ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF LAND TENURE
IN EGYPT

By
Hassan Aly Dawood

A THESIS

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Agricultural Economics

1950

P R E F A C E
Before coming to the United States, the author was
employed by the Fellah Department of the Egyptian Ministry
of Social Affairs. For six years he was responsible for
the Department's rural reconstruction program in two of
the Rural Welfare Centers established in 19^1.

While re­

siding in the villages, sharing with the "Fellaheen" their
own type of life and studying their different social and
economic problems, he became more and more conscious of
the importance of the land tenure system and its effects
on the living standards of rural people.

His interest in

this subject has continued to grow and helps explain his
decision to write a dissertation on "Economic Aspects of
Land Tenure in Egypt."
The study has two objectives:
(1) To analyze the land tenure system prevailing in
Egypt, and examine its effect on the country's
economy.
(2 ) To stimulate more interest in and more comprehen­
sive research on the subject of land tenure in
Egypt, and to indicate the types of information
and data needed for analytical purposes that still
need to be gathered and reported in Egypt. This
is a secondary objective, but as important as the
first one.

In dealing with the major objective, a general back­
ground about Egypt is given first.

This includes the

geographical setting, a historical background and a brief
account of the development of the country’s economy and the
place of agriculture in it. The balance of Chapter 1 is
devoted to a discussion of the factors affecting the supply
of agricultural land in Egypt.
In Chapter 2 , the demographic position of Egypt and the
effects of this situation on the demand for land are dis­
cussed.
Chapter 3 is devoted to an analysis of the land tenure
system in Egypt.

The origin and evolution of the land

tenure system are described as is the present day situation.
With the aid of the limited data available, the economic
aspects of the system are then analyzed. The following
points are emphasized:

(l)

The agricultural ladder and the acquisition of

land in Egypt.
.(2 ) Costs, returns and efficiency on different sizes
of farms.
(3 )

Effects of the system on land use and on the

national agricultural output.
(4-) The agricultural laborers in Egypt,
(5 ) The standard of living.

(6 ) The farm tenancy problem.

Possible measures for improving the tenure system are
considered in Chapter

Chapter 5 iB “the summary and con­

clusion of the study.
Lack of reliable data has been a major problem through­
out this study and the findings would have been more
conclusive had more reliable data been available.

The data

used have come mostly from census books and other secondary
sources.

The unpublished investigations of the Fellah De­

partment provided a valuable primary source of data and
proved invaluable to the author.
The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness and
to express his sincere gratitude to all who generouely
helped in the preparation of this study.

He is particularly

indebted to the members of his Advisory Committee for their
encouragement and helpful guidance; and to Dr. Ralph C.Huston.
Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. Dr, Herman J.Wyngarden,
Dean of the School of Business and Public Service, and
Dr. Lawrence W. Witt, Chairman of the author's Advisory Com­
mittee, for giving the author not only the guidance, en­
couragement and help they give to all their students, but
for facilitating matters, at the time when the Egyptian
Government for a time cut its aid, so that he could remain
in the United States to finish his studies.
To Dr. Raleigh Barlowe, who not only gave generously
of his time in reading the entire first draft of this man­
uscript and making many valuable suggestions, but also was

kind and patient enough to correct and rephrase several
sentences, he desires to express appreciation for help and
encouragement.
Of his countrymen, the author is particularly indebted
to

Dr. Ahmed Hussien, former Director of the Fellah

Department and present Minister of Social Affairs, for his
continuous guidance and encouragement.
To the Staff of the Fellah Department for their supply
of most of the first hand data used in the study, and
finally to "the Fellaheen of "Mahallet Ziad" with whom he
worked four years in the village reconstruction program and
to whom he owes much of what he knows about the Egyptian
village, the author is sincerely grateful.
Hassan A. Dawood
East Lansing.Michigan
February, 19§0

TABLE OF CONTESTS
PAGE

Chapter
I

Egypt, A General Background
A. Geographic Setting
(1) Location
(2 ) Area
(3) Topography
(4) Soil
(5) Climate
(6 ) Water Supply, Irrigation and
Drainage.
(7 ) Mineral Resources

12
17

B. Historical Background

19

C. Economic Background, the Development
of Egypt's Economy and the Place
of Agriculture in It.
(l) Introduction
.2) The
First Period (179S-1SS2)
3) The
Period from 1SS2-1922
14) The
Period After 1922

24
24
24
35
41

D. The Supply of Land and the Factors
Affecting It.
(1) Introduction
(2 ) Factors Affecting the Supply of
Land in Egypt
(A) Rainfall
(B) Irrigation
(C) Drainage
(D) Technology
(E) Urban Land Use
(f) Political Factors

II

The Demographic Position of Egypt and the
Demand for Land
A. Introduction
B. Composition and Characteristics of
the Egyptian Population
(1) Population Growth
(2 ) Population Density and Man-Land
Ratio
(3) Raoe, Nativity and Religion

1
1
2
4
6
9

49
4§

49
50
51
54
56
56
59
61
6l
61
62

65
67

II

(4)
(5 )
(6)
(7 )
(S)
(9)
C.

III

Rurality
Age Distribution and
Occupational Status
Marital Status
Vital Statistics
Migration

Sex Ratio

Effects of the Demographic Position on
the Demand for Land
(1) The Population Pressure and the
Position of Landowners inEgypt
(2 ) The Need for Governmental Regulation.

The Land Tenure in Egypt
A. The Evolution of the System
B. The Present day Situation
(1) Land Ownership in Egypt
(2) The Agricultural Ladder and the '
Acquisition of Land
(3 ) Costs, Returns and Efficiency
on Different Sizes ofFarms
(It-) Effect of the System on Land Use
and on the National Agricultural
Output

Page
69
72
75
SI
SjJ
90

92
92
101
101
103
103
12J
ljj4159

C.

Some Results of the System
(1) Agricultural Laborers
(2) The Standard of Living

1^-6
1^6
1^-9

D.

The Farm Tenancy Problem inEgypt
(l) Conditions Contributing to Tenancy
and Tenancy Trend in Egypt
Concentration of Land Holdings
in few Hands
Average Size of Land Holdings
and Average Size of Farm
Families in Egypt
Lack of any Restriction on
Land Ownership
High Land Values
Lack of Efficient Farm Credit
System
The Wakf System
Lack of Industrialization

151
152
152
153
155
15415^
155
155

<

Ill

Page
(2) Some Economic Implications of
Tenancy in Egypt
Tenancy and Efficiency of Production
Tenancy and Soil Conservation
Tenancy and Optimum Size of Unit
Tenancy and Optimum Uge of Labor
Resources
(3 ) Landlord-Tenant Relations in Egypt
Forms of Rent Payment
Cash Rent
Share Rent
Rent in Kind
Cash and Kind Rent
Length of Leases
Kinds of Leases and How They are
Negotiated
Intermediaries
Security of Occupation,Compensation
for Improvements and Penalties
for Deterioration

157
157
159
loO
l 6l
162
162
163
16 m166
167
166
166
169
170

IV.

Measures for Improving the Land Tenure System .
in Egypt
172
A.Introduction
172
B.Direct Measures
17^
(1) Increasing the Area Under Cultivation
174(2) More Equitable Distribution of Land
Holdings
17^
More Efficient Sizeof Operated Unit.
173
More Equitable Landowner-Tenant
Relations
162
Indirect Measures
16^
(1) Education
164(2 ) Industrialization
166
Migration
166
Birth Control
169

V,

Summary

and Conclusion

191

Appendix

200

Bibliography

219

LIST OF TABLES
PAGE

TABLE
1.

Distribution of the Productive Area in Egypt.

3

2.

Seasonal Distribution of Crops in Egypt.

3

3-

Rulers of Egypt 3^C0 B.C. to 1950 A.D.

20

4.

Production and Prices of Cotton in Some
Selected Years.

33

5-

The Extent to which Different Industries
SatiefijMlthe Country’s Need in 1939-

^

6.

Items of Imports in 193$ Expressed as
Percentages of 1913 Iffiports.

47

7-

Density of Population in Egypt.

66

5.

Distribution of Population as to Religion
1937.

69

Distribution of Population According to
Age Groups in 1937-

74

9.

10. Sex Ratio in the Different Parts of
Egypt 1937.

75

11. The Occupied Population in Egypt 1927 and
1937.

76

12.

Crude Birth Rate for Selected Countries.

84

13.

Fertility Ratio in Egypt in Different
Census Years.

66

14.

Consumption of Staple Articles 1925-1938.

94

15.

Average Number of Work Days per Average
Egyptian Farm Laborer by Provinces 1545.

96

16.

Land Ownership in Selected Years.

110

17.

Land Ownership in 1945.

113

IS.

Number and SiseB of Farms in Egypt 1945.

116

. Costs

19

and Returns on Different Sizes of
Farms in Egypt in 1938.

130

4

APPENDIX TABLES
PAGE

TABLE
1.

Land. Acreage in Egypt 1929-

200

2.

Mean Temperature in Egypt in Centigrad.ee
. 1945 .

201

Relative Humidity in Egypt 19^5*

202

4.

Millimetres of Rainfall in Egypt 1945-

203

5-

Mean Hours of Sunshine per Day in Egypt.

204

6.

Nile Discharges at Aswan and Their Rain
Equivalents

205

7.

Department of Mines and Quarries Revenue
1932-1946.

206

S.

Monthly Mean Discharges of the Nile and Its
Principal Tributaries in Cubic Meters
per Second 1912-1937-

207

Population Density in Different Divisions
of Egypt.

20 S

10.

Population Classified as to Nationality.

209

11.

Marital Status in Egypt.

210

12.

Birth Rate in Egypt 1901-1945-

211

13.

Death Rate in Some Selected Countries.

212

14.

Death Rate in Egypt 1901-1940.

213

15.

Infant Death Rate in Some Selected Countries. 214

16.

Expectation of Life in Some Selected
Countries.

215

17.

Causes of Death in Egypt.

216

16.

Kinds, Amounts and Values of the
Agricultural Imports in Egypt 1937
and 1947 .

217

The Principal Units of Egyptian Measures.

218

9-

19.

i

M A P OF

THE NILE BASIN
Scale

II S.000,000

A R A Bjl. A

CHAPTER I
Bgypt, A General Background
A. - Geographical Setting

1. Geographic hocation
At the crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe lies Egypt,
one of the oldest countries that history has ever known.

It is

comprised of three distinct parts:
(I.)-Egypt proper, which consists of the northeastern corner
of the African continent, extending from the Mediterranean Sea
southward to parallel of 22° of north latitude, and from the
Suez Canal, Gulf of Suez, and the Red Sea westward to about the
meridian of 25° of east longitude.
(2.) The Peninsula of Sinia, which geographically is a part
of the continent of Asia, and which extends from the Suez Canal
eastward to a line joining Rafa on the Mediterranean Coast to

Jk

Taba near the head of the Gulf of Akaba.
(3.) A number of small islands located in the Gulf of Suez
and the Red Sea.
Egypt proper is composed of the Valley and the Delta of
the Rile River, which pierces the desert belt that stretches across
the Northern Hemisphere from the Atlantic Ocean to the heart of
China.

Beyond the Nile Valley to the east lies the Arabian or

the Eastern Desert; to the west lies the Libyan or the Western

-

2
Desert which contains here and there some fertile oases.
The country is bounded on the north by the Mediter­
ranean Sea, on the west by Tripoli and the Sahara Desert, on
the south by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, on the northeast by
Palestine and to the east by the Red Sea.
2. Area
The total area of Egypt is about 386,000 square,miles,
or more than three times that of the British Isles.

Of this

area only about 13,500 square miles are cultivable.

Canals,

roads and date plantations, etc., cover 1,900 square miles;
the surface of the Nile, marshes, lakes, etc., account for 2,850
square miles and the rest of the area is just desert.

This

means that the cultivable area is limited to approximately three

y

percent of the total area of Egypt.
This productive area in2/
volves around 8,353,421 feddans.
For various reasons only
about two-thirds of this area is now under cultivation.

Table

1 shows the distribution of the productive area in Egypt in
5/
1941.

X/ See Appendix Table 1.
y The feddan is the Egypt measure of land area.
It equals
1.038 acres.
3/ The figures for the cultivated area in more recent years are:
1943
5,331,189 feddans
1944
5,698,110
"
1945
5,730,323
"
1947
5,822,000
"
1948
5,822,000
"

3
Table 1. - Distribution of the Productive Area in Egypt*

Cultivated
Private ownership
Government
"
Public Utilities
All Kinds

4,989,206
153,329
38,197
5,185,732

Total

Uncultivated
930,096
1,384,235
853,358
3,167,689

5,919,302
1,542,564
891,555
8,353,421

* Source: Annuaire Statistique de poche, 1945. Egyptian
Government, Ministry of Finance , Department of General St at:
Much of the uncultivated land in the Del ta is below
sea level.

