Instructions No.Z/8 of 2016 - Instructions for the protection of agricultural lands issued under Article 3/A of the Agriculture Law No.13 of 2015 and its amendments.

To protect the sustainable use of agricultural natural resources without damage to the environment (as states, among others, art.3 of the Agricultural Law) it is prohibited to change the usage characteristics of the agricultural lands without the consent of the Ministry of Agriculture. To implement these Instructions it is established a Committee to protect the agricultural lands with the main task of receiving applications for transfer or sale the agricultural soil derived from various agricultural activities, and ascertain the correctness of the documentation presented. The Instructions specify the necessary documentation. The land according to the Instructions is divided in 5 different kinds, marked with a different letter, as follows (i) agricultural land (A); (ii) rural land (B); (iii) marginal land (C); (iv) desert arid land (D); and (v) forest land (range). The Instructions specify the possible uses of the agricultural soil and the procedures to be implemented in different cases, such as agricultural soil resulting from land dredging and drilling operations.