Morocco transfers rights to 608 hectares of farmland from French owner to the state
A French national is seeing her land rights transferred to the Moroccan state on six agricultural properties totalling more than 608 hectares. Two orders published in the Official Bulletin on October 5 detail the properties concerned in the province of Sidi Kacem.
Six agricultural properties, one French owner and a total of 608.29 hectares. Z.B’s name appears in two Moroccan government orders transferring her rights to the state on several properties located in Jorf El Melha and Aïn Dfali, in the province of Sidi Kacem.
The land areas give an idea of the scale of the case. Two plots in the Douar El Qiyous area cover 257 hectares and 201.59 hectares, respectively. Together, they account for nearly 459 hectares. Four other properties bring the total cadastral area concerned to 608.29 hectares.
Joint orders No. 708.26 and 709.26, signed on April 2, 2026, were published in the Official Bulletin No. 7549 of October 5, 2026, on pages 7448 to 7451. The appendices identify the owner as a French national. They concern undivided rights: the 608 hectares correspond to the area of the six properties, not an area wholly owned by the woman concerned.
A 1973 law still being applied in Morocco
To carry out these transfers, the Moroccan authorities are relying on Dahir-Law No. 1.73.213 of March 2, 1973. The law provides for the transfer to the state of agricultural land, or land intended for agricultural use, belonging to foreign individuals or legal entities. More than half a century after its adoption, it continues to affect properties identified in land registries.
The two Sidi Kacem orders are not isolated cases. A third text, numbered 1758.26 and signed on August 7, 2026, concerns five other plots in the province of Berkane. Three are associated with owners of French nationality, and the other two with Algerian nationals. Morocco had already applied this legislation to an Algerian owner in Berkane in 2023.
In Berkane, the properties concerned are located notably in Ahfir and Aklim. The appendices name several rights holders, including members of the M. family, as well as an owner whose given names are Georges Alfred Édouard. The five plots have a combined area of 76.41 hectares.
In total, the three orders cover eleven plots with a combined cadastral area of 684.70 hectares, nine of them listed under French nationality. The texts stipulate that the state takes possession of the properties or rights concerned from the date of their publication in the Official Bulletin, October 5, 2026.