Because of the perennial irrigation, system, by

which two or three crops are obtained from a piece of land per
year, the crop area in Egypt far exceeds the cultivated area.
While the cultivated area in 1948 was 5,822,000 feddans, the
crop.area was 9,165,274 feddans.

Table 2 shows the seasonal

distribution of crops in Egypt.
Table 2. - Seasonal Distribution of Crops in Egypt*

Average 1935-39
Summer Crops
Winter Crops
Flood Crops
Gardens
Total

2,586,985
3,965,592
1,665,255
63,538
8,281,421

1948
2,953,111
4,427,112
1,700,816
84,235
9,165,274

* Source: Agricultural and Economic' Statistics. Bulletin in
Arabic by The Department of Agri. Econ. & Statistics, Egyptian
Ministry of Agriculture, 1949.

A line drawn just south of Cairo (the capital of the
country and the largest city in Africa) divides Egypt into Lower
Egypt or the Delta and Upper Egypt or the Nile Valley.
latter part is sometimes divided into two parts.

This

The area from

Cairo to Assyut which.is called the Middle Egypt, and the area
from Assyut to the Anglo Egyptian Sudan which is called Upper
Egypt.

In 1938 60 percent of the cultivated and 70 percent of
4/
the productive but noncultivated lands lay in the Delta.

3. Topography
The topography of the country is fairly simple.

To the

south of Cairo the Valley of the Nile is enclosed by rocky cliffs
which rise in places to heights of over 300 meters above the river
The arable land of Upper- Egypt occupies the flat floor between
the river and the bounding cliffs.

The width of the Valley varies

from less than a kilometer, south of Aswan to more than twenty
kilometers between Assyut and Cairo.
To the north of Cairo, the arable land spreads out in the
fan shaped formation of the Delta which is a level, richly
cultivated plain sloping gently towards the sea.

It is formed by

secular deposits of alluvial mud carried by the water of the river
from the heights of Abyssinia.
The country between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea is
known as the Arabian Desert.

It is not a vast monotonous plateau

like the country on the other side of the river.

It presents a

great diversity of physiographical features, the most marked one

4/ Foreign Agriculture, U.S.D.A. June 1941.

being the rugged and high mountains, composed chiefly of igneous
and metamorphic rocks, which run parallel to the Red Sea with peaks
of over 7,000 feet high.

They are much nearer the Red Sea than to

the Nile, and the area between them and the Nile is composed of
of plateaus of sandstone and limestone, dissected by wadis of
great depth and length with some wild vegetation and occasional
wells and springs.

The southern part of the desert is richer in

wells and springs than the northern part.
The Libyan Desert to the west of the Nile constitutes one
of the most arid and inhospitable regions of the world.
surface rocks consist of limestone and sandstone.

Its

In the north

the limestone predominates while sandstone predominates in the
southern part.

It contains a number of depressions wherein wells

and springs furnish water in sufficient quantity to irrigate small
areas and to support populations of several thousands.
Payton province

The

which could be considered as a big oasis, although

irrigated from the Nile, and the Siwa Oasis lie below the level of
the sea.

Between these two lies the vast Kattara depression

which embraces an area of some 19,300 square kilometers below
sea level and descends at its deepest point to a depth of 134
meters below the Mediterranean.

The economic possibilities of

the Kattara depression as a source of hydro-electric power are
being studied.
The ground of the Sinai peninsula is flat and sandy on
the Mediterranean coast.

It rises gradually to the south for

about 250 kilometers into a highly-dissected limestone plateau.

5/ It is located 50 miles southwest of Cairo.

The southern third of the peninsula is composed of rugged
granite mountains intersected by deep ravines.

Springs and

wells are found in fair abundance in Sinai.
The few islands located in the Gulf of Suez and the
Red Sea are not of much importance.
4. Soil
One of the chief -elements of Egypt's agricultural wealth
is soil fertility.

As has been mentioned the soil of the

Valley and the Delta of the Nile was formed when particles
broken off from hard rocks in the upper parts of the Nile by
the heavy rain and other weather agents were carried in a state
of suspension by the current and deposited in Egypt in the
annual floods.

As time goes on these annual deposits add to
£/
the thickness and fertility of this soil. The Nile
alluvium
containing alumina (about 48$) and calcium carbonate (18$) is
believed to increase at the rate of 4.5 inches a century.

So

fine are its particles that at places it becomes almost a
stiff clay.

It ranges in thickness from 55 to 70 feet, and

underneath it lies a series of yellow quartz sands, intermixed
with pebbles, gravel and clay, tne rocky base of which

£/ The following analysis of matter suspended' in the Nile water
during flood time, for an average of two years, is given
by G. P. Poadan, and P. Fletcher, Egyptian Agriculture,
Cairo, 1910.

has not yet been disclosed by borings.
The Egyptian soil is by no means -uniform.

The heavy soil

particles carried by the current are usually deposited first,while
the finer particles are carried further.

For this reason the

/

Egyptian soil mechanically, ranges from a coarse sandy oT gravelly
to a stiff black soil containing as much as.sixty percent clay.
The soil of the Delta is mostly of the latter group and is the
most productive in the country.
From the chemical point of view, the Egyptian soil is rich
in potash, less rich in phosphoric acid and deficient in organic
.matters and. nitrogen.

Farmyard manure provides a good source for

organic matters but not enough is used to compensate'for the
exhaustion caused by the increasing use of the perennial irrigation
and double and triple cropping practices.

Because of this, the

agricultural output of Egypt is entirely dependent on'the use of
large quantities of fertilizers.

Sodium and calcium nitrates

make up the bulk of the normal imports of fertilizers.

They with

other nitrogenous fertilizers constitute more than 80 percent of
the fertilizer imports.

During the second World War Egypt

Potash
Soda
Lime
Magnesia
Phosphoric acid
Carbonic acid
Oxide of Manganese
Oxide of Ironand Alumine
Organic matter
Insoluble matter and sand
Total
7f Cf. Encyclopedia Brittannica Vol. 8. p.33.

0.53
0.57
5.07
2.68
0.25
0.73
0.25
25.56
8.54
51.54
100.00

s
experienced many difficulties in securing its normal supplies of
fertilizers.

The use of the hydro-electric power of the Aswan

Dam in production of fertilizers is expected to care for this
situation.

§/

Under the old "basin system" of irrigation

it was easy

to maintain fertility without much need for fertilizers.

The

reason for this was that the rich layer of silt deposited annually
hy the river on the soil was enough to compensate for the soil
constituents lost in the previous crop.

Also the short agricultural

season permitted a long period of summer fallow.
The steady increase in perennial irrigation has the follow­
ing disadvantages as far as soil fertility is concerned:
(1.) The soil is deprived of the benefits of the old system
mentioned above.
(2.) The cultivation of two or three crops a year under the
perennial irrigation system, instead of one crop under the old
system, reduces the soil fertility and calls

for greater use of

fertilizers.
(3.) Spring levels and the water table are raised as a
result of the perennial free-flow irrigation system and the depth
of the soil is reduced accordingly.

This situation can be cured

only by extensive drainage.
Soil conservation problems are still of secondary importance
to the Egyptian authorities.

However, there are many powerful

factors working against soil conservation.

8/ See section on Water Supply below.

The more essential

9
of these are:
(1.) The loss of much valuable mud with the water which
pours into the sea during the annual flood season.

In Cronchley's

estimation, the value of this annual loss is about four million
dollars.
(2.) The rising water table.
(3.) The common practice in the Egyptian villages of using
much dried manure as fuel rather.than as fertilizers.
The problems are of considerable importance and should
attract the attention of the Egyptian economists as well as
Egyptian soil scientists.

Unless something is done on these

points, the famous fertility and productivity of the Egyptian
soil will continue to diminish.
5.

Climate
Part of

Upper Egypt is

within the tropics, but the

greater part of the country is north of the Tropic of Cancer.
Being a big Oasis in a desert area, Egypt naturally has
the desert’s climate.

Thanks

marine influence, however,

to the Nile and the moderating

the country has all the advantages

and none of the disadvantages of a desert climate.

These three

agents, the desert, the Nile and the marine influence work to­
gether to give Egypt its peculiar climate,

a maximum of dryness

and sunshine with a continuous supply of water throughout most of
the year.

Near the coast the marine influences are felt, but as

one goes south this influence diminishes.

Thus Alexandria is

warmer than Cairo in winter and Suez is warmer than places

in

the Nile Valley 500 kilometers farther south

while they are

cooler in summer.
The winter season which lasts from late in November to
early in

March is usually snort and mild.

summer is hot and long.

On the contrary, the

The mean temperature at Alexandria

varies between 57°F. in January, the coldest month and 81°P.
in July, the hottest one.

At Cairo the mean temperature is

53°F. in January and 84°P. in July.

The mean termperature by

months on a regional basis is reported in

Appendix Table 2.

The relative humidity varies also from place to place with
a sharp contrast between the sea coasts and the interior.
former the air is more

In the

humid in summer t_ian in winter, but gen­

erally there is not much variation throughout the year.

The lowest

degree in Alexandria is 67 in uecember and the highest one is 75
in July.

In the interior the degree of humidity varies consid­

erably and It is higher in winter than in summer.

In Upper Egypt,

the lowest degree Is 26 in June wnlle the highest is 51 in Jan­
uary.

The relative monthly degrees of numidity on a regional

bases is given in Appendix Table 5.
Except in a very narrow strip along the mediterranean
coast, rainfall in Egypt is scanty, irregular and of little economic
value.

At Alexandria and along the Mediterranean cos.si; rain falls

in the winter time with an annual precipitation of 8 inches.
the cultivation of a few crops of grain
97

Re da Khalil.' Food and the Egyptian Popplatiofn Doctorial
Dissertation, narvard un. 1946.
10/ Cf. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946. Vol. 8 p. 53.

i

11
along the coastal strip of land to the v/est of Alexandria, where
river water is not available.

This area, which

has little signif­

icance so far as agricultural production is concerned, at the
present time, was famous
time.

Further

for its grain and wines in the Roman

south the amount of rainfall rapidly decreases,

and south of 31°N it is practically negligible.
-

-

At Cairo the annual rainfall approximates less than two

inches.

In the desert rain falls even more rarely, but from time

to time heavy storms buirst, causing sudden floods
ravines.

in the narrow

Appendix Table 4 gives the average monthly and annual

rainfall in Egypt on a regional basis.
Snow is unknown in the

Delta and the Nile Valley, but

falls from time to time on the tops of the Red Sea hills and the
mountains of Sinai.

One of the main characteristics of the climate

of Egypt is sunshine,

Egypt is sometimes called the country of

the sun and the Nile.

Its sky is almost clear throughout the

year, except on the Mediterranean littoral where it is a little
cloudy during the winter season.

The duration of bright sunshine

on the Mediterranean coast and in Middle Egypt increases from
seven hours a day in January to twelve and one-half hours in June
In Upper Egypt the duration is longer.

Appendix Table 5 shows the

mean hours of sunshine monthly on a regional basis.
As has been mentioned three factors have cooperated to
give Egypt its peculiar climate namely: the seas, the desert and
the Nile.

It remains now to show the role which the Nile plays.

11/ Reda Khalil, o£. cit.

11/

In the absence of the Nile,
be an arid desert.

Egypt

with its low

rainfall would

The constant supply of water brought by the

Nile from the Equatorial region farther south is the cause of
Egypt’s agricultural wealth.

Appendix Table 6 translates the

Nile discharges at Aswan in terms of rain over the cultivated
area of Egypt.
Much of Egypt’s water supply is usually left to go to the
sea, especially in

the flood time.

If something

could be done

to utilize every drop of water the Nile brings to Egypt, the
country’s national production would certainly be greatly increased
6. Water Supply, Iri’igatlon and Drainage
Probably

nowhere in the world is there so large a pop­

ulation per square mile depending solely on agriculture and so
free

from the risk of drought, as in Egypt,

the Nile on whose

This is because

water the fertility and prosperity of Egypt

and the northern part of Sudan ai*e entirely dependant.
iation in the water supply

of

The var­

the big river at different seasons

of the year is of vital importance to Egypt and the height of
the flood has been recorded annually as the chief event of the
12/
year since at least 3600 B.C*
The waters of the Nile system have their
areas, first,

those brought down from the

source in two

Lake’s plateau in

east central Africa by Bahr El Jebel which meets with

Bahr El

Ghazal, coming from the west, at Lake.No, to form the stream
known as the
w

of

White Nile.

