020-2030" program.

This project takes into account other parameters such as the improvement of incomes, the creation of employment opportunities, the development of a new generation of young entrepreneurs. This program also aims to improve the Human Development Index (HDI), reduce rural exodus, the same source specifies.