Four hundred and five land protection engineers have been granted authority as “judicial police” in order to prevent “crimes of aggressive seizure of agricultural lands” according to Minister of Justice Adel Abd El-Hamid. This follows a request submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation welcomed the decree, which aims to double efforts to stop land seizures, which is now estimated at 10%. Data shows that one million “acts of aggressive seizure” have occurred since the 25 January Revolution, causing a loss of more than 40,000 feddans “of the finest agricultural land.” Of these only about 100,000 of these ‘acts of aggression,’ have been resolved.
“Now, the ‘land protection engineers’ have the capacity of judicial police such as the right to detect and reserve equipment and construction tools, as well as the right to investigate accused parties and to refer them directly to public prosecutor, increasing efficacy,” said Minister of Agriculture Dr Ayman Abu Hadid further pointing out that “these acts of ‘aggression’ have increased due to slow procedures”.
Abu Hadid stressed that this decree confirms the state’s role in preserving agricultural areas as a part of a “national obligation in which all parties must cooperate in order to avoid these acts of aggression, and to maintain Egypt’s position as a leading agricultural country”.
Aggressive seizures of agricultural land have remained a continuous problem in Egypt but have increased in the years since the 25 January revolution, according to the latest report published by the Land Protection Administration a subsidiary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. The report further highlighted that since the revolution one million cases of aggression have been detected, effecting over 40,000 feddans, of those aggressive seizures the number cleared did not exceed 100,000.
According to the ministry “nearly 430,000 Egyptians are threatened by food shortages,” adding that “Egypt lost at least 250 feddans per week or one thousand feddans per month during the last three years as a result of aggressive land seizures”.
“We have to recognise that 50% of our food is imported and the continuous land seizures threaten to increase our dependence on imports, creating a risk for future generations especially considering our limited land and water resources” the minister said.
The report ranked Menufiya, Sharqeya, Gharbeya, Daqahleya and Beheira as the governorates with the highest rates of aggressive land seizures either through ‘illegal construction or scrapping.’
The report detailed the land seizures in these governorates as follows: Menufiya 128,000 seizures over 3,000 feddans; Beheira 111,000 seizures over 4,221 feddans; followed by Gharbeya having 89,525 aggressions over 4,215 feddans; Al-Sharqeya with 83,000 seizures over 3,505 feddans; Qaliubiya with 78,784 seizures over 2235 feddans and finally Assiut 55,000 aggressions over 2,111 feddans.
Translated from Alborsa newspaper