Some miles below, the

Cf. Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol.

16 p. 484.

White Nile

13
receives its first eastern affluent, the Sobat.

Second, those

brought down by the tributaries rising in Abyssinia, the greatest
of which is the Blue Nile that joins the White Nile five hundred
and twenty miles below the mouth of the Sobat river.
Since rain falls on the Lake’s plateau nearly all the
year with the heaviest average in the months from January to
April and again in October and November, while it falls on the
Abyssinian mountains only from June to September, the water
supply of the L a k e ’s -plateau is almost constant throughout the
year, while that of the Abyssinian tributaries is a seasonal
one.

That latter supply is the source of the Nile flood which

reaches its maximum at Cairo, at the beginning of October.

After

that it diminishes rapidly leaving the country dependent on the
supply of the White Nile and the water stored by the Aswan dam.
The history of irrigation in Egypt is as old as the history
of the country itself.

The flood or the basin irrigation system

was the one used in Egypt up until the beginning of the nineteenth
century.

Under this system the Delta as well as the valley

received flood waters and grew only a single winter crop each
year.

As a

part of his agricultural program, Mohammed Aly

(1805 - 1849) started converting the Delta to a perennial irri­
gation system.

In order to grow cotton, he found that water is

needed regularly from the spring until the time of harvesting.
This was not the only problem to be solved, but some way had to
be found by which the water could be controlled and prevented
from flooding the Delta in summer while the crop was still standing.

14
To him the solution lay in two programs:
(1.) Heightening of the river banks to prevent-the water from
flooding the fields.
(2.) Deepening and widening the Canals of the Delta, so that
water could be taken from the river to remote areas where it could
be lifted artificially to field level.
Vifith the help of forced labor he accomplished what he
aimed to do.

But he found that the cost to the state as well as to

the public was very high.

At the same time he was attracted by

an alternative approach to the problem.

He found that it would

be cheaper and easier to raise the level of the water in the river
so that it would flow naturally in the canals rather than to continue
the annual cleaning and deepening of the canals.
just north of Cairo, was started in 1843.

The Delta barrage

The completion of this

and other barrages marks the beginning of a fundamental change
in the land utilization system in Egypt.

\

The introduction of perennial irrigation in the Valley

!
;

(Upper Egypt) came with

the completion in 1873 of the Ibrahimieh

I

Canal which takes water

from the Bile at Assyut.

[
i
j
;

irrigates an area of about 513,000 feddans.

This canal

By 1899 the area

under summer irrigation reached 1,700,000 feddans.
Perennial irrigation spread rapidly during the early years
of this century.

In 1902 the construction of the Aswan Dam on

the site of the first cataract was completed.

The Assyut barrage

in 1902, the Zifta barrage in 1903 and the Esna barrage in 1908
we re also constructed.

The first heigiitening of the Aswan Dam in 1912;

added much to its water

storage capacity.

In 1919 Sir M. McDonald

J

15
estimated that the area under cultivation

in Egypt was about
13/

5,200,000 feddans distributed as follows:
Area in Feddans
Total
Lower
Upper

Egypt 3,000,000
Egypt 2,200,000
5,200,000
The second

Perennial

Basin

3,000,000
1,000,000
4,000,000

1,200,000
1,200,000

heightening of the Aswan Dam in 1933,

the completion of the Gabal El Awliya Dam near

Kartoum in Sudan

in 1937 made possible the reclamation of a large area
Delta and the conversion of another
basin to perennial irrigation.
1st barrages at Naga Hamadi
from the basin system

and

in the

area in Upper Egypt from

The completion of the Fouad the

helped

transfer an

to the perennial system.

area of 500,000
The possibility

for further increasing the area under cultivation through irrig­
ation projects will be discussed later.
Although drainage projects are as vital as
in a country like Egypt, the importance
generally realized prior to 1914.
irrigation drainage did not

irrigation

of drainage was not

Under the basin system of

constitute a problem.

In fact, it

was neither practiced nor needed, since the basin system provided
the means by which the water table is naturally lowered.
soon as the flood recedes, and when the river is

As

very low, the

surplus ground water drains back into the river and the surface
soil dries,

under the perennial irrigation system the old

15/ Selim, H. K. Twenty'"Year's of Agricultural Development in
Egypt, Government Press, Cairo, Egypt 1940.

^

16
natural way of drainage is no longer usable, and the subsoil
water has to be drained

by some method.

Drainage, besides being a way

to dispose of the

sub­

soil water, is also indispensable in the reclamation of the
uncultivated

lands

of Egypt which usually, contain salts

injurious to growing plants.
been easier were it not for

The drainage problem would have
the low elevation of the Delta

which makes natural drainage impossible and which

necessitates

the use of pumps in the drainage of the northern parts of the
Delta.

The increasing

use of perennial irrigation adds to

the problem

since unforturately the construction of drainage
4/
works has not kept pace with irrigation works.
It is the
opinion of most scientists who have studied the causes of
failure of the cotton crop in some parts of Egypt in some
years, that high subsoil water is the main cause for cotton
crop failures.
w
In 1929, figures representing the irrigated and the
drained land in Egypt, by major regions were as follows:
Specification
Acreage
Irrigation
Perennial irrigation (by gravity)
2,529,255
Perennial irrigation (by lifting)
2,551,598
Total perennial irrigation
4,680,653
Basin irrigation
1,149,452
Total
5,830,106
Drainage
By gravity
2,279,210
By humping
952,894
Total
3,232,104
Source: El Zalaky, M.M. An analysis of the organization of
Egyptian Agriculture and~~Tts Influence on national economic
and social institutions. Doctoral dessertation, University
of California, 'Betfeley, 1941.

17
The ever increasing area occupied by the drains
constitutes another acute problem in the Egyptian economy
which should be studied carefully.

This, besides decreasing

the almost fixed area of cultivable land in Egypt, is a big
hindrance to the use of Mechanical equipment in the
Egyptian agriculture.

The use of the covered drains may pro­

vide a remedy, but they are still used only
basis and more

on an

experimental

study is needed to find a cheaper way of con­

structing them.
The drainage problem is a neglected one in Egypt.

The

country desperately needs a well formulated drainage policy.
Drainage districts-patterned after those used in the United
States of America for the same reason or for irrigation or soil
conservation, with the technical aid and supervision of the
government, may provide a solution to the problem.
7. Mineral Resources
As was indicated earlier only 3 percent of the total area
of Egypt is cultivable while the remaining 97 percent is mostly
desert.

Although almost 99 percent of the Egyptian population live

in the Nile Valley and the Delta, leaving only one percent in
the deserts, the deserts are not devoid of mineral wealth.

It

is true that the workable deposits so far known are few, but
it is also true that no geological studies have been made of
much of the desert region*
during the last
eries to come.

The many new discoveries

made

fifteen years give the hope of more discovIn his booklet, The Mineral Resources of Egypt,

^

18
Mr. El Alfy, an Egyptian consulting mining engineer, cited
the gradual and steady growth of the revenue of the Department
of Mines and Q,uarries from 1933 to 1946 as a criteria of the
growth of the mining industry itself.

The figures are pre­

sented in Appendix Table 7.
Mineral deposits in Egypt are numerous, some of them
are exploited, while the others are not.

High transportation

costs constitute a considerable problem

and this hinders' the'

growth of the mining industry. This is

the reason why most

of the fields under exploitation are located near the Gulf
of Suez where the sea provides a good, cheap means of trans­
portation.

The possibility of developing this industry in

Egypt will,discussed in Chapter 4.
An inventory of the so far existing mineral deposits
in Egypt

will include the following: phosphates, manganese,

gold, talc, iron ores, chromite, graphite, tungsten ores, tin,
kattlin, sulphur, lead, zinc, molybdenum, copper, nickel, tit­
anium, beryllium, thorium, calcium compounds such as limestone,
marble, gypsum and anhydrites, silica and silicates which
includes building sand, clays, fuller's earth, asbestos, ben­
tonite and zircon, barium, strontium natron, salt and petro­
leum.

Other stones which are provided by the different quar­

ries have many economic uses.

19

B.

- HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Excluding the period of the Pharaohs which is thought
to cover the period from the year 5400 B.C. till the year 525
B.C., the history of Egypt shows a long period of foreign
domination stretching unbroken from the Persian Conquest in
525 B.C. to the nineteenth century.

During this long period

of approximately twenty-five centuries Egypt was never ruled
by Egyptians.

The Persians, the Macedonians, the Ptolmies,

the Romans, the Arabs, the Turks, the French, and finally the
Britishers, all have ruled the country for some time and
changed hands from one to the other.

Table 3 gives the nation­

ality of the different powers who ruled Egypt successively
from the time of the Pharoahs till the time of Mohammed
the founder of

Aly

the modern Egypt,

The Egyptians who lived during these 25 centuries suf­
fered from severe economic exploitation by the ruler.

Those

in the army and the higher ranks of the bureaucracy were almost
without exception foreigners whose one objective was to squeeze
the utmost out of the fellaheen (the Egyptian peasants) from
16/
whom they generally kept rigidly aloof.
At the close of the eighteenth century, the Turks
were ruling.

Their rule, as well as that of the Mamelukes,

was a dark and gloomy one.

Corruption was the symptom of

every phase of the Egyptian life.

The Turkish army was

16/ Cf. Issawi, Chas. Egypt, an Economic and Social Analysis
Oxford University Press, London, 1947.

Table 3» Rulers of Egypt, 31*00 B. C. to 1950 A. D. *-

From Year

To Year

Approximate Length
of the Period

Pharaohs

31*00 B.C.

$25. B.C.

3000 Years

Persians

525 B.C.

332 B.C.

200

"

Macedonians and
Ptolemies

332 B.C.

30 B.C.

300

«

639

650

11

Period
Name

Romans

30 B.C.

Arabs

639

868

200

"

Different Islamic States

868

12^0

1*00

”

Different Mamelukes
and Turks

12^0

1798

500

”

French

1798

1801

3

"

Mohamed Aly and his
successors

1805

to date

—

Limited sovereignty under
Ottoman Empire

1801

1882

81

"

British domination

1882

1922

1*0

'*

Independence

1922

—

-^-Source: Lehie'ta, M., The Economic History of Egypt in'Modern Times, in Arabic, Cairo, Egypt
191*1*, and other sources.

undisciplined, the treasury was bankrupt, and the general
condition ran into complete confusion.

France took advantage

of this opportunity and Napoleon invaded the country in 1798
and defeated the Mamelukes at the battle of Embaba.

Although

he began his rule by preaching his innocent intentions of
liberating the Egyptians from the Mamelukes, and started
or planned many reforms, he did not succeed in winning the
favor of the Egyptians who thought that the French were even
worse than the Turks and the Mamelukes.
In the same year of the invasion, the French

fleet

was destroyed in Abukir, near Alexandria by the British fleet
under Nelson.

Following this the French army was defeated

and by the close of 1801 the last French soldier had sailed
from Egypt.

During the years succeeding

the evacuation of

the French, things were as bad as they could be and remained
so till Mohamed Aly became the viceroy of Egypt in 1305.
He, being commandant of the Albanian militia of

the Turkish

army in Egypt, was chosen by the Egyptian people to become
viceroy.

Although the choice was confirmed by the Turkish

sultan, Mohamed Aly succeeded in driving the French, the
British and the Turks themselves out of the country.

The

Mamelukes, who disturbed him for some time, were not only
completely defeated, but a goodly number of them were massacred
by his followers in 1811.

From that time on he ruled undis­

turbed and was able to found the dynasty which has since
ruled Egypt.

22
In the days of Mohamed Aly numerous changes took place.
He develoiJed new Industries, reformed agriculture, and increased
the size of the army.

Wages for the lower ranks of labor were

greatly increased while food prices only sligntly increased.
Although he remained an Asiatic autocrat he introduced the con­
stitution in 1326 and recognized a council of state and a
cabinet minister.

Under him a drastic centralization and re­

organization of the“government took place.
Mohamed Aly was succeeded by his sons and relatives.
Most of them had doubtful ability and were very extravagant.
The Suez Canal project, which was started at the time of Said,
caused two different types of trouble to the still unestablished
state.

First, it brought entanglements with England, and second,

it was the original cause of the Egyptian debts which reached
huge figures in the time of Said’s successor.

