Written by Gus Trompiz | From Reuters

Morocco aims to increase fourfold the amount of state-owned land it leases to farmers and investors, to increase production and speed up modernisation of Moroccan farming, the director of agricultural development said.

To attract private investors, the kingdom has been leasing farmland for 20 to 50 percent of its market value in long-term contracts of up to 40 years, Mohammed El Guerrouj said.

“We are in the process of making available all the farmland we can,” El Guerrouj told Reuters in an interview at the annual Paris farm show. “It’s then up to the investors to propose farming projects.”

Like other North African countries, Morocco relies on imports of staple cereals. It is trying to modernise its farms to improve food security and avert the kind of price rises that contributed to popular unrest in Arab countries in 2011.

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