Ismail was able

to secure the title of Khedive and full legislative and fiscal
autonomy within the framework of the Ottoman laws.

Thus by

1875, Egypt may be described as a practically independent
kingdom.
Although the Egyptians were used as soldiers by Mohamed
Aly, they were treated as an inferior race and most of the
ranks were closed to them.

high

Unfortunately his successors pushed

that policy still farther and the result was the Arabi revolt
which was the first real manifestation of Egyptian nationalism.
This movement, which might possibly have benefitted the nation,
was cut short by foreign intervention of the British and the

French which was the first stage of the foreign occupation.
This took at first the form of a joint Anglo-French control,
then France backed out, leaving G-reat Britain alone in Egypt.
The British occupation in Egypt lasted approximately a quarter
of a century.

Finally the independence movement started by

Mostafa. Kamel and later promoted and led by Zaglul Pasha suc­
ceeded.

As a result Egypt was granted independence on February

28, 1922 and the title of ruler was changed from Sultan to
King of Egypt.

But in spite of that, the British army was still

in Cairo to protect foreign interests and the Suez Canal.

In

1936 an Anglo Egyptian'treaty was signed by the Egyptians and
the Britishers settling some of their points of dispute but
leaving other points of vital importance to Egypt without satis­
factory solution.

These points, of which the Sudan case is

an important one, are the source of the existing dispute between
the Egyptians and the Britishers.

C. - Economic Background
The Development of Egypt’s Economy
and
The Place of Agriculture in It.
1. Introduction
To trace the development of the economy of a country
with a history as old as that of Egypt is not an easy job.
It takes volumes to cover the whole subject, which is not the
main object of this work.

For this reason consideration will

be confined to the development of the country’s economy since
the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Major emphasis will

be put on explaining the role agriculture played in the economy
at different times.

It is convenient to divide this period

into the following three parts:
First, the period from 1798 to 1882 which marks the
termination of the Mamelukes* rule, the French invasion and
the success of Mohamed Aly in establishing himself as ruler of
Egypt, and the rule of his successors.
Second, the period from 1882 to 1922.

This is the

pei’iod of the British occupation.
Third, the period from 1922 up until now.

This is the

independence period.
2. The First Period (1798-1882)
Just before the French invasion in 1798, Egypt was a
poor,. corrupted, self-contained country.
country’s life was as bad as it could be.

Every phase of the

25
The Turkish rulers had no interest other than squeezing
the poor peasants and workers, and collecting whatever they
could collect of the different taxes.

The population of the

country which had numbered about 7 million in the Arab's time
had decreased to 2.4 million.

Poverty, maltreatment and the

many diseases resulted in a high mortality rate.
Agriculture, which was the major source of the country's
life, was unhealthy.

The tenure system was feudal, or similar

to it since no peasant enjoyed property rights.

Although the

irrigation system used during that time was the basin one,
most of the irrigation works were neglected.

As a result many

of the productive lands lay idle.
Industry was very rudimentary and met only the simplest
wants.

It was carried on by guilds witn apprenticeship rules

similar to those that prevailed in medieval Europe.

Most of

the industries which flourished and assumed a considerable
role in the economy before the Turkish rule were dwindling.
There were three reasons behind this;
(1.) Some Turkish rulers picked the experts in the different
Egyptian industries and sent them to Turkey, to help in
establishing different industries there.
(2.) The taxes to which the different industries were sub­
jected were so heavy that most of them were unable to survive.
These taxes were not assessed on any Scientific or just basis,
rather they depended on the power of the different guilds.
Usually the powerful ones paid the least.

26
(3.) The intervention of the Turkish rulers in the affairs

uz/

of the guilds, weakened tnem and wes.kened industry in general.
Egypt, being at the crossroads of three continents,
gained much from the foreign trade during the first part of
the Mamelukes' rule.

The most important trade in the world at

that time was between Asia and Europe and Egypt straddled the
route through which much of this trade had to pass.

The rulers

often imposed high taxes on the passing trade, taxes that in
some of the cases aporoached one-third of the value of the
18/‘
commodity traded.
Egypt, also, used to export some of its
agricultural products such as wheat, rice and onions.
In 1498 the sea-route around the Gape of the Good Hope
was discovered by the Portuguese sailor, Vasco Da Gama.
was a great shock to the Egyptian economy,

This

since it became

cheaper for the foreign importers and exporters to transport
their commodities along the new route.

Before this time the

tax on the passing commodities had been a main source of revenue
in Egypt.
Despite the shortness of the period of the French occu­
pation, which lasted from 1798 to 1801, most of the phases of
Egyptian life were affbcted by the French ways.

The social

and the political phases were those affected most.

Ho con-

siderable change took place in the economic phases of the
17/ The weaving industry was one of the flourishing industries
in Egypt during the Arab's time.
18/ Lehieta, M. F. The Economic History of Egypt in the Recent
Times.
op. cit.

j

^

27
country.

The French tried a slight change in the tenure system

and imposed many different taxes.

No real effort was made

to introduce new industries, or encourage the old ones.

In

the field of agriculture nothing was done, except the inclu­
sive studies which were made by the French scientists who
accompanied Napoleon.

These inclusive studies were the founda­

tion of the agricultural policy followed by Mohamed Aly a
little later.

The idea of-joining the Mediterranean and the

Red Sea was studied by the French scientists.

These studies

were of good use when the Suez Canal project was undertaken.
Tinder Mohamed Aly a great economic revolution took
place.

Agriculture, industry and trade were reorganized in

such a way as to fit the dream of the progressive ruler.

This

dream was the establishment of a wide and powerful Egyptian
Empire to take the place of the sick and passing Ottoman
Empire.

His rule was built on two economic bases;

(1.) All the economic activities were monopolized by the
government which in turn was crystalized in his hands.
(2.) Every effort was made to make Egypt a completely
self-sufficient country.
In spite of the many new industries which were intro­
duced or encouraged, agriculture was the major source of live­
lihood in the country.

The proportion of the population

engaged in agriculture was larger, than that engaged in industry
and trade together and the contribution of agriculture to the

28
government revenue was the largest.
in the following fields:

Many changes took place

the production system, the tenure

system, trie irrigation system and the crop system.
Production was under the complete monopoly of the
government.

The farmers were given from three to five acres

of land, livestock and seed and were asked to produce the
crops wanted by the government.

The whole product had to be

submitted to the government.
After doing so, the value of the product had to be
computed by the government’s agents.

The prices were fixed

by the government and after deducting what the peasant owed the
government for taxes, seed, fertilizers and livestock, he
usually was given credit for the balance.

The peasant never

received cash, but the balance was kept with the government to
meet the future needs of the peasant.
The change which took place in the tenure system will
be discussed thoroughly in Chapter III.
It is sufficient to
19/
mention here that the Iltizam system
was abolished and the
government took over all the land.
To accomplish this Mohamed Aly pacified the Monltzims
by leaving to some of them their own estates which were known
as the V/issiya land.

He also gave to some of the rich

Egyptians and his assistants what was known as the "Abadieh
lands" and to his relatives what was known as "Shafalik"
W

Of. Chapter 3 The Evolution of the Land Tenure System m
Egypt.
20/ Lehieta, U.F. op. cit., p. 165.

29
In the field of irrigation Mohamed Aly employed some
of the French employees who helped him in designing and con­
structing his irrigation projects, especially, that of the
Delta barrages.

Many canals were dug, many others were deep­

ened and river and canal banks were strengthened.

For the

first time perennial irrigation was used on a large scale.
This helped in prodLicing cotton and sugar cane.

The different

irrigation programs made the exploitation of a wide area pos­
sible.

Between 1820 and 1840 the cultivated area increased

from 2,031,905 feddans to 3,856,622 feddans.
As far as the farm crops were concerned, the change
consisted of the introduction of some new crops and the expansion
21/
of the acreage used for others.
Of those crops, cotton
was the most important.

The production of cotton was increased

from 944 Kantars in 1821 to 344,955 Kantars in 1845.
Indigo was also a crop which attracted the attention
of Mohamed Aly.

He Imported new seeds from India and its

prodiiction was increased to the extent that it not only met
internal needs but some was exported.
Wood for lumber and opium for drugs were also products
which were encouraged by the ruler.
In the field of industry two main changes took place.
These were:

a

W ~ The main crops which were produced in Egypt at this time
were: 1. Summer crops; sugar cane, cotton, rice, indigo and
sesam.
2. Winter crops; clover, wheat, barley, beans, lentils,
flax, onions and garlic.
3. Vegetables; green beans, eggplant, lettuce, cabbage
watermelons and others.

30
(1.) The government, as in agriculture, monopolized all
the industries.
(2.) The introduction of the heavy industries and the big
firm system.
Mohamed Aly was trying to make a self-sufficient
country out of the agricultural Egypt.

Besides monopolizing

all the economic activities in the country, he imposed pro­
tecting tariffs.

His energies carried the Egyptian industry

from simple feudal craftsmanship to full blown capitalism at
one leap.

Arms, machine tools, steam engines, as well as cloth,

paper, glass and sugar were produced in his foundries and
factories.
Trade, internal and foreign, was also in the hands
of the government.
In this period Egypt had an active balance
22/
of trade.
This was because of the increasing productive are^
and because of the production of

cotton.

Means of trans­

portation were improved, the currency system was overhauled
and the exchange prices were fixed.
This was, briefly, the economic program of Mohamed
Aly.

One last word remains to be said regarding taxation.

Taxes were numerous and heavy.

Sometimes the whip was used

to help in collecting them and most of the revenue was spent
on the army and navy.

In 1833 about 30 percent of the gov­

ernment’s expenditures were on the army and about 15 percent
<?£'/ Lehieta mentioned in his book that in 1849 the value
of exports was 1,660,740 L.E. and the value of the
imports was 1,474,060 L.E.

m

31
on the navy.

As far as the welfare of the Egyptians was

concerned, the system was a fairure.

In spite of the better

economic situation enjoyed by the government, the- indiv­
iduals did not reap any of the fruits.

The philosophy of

the time was that the strength of the nation is an end
in itself, no matter how miserable and poor the individuals
are.

The rulers did not think that the prosperity and

strength of a nation should be derived from that of its
people.
It was mentioned that the percentage raise in the
wages was higher than that in the prices of foodstuffs,
but still there were many exploitations.

For instance, the

price allowed to the peasants and farmers for their submitted
wheat was 30 P.T. while the price charged the people when
23/
buying their needed wheat was 50 P.T. per ardeb.
The government reaped the fruits of the increased
agricultural production.

The monopoly of trade and industry

destroyed the small traders and
firms.

some of the small industrial

When Egypt was obliged to follow the Anglo-Turkish

commercial convention of 1838, which permitted the British
traders to buy and sell anywhere within the Ottoman dominion,
Egyptian industry and trade began to collapse.
largely taken over by foreigners.

Trade was

The compulsory reduction

of the army in 1841 was the second bluw which discouraged
Egyptian industry.

23/ "ibieta, M.F., op. cit. p. 105.

After

the death of Mohamed

to fade gradually.

Aly, his regime began

The governmental monopoly began to give

place to the free enterprise system.

Most of the entrepre­

neurs, who entered the fields of trade and industry were
foreigners and in Said's time many corporations were organ­
ized.
Agriculture, in the time of Mohamed Aly's successors,
assumed the major role in Egypt's ecomony.

The area of land

under cultivation was increasing with the progress of the '■
irrigation projects.

The abolition of the governmental

monopoly, and the development of the land tenure system
which resulted in a state very similar to that of private
ownership, helped in creating the self interest and the
initiative needed for progress of agriculture*
The area under cultivation was increased from 3,856,000
feddans in 1840 to 4,810,000 feddans in 1879.

However, indiv­

iduals benefited little from this increase, since the ruler
put his hands on all the newly cultivated land.

In 1862,

he owned 15,000 feddans, but a few years later this figure
jumped to 950,000 feddans.

At the same time the population

was increasing and it reached 6,800,000 in 1882.
The area under cotton was increasing rapidly.

This

was caused by the high prices of cotton, as a result of the
American Civil War in conjunction with the progress of the
irrigation projects.

The following table gives the production

of cotton and its average prices in dollars in selected years.

33
Table 4. - Production and Prices of Cotton in Egypt
in some selected years*

Price in Dollars

Production in Kantars

Ye ar

10.00
11.75
45.00
31.75
35.25
14.06
14.34

120,000
258,000
1,182,000
1,719,000
2,140,000
2,594,000
2,686,000

1848
1849
1863
1864
1865
1878
1879

Longmans, Green & Co. London, 1938.
Sugar cane and tobacco were strong competitors to
cotton, especially when prices dropped after the termination
of the American Civil War.
All those who followed Mohamed Aly did not think much
of industrializing the country.

Industry was neglected by

all the rulers with the exception of Ismail who was in favor
of its encouragement.

The sugar manufacturing industry and

the weaving industry flourished in his time.

He built new

factories and re-opened some of those built under Mohamed
Aly that had been closed after his death.

But the idea of

creating a self-sufficient country out of Egypt was discarded.
The factors which were responsible for that are:
(1.) The low stage of arts and skills which existed at
that time made it impossible to create any big industry.
(2.) Egypt was not free to impose protective duties.

The

success of any infant industry is impossible without such pro­
tection.

34
(3.) The foreign influence in directing the whole economy
of the country was increasing.

Evidently foreigners wanted

to keep Egypt an agricultural country.
Even the sugar factories- established by Ismail did
not succeed.

The high prices of cotton induced the people

to grow cotton instead of sugar cane.

These in conjunction

with the lack of skills and managerial abilities were enough
to discourage the industry.

Some writers are inclined to

believe that Ismail established those factories as a means of
increasing his own income rather than creating a healthy indus24/
try.
Considerable foreign capital entered Egypt during Said
and Ismail’s times.

Foreign financiers were mostly interested

in banking and in public utilities.
n

The construction of the Suez Canal which was started
in 1856, is one of the outstanding events which took place in
that period of Egypt’s history.

Aside from the advantages

which were enumerated by those who advocated the project and
the disadvantages cited by those who opposed it, the fact that
starting the project at that time hurt the growing state, is
beyond any dispute.

The financial troubles caused by the

heavy debts which were made to finance the canal and some other
public works needed to meet the extravagance, which was the
symptom of that period, resulted in the foreign interference
w

Mr. El-Rafi, mentioned in hi3 book, Ismail's time in Arabic
that the number of sugar factories was seventeen.

35
in the Egyptians’ private affairs which was a prelude to the
British occupation.

These debts, which were about 11,160,000

L.E. at the end of Said’s rule, reached 98,000,000 L.E. at
the end of Ismail’s rule.

They carried a high interest rate

and were the cause of the great economic troubles that the
country experienced.

To show the depressing effects of these

debts on the country's economy, Lehietfltmentioned that in
1875 the total revenue was 10,042,468 L.E. of which only the
interest on the debt took six million Egyptian pounds.

The

foreign interference, based on the financial troubles, was
increasing all the time and even the sale of Egypt’s share in
the Suez Canal's profit and the 1880 law of debt liquidation
did not help to solve the situation.

On the other hand, for­

eigners found another excuse for their interference in the
political troubles which took place at that time, particularly
the Arabi revolution which was terminated by the British
occupation.
3. The Period from 1882-1922
The political troubles which took place at that time
and which led to the British occupation in 1882, followed by
the losses incurred in the Sudan in an effort to prevent its
falling into the hands of the Mahdi, added much to the economic
distress of the country and worked against the 1880 settlement.
According to the terms which were agreed upon by the represen­
tatives of the great powers and Turkey in the London Convention
held in 1885, the Egyptian i*evenue was divided between the

"Treasury of the public Debt" which was established to act as
receiver of the revenues assigned to the service of the debt,
and the government.

The following revenues were assigned to

the service of the debt:

all the revenues derived from the

railway, telegraph, port of Alexandria, customs (including
tobacco) and from four of the provinces. ' The non-assigned
revenue was by no means enough to meet the government’s expenses.
The convention empowered Egypt to raise a loan of nine million
Egyptian pounds, guaranteed by the powers, at a rate of interest
of 5 percent.

This loan which was known as the Guaranteed

Loan was sufficient to wipe out the deficits of the preceding
years and to set the Egyptian treasury on its feet.

The London

Convention established some serious restrictions on the Egyptian
government which left her without any financial autonomy.
During the years that immediately followed the signing
of tne London Convention, trie financial policy of the Egyptian
government called for exercise of the most rigid economy in all
branches.
commenced.

Prom this moment an era of financial prosperity was
This was a result of the attention given to the

legitimate demands of the spending department and to the prosecu­
tion of public works, the outstanding of which were the irriga­
tion projects.

In 1904 the Egyptian government was given a free

hand in the management of its own resources so long as the
interest on the debt was paid.

This was a result of an under­

standing oetween England and Prance.

This understanding left

the Treasury of the Debt existing but short of any political

37

power, its function being limited to receiving the assigned
revenues.

The basis on which the revenue was distributed

between the government and the debt service also was changed.
The first years of the British occupation constituted
a powerful fight against bankruptcy.

The increased cotton pro­

duction coupled with some rise in its prices, especially after
1899, pulled the co^^ntry out of the trough and from 1899 on
all the budgets showed surpluses.
The economic activities during the British occupation
were centered around agriculture.
were undertaken.

Numerous irrigation projects

As a result, middle and lower Egypt were

converted to perennial irrigation.

The area under cultivation

increased from 4,764,000 feddans in 1881 to 5,658,000 feddans
25/
in 1911 and the crop area increased to 7,712,000 feddans.
The bulk of the increase in the area under cultivation was
taken by cotton.

The area under cotton increased from about

500,000 feddans in 1879 to 1,723,000 feddans in 1913.
constituted 22 percent of the crop area.

This

The country’s produ-

tion of cotton rose from 3,100,000 Kantars in 1879 to 7,700,000
in 1913.

This increase in the production was going on in spite

of the decline in cotton prices which continued until the close
of the nineteenth century.

Another crop which witnessed an

increase in its production was maize, which constituted the
main diet of the people.

Wheat and beans did not increase as

2 5 T Cf. Crouchley, op. cit.

38
cotton and maize.

In fact the acreage under beans actually

declined.
Population was growing fast, increasing from 6,800,000
in 1882, to 12,750,000 in 1917.
increased at a rapid rate.

The number of land owners also

In 1895 there were 767,000 land

owners while in 1913 the number was 1,557,000.

The bulk of

this increase is accounted for by small owners (less than 5
feddans) who numbered 1,411,000 in 1913.

This rapid increase

in the number of land owners was due to the removal of the
last restrictions on ownership and the formation of many land
companies who reclaimed the land and sold it to the farmers.
Besides the progress which took place in the field of
agriculture, especially irrigation, there was similar progress
In transportation.

The network of the state railways was

more than doubled during the occupation period.

Also light

railways were constructed in the Delta and in Fayum province
by private enterprise.

The total length of the railway lines

in the country reached 4,800 kilometers in 1909.
Industry did not show any noteworthy progress during
the occupation period.

It is the belief of some of the students

of the subject, that the British administrators deliberately
neglected industry and directed all their efforts toward the
increase of cotton production.

There is no doubt that many

industries, such as cotton and tobacco, would have grown if
given some kind of care and encouragement.

But the British

administrators cared for the British interests first, and

39

England was Interested In Egyptian cotton.
In spite of all the reasons Lord Cromer enumerated to
justify his unsympathetic attitude towards industry, the follow­
ing facts certainly show his hostility to industrialization:
(1.) Local cotton goods, which should have been protected
and encouraged, were, instead, subjected to an 8 percent excise
duty.

This was enough to clear the Egyptian market for the

Lancashire prodxiction.
(2. ) Coal vihich was the main fuel used for industrial
purposes and which was imported was subjected, as other imported
goods, to an 8 percent duty.
(3.) The Cultivation of tobacco which was promising and
would have been highly improved and progressed if given part
of the care that was given to cotton production, was first
taxed heavily, then forbidden altogether.

By so doing, the

local supply of the raw material needed for the cigarette
industry, one of the largest and most promising industries in
BgyP'th was completely cut.

The industry became dependent on

the impor’tation of tobacco.
(4.) The increase in the area under cotton was going on
in spite of the continuous decrease in cotton prices which
was taking place and which was not reversed until the beginning
of the present century.
In
In
In
In

These prices were as follows:

1870
1880
1890
1897

the price was
"
11
»
"
11
11
"
"
"

--522.00
'14.00
12.00
7.0o

40
Foreign trade increased rapidly and Egypt enjoyed a
favorable balance of trade.

The exports which amounted to

L. E. 12,983,000 in 1880 rose to L.S. 31,662,000 in 1914.
The bulk of this increase was accounted for by cotton exports
which reached L.E. 29,498,000 in 1914, or about 93 percent of
the value of the whole exports.

Other exported products were,

onions, rice, raw wool, eggs and sugar.
Imports also increased from L.E. 7,900,000 in 18851889 to L.E. 25,200,000 in 1910-1914.

They consisted mostly

of manufactured articles, foodstuffs, raw materials and fuel.
England was Egypt»s biggest supplier.
The occupation period saw some changes in the currency
system.

Owing to the fall in the price of silver after 1860,

it was impossible for Egypt to maintain the bimetallic system,
and the unit of currency was made the Egyptian gold pound in
1885.

In 1898 the National Bank of Egypt was founded and

given the privilege of issuing banknotes with a 50 percent gold
cover.

The use of these though spread very slowly.

In 1914,

because of a shortage of gold, the notes were declared legal
tender, and because of the increased difficulties experienced
in obtaining gold for the cover, the bank was permitted to
use British Treasury bonds and bills as backing.

The first

World War accelerated the note issue which reached L.E. 64,000,000
in 1919.
There were two other main results of the war:
(1.) It helped the development of deposit banking in the

■the country.
(2.) In spite of the benefits secured by some people,
the masses experienced hard times.

Shipping difficulties

prevented Egypt from getting its normal share of imports which
contained among other things, wheat and fuel.

Reduction of

wheat production was believed by some to be the outcome of
the policy followed by the British administrators.

Others are

inclined to put the blame on the landed interests who increased
their cotton production as a result of the high prices it sold
for.

Prices of cotton after falling at the beginning rose to

^38.00 in 1916 and reached ^90.00 in 1919.

The scarcity of

wheat was so acute that the government, as a relief measure,
sold imported wheat at a loss.

The index of wholesale prices

rose from 100 in 1914 to 310 in 1920, while that of wages rose
from 100 in 1914 to 260 in 1920.

This indicates the hardship

that the masses experienced during the War until 1922.

In

1922 there was a general break in prices.
4. The Period After 1922
Although Egypt was granted its independence in 1922,
England continued to interfer in many of the Egyptian affairs.
The political activities were so absorbing that only little
thought was given to the other phases, particularly, the ecomonic
one.

In spite of the lack of any organized policy, the trend

was in the direction of industrialization.

The shortage of

imports during the War gave rise to many small industries some
of

which died after the War.

Three factors, however, gave

42

impetus to industrialization* Those were:
(1.) The foundation of the "Bank Misi1' in 1920.

Among

the objectives for which the bank was founded was encourage­
ment of Egyptian indiistries.
(2.) The second factor was the creation of the Egyptian
Federation of Industries in 1922.
(3.) The third and very important factor was higher
duties which were imposed on imports in 1930.
These factors were the essential ones which worked
toward more industrialization of the country and which enabled
industry to achieve the place it has now in the country’s
ecomony-.
In spite of the growth of industry, agriculture still
plays the major role in the country’s ecomony.

The remaining

part of this section will be devoted to the explanation of
the role played by agriculture, as well as by other ecomonic
activities in the ecomony of Egypt at the present time.

Diff­

erent measures could be resorted to in order that we achieve
our aim.

These are:

(A.) The Proportion of Population Engaged in the Diffextent
Activities.
It is very difficult to indicate accurately the percent­
age of the total population dependent on the different industries
of Egypt.

Figures are available for only the occupied persons.

However, the Fellah Department of the Egyptian Ministry of
Social Affairs estimated that the agricultuaal population in

26/
1937 was 75 percent of the total.
According to the 1937
census, the employed persons including pupils numbered
7,422,000.

Agriculture employed 58 percent of this number,

industry, mining and building employed 8.2 percent, transpor­
tation employed 1.9 percent, trade employed 6.2 percent and
unproductive pupils were 18 percent.

.No other reliable

figures, on the more recent time, are available.,

It is cer­

tainly clear that according to those figures, agriculture is
still the major Industry in Egypt, and is still the source of
livelihood for the majority of the people.
(B.) The Share of Each Industry in the National Capital.
Figures on the mational capital of Egypt are rare, and
the accuracy of those available could be questioned.

However,

our analysis will be based on two of the more recent and reli­
able estimates.
In "Egypbe Contemporaine" of March 1943, Mr. Adler esti­
mated the national capital as follows:
L.E.
Land
Houses (excluding those used for
industrial and commercialpurposes)
Industry and commerce
State property (including railways, canals,
state domain, reserve fund, etc.)
Floating capital, foreign securities held
by residents etc.
Private establishments
Mines and quarries
Total
Less Egyptian securities held abroad
and foreign owned property in Egypt
National capital
26/ cf. section on Hurality in Chapter 2

660 Million
170
130

11
11

140

"

50
40
10

"
11
"

1,200
100
1,100

44
Dr. EL Shafie, A.N. of the Faculty of Commerce of Fouad
the 1st University in Cairo Egypt, in his essay on "The Share
27/
of Industry in the National Economy" appeared in "S*L.»Feliaha",
fifth issue, September-October 1949 mentioned that in 1945, the
total capital invested in industry was 90 million Egyptian
pounds, while the value of the agricultural land, the livestock
and the agricultural equipment was about 1,200 million Egyptian
pounds in the same year.
This second measure assures that industry is subordinate
to agriculture in Egypt.
(C.) The

Contribution of Each Industry to the National Product.
Dr. EL Shafie

1945 the

in

the same articleestimated that in

value of the national industrial product was about

200 million Egyptian pounds while the value of the national
agricultural product was 320 million Egyptian pounds in the same
year.

It is worthy to mention in this respect that in 1945,

while the value of the agricultural exports was about 37 million
Egyptian

pounds, that of

the industrial exports was negligible.

(D.) The

Contribution ofEach Industry to the National Income.
In 1945, the total national income in Egypt was about

600 million Egyptian pounds.
1.
2.
3.

The national income
The national income
The national income
Total

This was divided as follows:
from
from
from
and

agriculture was L.E. 200 million
industry was
60
"
transport, trade
others
540
"
600
"

27/ Edited in Arabic by the Association of the Graduates of the
Agricultural Schools and Institutions.

Tills measure, as well as the other three aforementioned,
all indicate that agriculture is still playing the major role
in Egypt’s economy.

As an occupation it employs more than one-

half of the total occupied -population and supports almost 75
percent of the Egyptian people.

In terms of investment, agri­

cultural land constitutes the biggest share of the investment,
besides being the most preferable one.

It also contributes

much to the national product as well as the national income.
This, however, does not mean that industrialisation
is a stagnant process in Egypt nor that the place of agriculture
in Egypt’s economy during the recent "Independence Period"
has not differed much from its status during the British occup­
ation period.

In fact, the progress of industry was going on

since the termination of the first World War.

This progress

was slow at the beginning, but the tariff laws of 1930 accel­
erated it, and the second World War gave it further impetus.
To indicate the extent of industrial progress in Egypt
during the more recent times the following tabulation is quite
helpful:
Number of the Industrial Firms and the People q q /
Engaged in Industrial Activities in Different Years— '

1927
No. of Indus­
trial pi’irms
No of Workers

70,000
215,000

1937

92,021
273,464

1944

130,000
460,000

1948

—

630,000

£8/ Source, Annaire Statistique, op.clt. p and other sources.

The number* of those engaged in industry in 1949 is
thought to be more than six hundred thousand.

This means that

industry in Egypt supports now not less than 1.7 millions or
about 9 percent of the 1947 population.
Another way to snow the extent of industrial progress
is to Indicate to what extent the different domestic industries
were able to meet the country's needs which were usually sat­
isfied by the importation of foreign industrial products.

This

is shown in Table 5.
Table 5. - The Extent to which Different Industries
Satisfied the Country's Need in 1959%

Industry

% of loc§.l
needs met

Sugar
Alcohol
Cigarettes
Salt
Grain Grinding
Lamp Glass
Electric Bulbs
Worsted Cotton
Leather Boots &
Shoes

100
100
100
100
99
99
99
96

Industry

% of local
needs met

Cement
Soap
Tarbouches (headdress )
Furniture
Beer
Matches
Vegetables Oils
Corrosive Soda
Cotton Piece Goods

90
90
90
80
80
80
65
55
41

90

^Source/'information Sheet No. & Egyptian Ministry of Educatxn,
Washington Bureau, 1949.
It is also helpful to mention the fact that two-thirds
of the industrial establishments existing in the Governorates,
which are mostly industrial centers, and in which most of the
industrial firms are found, in 1937 were less than ten years old.
£9/ Issawi Chas^ op.cit. 84.

47
Some indication of the advance of industry is to be
made by studying the import and export statistics during the
different periods.

While these statistics show an increase

in the importation of macninery and raw materials since the
occupation period, they show a desrease in the importation of
certain manufactured goods such as furniture, shoes, tanned
leather, matches, glassware, soap, cotton, yarn and many other
things.

The following table is helpful in comparing the items

os import in 1938 with those of 1913.
Table 6. - Items of Imports in 1938 Expressed as Percentage
of 1913 Imports.*

Machinery & Raw
. Materials
Mineral oils and
Lubricants
Silk Yarn
Precision instruments
Mazot
Vegetable oils for
industry
Iron bars
Machines
Cast Iron
Woolen yarn

it
/o

Finished Goods

7b

1,403
1,012
629
590

Iron Bedsteads
Leather Shoes
Furniture
Tanned leather
Cement
Cotton yarn
Matches
G-lassware
Soap

2
6
11
22
24
29
40
45
51

516
331
313
281
180

^Source: Issawi, Chas. op.cit. p. 83.
As far as exports are concerned, Egypt imported an
average of about 43 million pounds of clean rice and 25,000
short tons of sugar a year in the 1910-1914 period while it
exported an average of about 230 million pounds of clean rice
and 11,000 short tons of sugar a year in the 1935-1939 period.

48
While industry has oeen developing since the beginning
of the independence period, there has been a tendency to reduce
the acreage of certain crops in favoi* of others.

Acreage under

corn, barley and dried beans has been reduced in favor of rice,
wheat, vegetables, sugar cane and fruits.

This shift increased

Egypt's self-sufficiency in food production.
was a large importer of foodstuffs.

Before 1914 Egypt

On the average its food

imports represented over 25 percent of the value of all products
entering the country,

in 1938 these represented less than

6 percent of the value of all imports.

49
D. - The Supply of Land and the Factors Affecting It

1. Introduction
The earlier parts of this chapter are designed to give
a fairly general background about Egypt.

It is hoped ^hat this

background will facilitate the discussion of the supply of
land in

Egypt and give some understanding of the different

physical, economic and political factors that have an effect
on it.

In the following pages the discussion will be devoted

to the supply of land, the factors which limit it and the poss­
ible ways by which it could be increased.
The supply of land is a confusing term with no precise
meaning.

For scientific purposes more refinement is needed

in order to give the term more accuracy.

One aspect of the

supply of land is the physical supply, which refers to the
whole earth, its land surface and subsurface, water areas, and
atmosphere.

As we will see later, this is not important, since

the entire -physical supply of land may not be usable, or of
economic value.

The other aspect which has more economic and

social-importance in the economic supply of land.
The economic
30/
supply of land was defined by Renne
as the schedule of land
units which will enter particular uses in response to price at
a given time and given places.
Factors Affecting the Supply of Land in Egypt
The physical factors still rule supreme in determining
30/ Renne, R.R. Land Economic,"Principles, Problems and Policies
in Utilizing Land Resources.
Harper & Brothers,
New York, 1947

the supply of land In Egypt.

This is because the country is

still in a low stage of art and technology.

The majority of

the people are illiterate; the number of scientists and tech­
nicians is few.
Education is making comparatively slow progress in
Egypt.

Besides, it has many weaknesses which should be cor­

rected if it is to be effective.
• The main factors which determine the supply of land
in Egypt and the prospects of increasing this supply by over­
coming the limitations set by those factors will be discussed
in the following pages.
lO Rainfall
nothing is equal in importance, in the utilization of
land for agriculture and forestry, to moisture.

Water is needed

for the growth of plants and without water there would be

110

vegetation.

It is said that it takes two tons of water to
31/
grow the wheat necessary to produce a loaf of bread.
It was indicated in the first part of this chapter that
Egypt lies in the Sahara area and the average annual rainfall
is too small to support any considerable vegetation.

This

makes the country completely dependent on the waters of the
Nile.

This natural factor seems unsurmountable, since so far,

nothing could be done which might increase the rainfall.

The

project of filling the Kattara depression, in the Lybian desert,
w

Ely and Wehrwein, Land Economics, The Macmillan Company,
New York, 1940.

with water from the Mediterranean was thought to meet the
lack of rainfall in Egypt, but the results are not sure and
the project seems to have been shelved.
(B.) Irrigation
Irrigation is the second and the most important limiting
factor in Egypt, as far as the supply of land is concerned.
Some of the desert land which surrounds the Valley of the Nile
and the Delta, could be converted to productive fertile land
if the amount of water needed for that is made available.
Aside from that, the total cultivable area of Egypt which has
been estimated at 7,100,000 feddans is not reached yet.
the area under production was 5,943,000 feddans.

In 1947

To put the

remaining waste land, in Upper and Lower Egypt, under produc­
tion necessitates increasing the present storage capacity
of the dams.

The problem facing Egypt is not that of a short­

age of water in general, rather it is a problem of controlling
the water and distributing it according to the agricultural
needs, all during the year.

In spite of all the irrigation

projects which were undertaken, Nile control should not be con­
sidered complete.

The waste water which is permitted to run

into the Mediterranean each year during the flood time is esti­
mated to be two-thirds of the total discharge of the river.
During the flood time all the gates of the dams and the barrages
are left wide open to let the water run into the sea.

In some

of the years when the flood is high, water is directed to flood

52
some of the basins before harvesting the crops, as a Safety
measure.

This very primitive measure involves much waste.

Waste of water, waste of human energy and waste of potential
crops.

On the other hand, many districts of the country

experience difficulty in getting the water needed for summer
crops during the months from March to July, and many districts
are prohibited by the government from producing rice beaause
of the shortage of water during the aforementioned period.
Irrigation projects are vital in Egypt and should be
given more attention and care.

Many studies about harnessing

the Nile and regulating its water supply were made and many
programs were considered, but unfortunately most of the pro­
grams are not completed.

A more inclusive regional study

covering the whole Nile Valley should be undertaken by illg;ypt
and the other neighboring countries, with uhe object of putting
every single drop of water into use to benefit the whole area.
This might be the key to the solution of irrigation problems
in those countries.
Increasing the supply of cultivable land in Egypt could
be made possible through one or all of the following methods:
(1.) Reclamation of lands which have not as yet been reclained in Lower Egypt.
as drainage work.

This needs irrigation works, as well

Drainage will be discussed later.

Professor

Crouchley's suggestion of making benefit of the mud which is
lost every year with the flood water, and which was estimated
to be equal to a layer of soil one metre thick over an area of

55
8,000 feddans, in filling the lakes and marsh lands in Lower
Egypt, sounds logical and 'possible.

By so doing a large area

could be brought under production without any considerable
cost.

It is interesting to mention that mud worth L.E. 1,000,000

per annum is v/asted with the flood water.

The land in Lower

Egypt to be brought under cultivation, if reclaimed, was esti­
mated in 1937, to be around two million feddans.
(2.) The second possible way by which the supply of cul­
tivable land could be increased is the conversion of the area
still under the basin irrigation system in Upper Egypt into
the perennial irrigation system.

This.conversion work if

completed., should increase the area under summer cultivation
in upper Egypt by at least one million feddans.
In a study made by the Ministry of Public Works in 1920,
it was estimated that the crop area in Egypt could be increased
to 11,430,000 feddans through conservation of the Nile water.
(3.) The third way to increase the supply of cultivable
land is to look for additional lands.

The deserts surrounding

the Nile constitute a potential source of economic land.

It

is usually maintained by some government officials that it is
impossible to make use of these deserts.

But there is nothing

impossible in this age, and if the i/utch people were able to
make use of the sea and create land, the Egyptians should try
to make use of the desert.

All that the desert needs is water.

With adequate water and suitable rotations a large part of this

^

54
desert probably can be brought into production.

I might mention

here that one of the most productive and most beautiful estates
in Egypt was nothing but bare desert until a recent date.

This

is the Inshas estate which is a pi’ivate property of his Majesty
King Faronk, the king of Egypt and which was voted by many
foreign visitors to be one of the most advanced and productive
farms in the entire world.
(C.) Drainage
Drainage affects the supply of cultivable land in Egypt
in two different ways.

These are:

(1.) The intensive use of perennial irrigation in the absence
of drainage results in the accumulation in the soil of some salts,
which are harmful for plants.
underground water table.

it also raises the level of the

Both of these effects diminish the

soil fertility and decrease the crop yields.

With an increasing

population this would result in more population pressure on
foodstuffs which means more demand for land*

Drainage is the

easiest way to neutralize the bad effects of intensive perennial
irrigation.

Both harmful salts, and the underground water could

to gotten rid of b. means of drainage.

This means an increase

in crop yields which is equivalent to an increase in the supply
of cultivable land.
Under the basin system of irrigation drainage did not
constitute a problem.

But it now presents a problem as acute,

if not more acute than irrigation.

Unforturately drainage works

are not proceeding with the same speed as irrigation works and

to give it the same speed and same efficiency huge amounts of
money are needed.

This is beyond the ability of the govern­

ment which thus far provides the main deep drains.

These main

drains need to be connected with an infinity of secondary and
tertiary drains; many obstacles stand in the way of connecting
these drains.
These are;
(a.) There is no law to compel landowners to provide
drains on their own land.
(b.) There is no regional organization which could
unde j.-take the work.
(c.) The tenure system wilier results in a huge number
of owners each owning—a small strip of land is another obstacle.
Opening a drain may take the entire holding of some farmer.
(d.) The fomentation of holdings which is not uncommon
in Egypt complicates the matter further.
Remedies for the tenure system will at the same time
mitigate the drainage problem.

The organization of drainage

districts, similar to the soil conservation districts in the
United States, with legal power to open drains in its area,
if the owners of more than one-half the acreage of the area
vote for it, is the only possible solution under the present
circumstances.
(2.) The present open drain system is extremely wasteful
in the sense that as much as 10 percent of the cultivated land
area may be used for the drainage ditches.
to this is the use of covered drains.

A possible solution

Covered drains are in

56
an infancy stage in Egypt and as yet do not appeal to the
farmer’s mind.
The drainage problem should be given more attention by
the Egyptian scientists and authorities.

They must find some

practical way by which the underground water table can be kept
low and by which harmful salts can be washed out of the soil,
with the minimum waste of soil surface in constructing drains
(D.) Technology
Technological achievements cotild affect the supply of
cultivable land in Egypt in different ways also.

These are:

(1.) Technological advance in agriculture means higher
yields from the same piece of land at the same cost, or the same
yields at less cost.

The effect of that will be a drop in the

prices of the produced crops which is similar to the effect
of putting more land under cultivation,

In other words, tech­

nological advance Is equivalent or has the same result as an
increase in the supply of the factors of production which is,
in our case, "land" other things being equal.
(2.) Technological advance might involve the future prod­
uction at reasonable cost synthetic food and fibres without the
use of land as the major factor of production.
substitution of capital or labor for land.

This means the

If this could be

achieved the existing supply of land would be ample for the
existing population which is also equivalent to an increase in
the supply of land.

57
(3.) Technological progress in pumping and using artesian
water in irrigation means much to Egypt.

Many sub-marginal

lands could be rendered productive, if water could be provided
at a reasonable cost.

On the other hand, vegetable and other

crops which need 'water regularly could be produced inten­
sively in many places, if artesian water could be made avail­
able during the period when the river water is usually
short.

This would result in an increase in the supply of land.
Even with the improvements that have been made, the

country is still backward.

Most of the implements used in

agriculture are of the old and primitive type.

The illiteracy

of the farmers, the lack of well trained college graduates,
the shortcomings of the educational system, the slowness of
industrial progress, and the type of land tenure system exist­
ing in the country are among the obstacles which hinder tech­
nological advance in agriculture.

The average Egyptian farmer

is not only unable to comprehend new techniques, but also has
an unsympathetic attitude toward new agricultural techniques
and is too stubborn to listen or to follow any advice.

What

is surprising is that he always receives an undue share of
praise and admiration from the Egyptian press and the super­
ficial writers, as a highly skilled and hard working man.
Actually, there is no scientific ground for this assumption
and the greatest favor these people can offer him is to induce
him to listen and follow the instructions ana advice of the

<

of the technicians whenever they go to supervise him.

The

high yields obtained by progressive big land owners and the
government experiement stations show that there is much room
for improvement.

But still the tenure system constitutes a

serious obstacle to improvement.

This matter will be discussed

in detail later.
(E.) Urban Land Use
Another factor which affects the supply of cultivable
land in Egypt is the encroachment of urban land use upon agri­
cultural land use.

In a country such as Egypt where the size

of the area which could be brought under cultivation is nearly
limited, every effort should be ms.de to spare every possible
piece of potential farm land for agricultural production.
This does not mean that the urban uses should not be satisfied,
rather those uses could be satisfied with the minimum sacrifice
of productive land.

Cairo, Alexandria and most of the other

large cities are expanding rapidly.

This is a requisite for

the fast increasing population which requires housing facilities.
Nobody seems to be thinking much about the problem of how suit­
able accommodations can be provided with the minimum use of
land.

The newly undertaken project of the so-called "Wakf’s"

City adjacent to Cairo which took a considerable area of the
most productive places in the country, for the establishment
of a new city, proves that the matter of the encroachment of the
urban land use upon trie agricultural land use presents no

59
problem In the minds of the Egyptian authorities.
Instead of establishing the city on the desert land
lying idle on the other side of the city, as was done by the
otaer building corporations, the ministry of V/akfs, unaware
of tne Implications of the matter, chose to convert that
highly productive area west of the Nile at Cairo into a
city.
On the other hand, the many schemes, designed for the
modernization of the Egyptian villages, if put into action,
will present a big encroachment problem.

Again this does

not mean that the Egyptian villages should be left .as at present,
but this problem should be considered by those who are in
charge of such schemes.
A
(F.) Political Factors
finally one of the factors that has bearing on the
supply of cultivable land in Egypt is the political one which
has its effect

through the following ways:

(1.) The waters of the file which are the means of life
in Egypt are vital for the progress of Sudan and the other
neighboring countries.

The Sudan which should be, for economic,

geographical and cultural considerations a part of Egypt, con­
stitutes the major point of dispute between the Egyptians and
the British at the present time.

Harnessing of the Nile,

according to a broad regional study, as aforementioned, is
the key point for the progress of that part of Africa.

With

political troubles, there is no hope for progress because

i

60
such a huge project needs cooperation and cooperation is
impossible when there is no peace and when every

country

distrusts the other.
(2.) On the other hand, the Sudan is the potential are;
to which the increasing Egyptian population might migrate.
Migration is a relieving factox*, if accompanied by some
other population policies.

If this area is taken from the

Egyptians to be given to the Britishers, or to be indepen­
dent country, migration would become impossible.
These are the main factors which have a bearing on
the economic supply of land in Egypt. ' The second chapter
of this work will be devotea to the analysis of the demo-,
graphic situation of Egypt as it affects the demand for
land.

<

CHAPTER II
THE DEMOGRAPHIC POSITION OF EGYPT AM) THE
DEMAND FOR LAND
A. - Introduction
In the first chapter of this work, the different factors
which determine the present physical as well as economic
supply of land in Egypt, the possibilities of increasing this
supply, and the factors that retard that increase were dis­
cussed.

This chapter will be devoted to the discussion of

the main factor which determines the demand for land, namely,
the population factor.
So long as man is dependent on land for the production
of his' essentials of life, food and clothing and so long as
synthetic foods and fibres constitute a negligible part of
man's consumption, the entire population of any given area,
not just rural population, will always have a stake in land.
For this reason the composition and characteristics of the
whole Egyptian population will be discussed in this chapter.
Hov/ever, some emphasis will be given to the rural phases
whenever it is appropriate to do so.

The last part of this

chapter will be devoted to the discussion of the social and
economic implications of the demographic situation.
3. - Composition and Characteristics of the Egyptian Population
The word "population” ordinarily refers to the number
of people inhabiting a given area, or any group of people
bound together with some degree of permanence in time and

space, when the emphasis is upon tne number rather than upon
the social organization.

y

Population data are made avail­

able through enumerations of inhabitants with details as
to age, sen, pursuits, etc., which are made from time to time
for one purpose or another.

This enumeration process is

usually referred to as "census".

The term is a Latin one and

many of the population students believe that the Romans
were the first to have censuses, which were for tax purposes.
But according to Breasted,

y

population numberings were taken

in one form or another and at intervals of various length
in Pharaonic Egypt.

They were necessary for a proper function

ing of tne country’s political machine which even in the days
of Menes

.?/

was so nighly organized that the authorities

needed data on not only the number of inhabitants, but also
4/
on their economic and social activities.
1* Population Growth
Historians’ writings as well as the writings of
contemporary population students contain figures on the
population of Egypt during periods as remote as 1500 years B. (
But it seems that most of tnese figures are estimates whose
reliability is open to question.

These figures indicate that

Xf Renne, R.'~R.,~*op.” cit., p. 62.
2/ Breasted, J . J .,’ A Hist or y of Egypt From the Earliest Time
to the Persian Conquest, p~. 44, Charles Schibner’s Sons,
New York, 1912.
qj The first Pharaoh of unified Egypt. His administration
(3400 B.C.) is known to have taken biennial and then annual
counts, a practice generally adopted by later monarchs.
4/ EL Zalaky, M.M., o£. cit.

65
the sixth century B.C. witnessed the highest peak of Egyptian
population.

Conservative figures show that the population

reached 18 million in that period.
believe that it was 24 million.

However, some writers

On the other hand, there

is a unanimous agreement that the Egyptian population reached
its lowest ebb of 2.4 million at the end of the eighteenth
century.

Other figures for different periods of the country’s

history are available.

The following is a summary of the

figures available for those early periods:

5/

Over 3
1) Year 1500 B.C. (Pharaonic Egypt)
Fourteenth
Century
B.C.
(time
of
Raineses
II)
7
2)
18
3) First Millenium B.C.
24
4) Sixth Century B.C.
3
5) First Century B.C.
5
6) Year -14 A.D. (Roman Egypt)
8
7) Year 69 A.D.
7.5
8) First Century A.D.
4
9) Year 644 A.D. (Arab Conquest of Egypt)
6
10) Early ninth Century A.D.

Million
Million
Million
Million
Million
Million
Million
Million
Million
Million

Figures on the population of Egypt during the period,
starting from 1798, the year of the French invasion, until
the year 1873, the year of the first regular census, are
available in many writings.

But they also are estimates

based on different observations.

One can say with confidence

though that the total population during that period was and
still is increasing.

6/ Cleland," W., The PopnJa tion Problem in Egypt. The Science
Press Printing Company, Lancaster, "Penn., 1936.

J

64
The following figures are a summary of these estimates
and are collected from different writings:
I)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

Year
Year
Year
Year
Year
Year
Year
Year
Year
Year

2,460,000
2,486,000
2,532,000
3,111,000
3,906,000
4,346,000
4,690,000
4,973,000
4,275,000
5,934,000

1800
1810
1820
1830
1840
1846
1850
1855
1860
1870

Although the year 1873 marks the first regular
population census in Egypt’s modern history, modern methods
of census taking were not introduced into Egypt until 1882.
The choice of the year 1882 for the second census was un­
fortunate because of the political disturbances which took
place in Egypt at that time.

As a result the Egyptian

authorities look on the figures of those two census takings
witii some suspicion.
The 1897 census can be considered the beginning of a
regular series of six censuses usable for trend analysis.
Figures concerning these censuses as well as concerning the
annual inter-census rate of increase are as follows:

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

Year
1873
1882
1897
1907
1917
1927
1937
1947

Population
5,250,000
6,804,000
9,715,000
11,287,000
12,751,000
14,217,000
15,933,000
19,034,000 7/

y

Annual Hate per 1000
29.60
28 .-50
16.20
13.00
11.50
12.10
19.80

6/r-Gomputed from figures taken from Annuare Statistique
de Poche, Ministry of Finance, Cairo’, Egypt," 1945.
7/ Taken from Information Sheet h o . 1, Section III, Egyptian
Ministry of Education. Washington Bureau, Washington,
D. C., 1949.

65
The rationing conditions which were still prevailing
in 1947 and under which the census was taken seem to have
affected the figures.

It seems that the figures were

deliberately inflated by uneducated people with the hope
of getting higher rations.

Even when allowance is made for

this, it seems probable that the annual rate of increase
was not less than 15 per thousand, which continues the new .
upswing in the rate of increase which started around 1927.
The number of people is not, however an accurate
measure of the importance of population in determining the
amount and character of land used or methods followed in
the use of land resources.

Other significant factors which

should be taken into consideration are cultural development,
stage of technological attainment, and population trends.
2. Population Density and Man-Land Ratio
The distribution of the people in relation to the
land surface is usually referred to as "Population Density".
It is usually measured per square mile and thought to have
considerable Influence upon the type and intensiveness of
land resource utilization.

However, there is a general

realization among modern scientists that it does not adequately
indicate tne levels of living achieved by the people.

The

man-land ratio is found to be more usable than the population
density because it takes into account all human qualities
bearing on productivity, and all environmental aspects,
both natural and cultural, affecting the availability of

different resources.
So far as population density is concerned Egypt might
be considered as an average country in the world.

The

following table gives the density per square mile for selected
years:
Table 7. - Density of Population in Egypt*

Total Area
Sq. Mile

Year

1882
1917
1947

386,000
586,000
386,000

Density

Population

6,804,000
12,751,000
19,034,000

less than 20
34
50

* Computed by the '
’author from figures taken from different
---sources.
However, it will be a great mistake to rely on this
measure and overlook the need for certain qualifications.
For example, in 1937 more than 99 percent of the total
population resided in Nilotic Egypt which comprises only
about three percent of the total area of Egypt.

In other

words less than one percent of the population of Egypt resided
in Desertic Egypt which comprises about 97 percent of the
total area.
The average figure for all occupied Egypt was 1,422
persons per square mile which is the highest in the world.
Furthermore, Egypt is preeminently an agricultural country
and yet the density of Its occupied area is higher than that
Renne, R. R., op. cit., p. 66.

67

of heavily industrialized England, and higher than that of
Belgium, the most thickly settled country of Continental
8/
Europe.
Even on the basis of persons dependent on agriculture
per square mile of agricultural land the average figure
for all Egypt in 1947 was 1210.

For Upper Egypt it was

1,515 and for Lower Egypt it was 1,003.

The prevalence of

some waste and marsh lands in Lower Egypt (the Delta) is
responsible for the lower population density in that part
of the country.
3• Race, Nativity and Religion
There seems to be no unanimous agreement among etholo­
gists conceiming the origin of the Ancient Egyptians.

During

its long history, Egypt was invaued and ruled by many diff­
erent races besides the Ancient Egyptians among those, one
can mention Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, Circassians,
French, British and others.

The existence of everyone of

these elements for sometime in Egypt affected the race of
the present day Egypt which is nothing but a composite of
all those different races.
As to nativity the figures of the 1937 census indicate
that 99 percent of the inhabitants of Egypt were recorded
as natives.

V/hat is more striking is the fact that the seme

census indicates that 92 percent were born in the same prov­
ince or Governorate of residence.
The number of foreigners in

Egypt has not been, in

8/ Kiser,
C.V. The Demographic Position of Egypt. An article
in the Milbank Memorial Fund s^uarterly Vol 22 ho. 4. Oct.
1944. p. 387

65
recent years, very large.

Appendix table 10 shows the

population of Egypt classified as to nationality and the
percentage the Egyptians and foreigners are of the total
population, as well as the percentage of each nationality
from the total foreign stock.
The Greeks are the most numerous.

They account

for more than one-third of the foreigners living in Egypt
in 1937.

Italians came second, followed by the British

then the French

and lastly the Turks.

The Turks, who were

the leading foreigners in 1907 with 32 percent of the total,
had only 2 percent in 1937.

This might be a result of the

practice followed by the Turks in recording themselves as
Egyptians.

In spite of the small number of the foreigners

in Egypt, the role they played and still play in the country's
social and economic life is important.

It should be noted

that most of the foreign elements in Egypt are urban resi­
dents engaged in different industries other than agriculture.
The number of foreigners engaged in agriculture is negligible,
however, this is not true as far as the area owned bp them
is concerned.
As to religion, Egypt is a predominantly Islamic
country.

Islam is the official religion of the nation and

Moslems make up the majority of the population in any division
of the country.

In 1937, out of the total population 91.4

percent were Moslems, 8.2 percent were Christians and .4

69
percent were Jews.

The Christians were mainly "Copts"

adherents of the old Coptic Church of Egypt.

The

"Copts"

comprised 6.9 percent of the total population, Catholic
comprised 0.8 percent and Protestant 0.5 percent.
Upper Egypt

had a higher percentage of Christians,

particularly "Copts" than Lower Egypt, the Jewish population
in Egypt is mostly urban, while Moslems predominate in all
areas of Egypt.

Table 8, gives the popilation of Egypt

distributed as to religion and the percentage each religion
comprises from the total i-n 1927 and 1937:
Table 8. - Distribution of Population
According to Religion, 1927 and 1937*

Religion

No.

1927

Percent

No.

1937

_
Percent

12,929,260

91.2

14,552,695

91.4

Copts

946,393

6.7

1,085,281

6.8

Other
Christians

235,517

1.7

218,689

1.4

63,550

0.4

62,953

0.4

3,144

0.0

1,096

0.0

14,177,864

100.0

15,920,694

100.0

Moslems

Jews
Others
Total

'■'&) Source': Annuaire Statis tique de Poche, op.cit. p. 6
B )Figures concerning 1947 are not available.
4. Rurality
The village type of settlement which prevails in Egyp
dlffers widely from the isolated homestead type predominant
in the United States.

The rural-urban dichotomy is not so

clear-cut and meaningful in Egypt as it is in this country.

70
A farm in Egypt is a place to work only and not for living
as well.

Even

the agricultural families live compactly

in the villages which differ as to size and population.
Students of the subject do not agree on the basis
according to which the Egyptian population could be divided
into rural and urban.

Some are inclined to consider as

urban the residents of only the G-overnorates and the capitals
of the provinces.

Others maintain that it is appropriate to

consider as urban, localities with populations of 10,000
or more.

The imposition of a house tax is taken as a basis

for differentiation

by some others. Finally, some students

believe that occupational status is the most adequate measure.
Each one of these measures has its shortcomings.

For in­

stance, it is not uncommon to find large villages of 20,000
inhabitants which are completely rural and can not by any
means be considered as an urban town.

On the other hand,

most of the capitals of tne provinces have a great number
of residents who work in agriculture.

To me the house tax

also seems to be an inadequate measure, since I lived for
some time in places raving a house tax but which are really
nothing but rural villages.

It is hoped that Egyptian

econ­

omists and sociologists can agre-. and adopt a specific
measure for differentation.
If occupational status is taken as a measure for
differentation, it might be appropriate to use the term
agricultural population instead of rural population.
According to the "Fellah Department" of the Egyptian

7-1
Ministry of Social Affairs the total agricultural population
in 1937 was as follows:

*

Lower Egypt
6,312,000
Upper Egypt
5,639,000
Oases and Desert_____________________ ____ 93,000
Total

12,044,000

Total population of Egypt

15,933,000

Percentage of Agricultural Population

75.5 percent

According to the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture the
number was only 10,885,000 and the percentage was 68.4.
According to computations from the 1939 Vital Statis-

/

10
tics,

only about 27 percent of the people of Egypt resided

in towns of 10,000 and over; about 73 percent were in rural
villages.
Although it is hard to decide, in the case of some big
towns which are merely expanded villages, whether to couint
them as rural or as urban places, there are definitely cities
and urban communities,

Towns and cities with a population of

more than 20,000 inhabitants in Egypt in 1944 were as follows:
Governorates
Lower Egypt
Upper Egypt
Total

6
20
18
44

towns
"
"
11

For indication of trends in -urbanization, we must
resort to census figures concerning proportions of persons
living in rather large cities, the Governorates and the pro-

i

7,2

vincial capitals.

Although the increase in the proportion of

population living in those cities since 1897 has not been
considerable, it was greater for the Governorates than for
the provincial capitals.

While the proportion living in the

provincial capitals increased from 4 percent in 1897 to 4.4
percent in 1937, the proportion living in the Governorates in­
creased from 10.3 percent in 1897 to 14.1 percent in 1937.

In

the decade 1937-1947, while the rate of growth for the country
as a whole was 20 percent, Cairo increased from 1,312,096 to
2,100,486 a 60 percent growth and Alexandria increased from
685,736 to 928,237, as 35.3 percent growth.
5. Age Distribution and Sex Ratio
Pew population facts are more

significant for socio­

logists and economists than those concerning the age structure
ana the sex of the population.
In a standard population that is neither increasing
nor decreasing in total numbers, there are fewer people in
each age group as onftprogresses upward from the age of one
year to one hundred years.
fit this pattern.

But a given population may not

Three main factors work to shape the age-

sex pyramid of any countey, namely, the birth rate, the mor­
tality rate and migration.
Historically the Egyptians are old people, but bio­
logically they are very young.

In 1937 about 47.7 percent of

the population were under 20 years and almost two-thirds of
the people were below 30 year’s.

Those who were between 20

7.3

and 60 years were only 45.9 percent.

This means that more

than 50 percent of the population were dependents either below
20 years or above 60 years of age.

Table 9 gives the distribu­

tion of the population among various age groups in 1937 and
the percentage each group is of the total.

The picture is

that of a broad based pyramid similar to those of the high
birth rate countries, such as Japan and South American countries.
As far* as the sex ratio is concerned, it could be
stated that the ratio is nearly balanced in the country as a
whole.

However, variations are to be found between the diff­

erent parts.

In 1937 there were about 7,967,000 males and

7,954,000 females.

This made a sex ratio of 100.2.

Table 9. - Distribution oi ^he Egyptian Population
According to Age Groups in 1937*

Population

Age Group

Percent

No.
Less than 1 year

490,117

3.1
10.2

5 - 9

”

2,208,837

13.9

10 - 14

11

1,909,103

12.0

15-19

11

1,546,257

8.5

20 - 29

11

2,414,438

15.2

30 - 39

»

2,333,483

14.7

40 - 49

"

1,605,316

10.1

50 - 59

"

944,771

6.0

60 - 69

"

578,072

3.5

278,768

1.6

113,781

0.7

90 and over

42,933

0.3

Unknown

37,421

0.2

15,920,694

100.0

-3
CO

1,617,397

1

"

-3
0

1 - 4

80 - 89

Total
*Sourc e :

"

Annuair e Statlstique de Poche, op.cit. p.4

.75
In the same year the ratio in the different divisions
of the country was as indicated in table 10.
Table 10. - Sex Ratio in the Different
Parts of Egypt in 1937-x-

Division
Whole Country
Frontiers
Governorates
Upper Egypt
Lower Egypt

Ho. of Males
7,966,675
59,708
1,150,206
3,252,966
3,503,795

No. of Females
7,954,019
49,902
1,098,790
3,170,446
3,634,881

Sex Ratio
100.2
119. 6
104.7
102.6
96.4

•x Computed1 from figures' taken' from Annuaire Statistiqu'e de
Poche.
It can be seen that the ratio was higher than one
hundred in all divisions except Lower Egypt.

In other words,

males outnumbered females in all divisions except the Delta
area.

The greater number of females in the Delta probably

results from the concentration of the textile industry of
Egypt, the only industry which thus far employs females, in
the Delta area.
The available data do not make the computation of the
sex ratio for the different age groups possible.
6. Occupational Status
One of the striking features of the Egyptian population
is the large number of dependents, children under five years,
physically defective and unemployed people.

Gainfully employed

persons numbered 5,846,000 in 1927, and 7,422,000 (including

7.6
unproductive pupils) in 1937.

This means that about 58.7

percent of the population in 1927 and 53.4 percent in 1937 were
dependent on others (including children under five years of
age).

The percentage of employed females was very low.

The

following table gives the distribution of all those who were
employed by different industries in 1927 and in 1937.
Table 11. - Occupied Population
in Egypt 1927 and 1937*

Year 1927
.Humber
Employed

Per­
cent

Year 1937
Number
Employed

Per­
cent

3,525,000

60.3

4,308,000

58.0

Industry, Mining
and Building

556,000

9.6

610,000

8.2

Transpoi*t

196,000

5.3

139,000

1.9

Commerce and Finance

459,000

7.8

460,000

6.2

Public Service

190,000

3.3

171,000

2.o

Professionals

105,000

1.9

151,000

2.0

Domestic Service

221,000

3.1

257,000

3.5

Unproductive (Pupils, etc.)

596,000

10.1

1,327,000

17.9

Total

5,846,000

100.0

7,422,000

100.0

Unoccupied

8,332,000

8,499,000

14,178,000

15,921,000

Occupation

Agriculture

Total Population

* Source: Computed from figures taken from different sources.

77
If the unproductive pupils are dropped from the employed
population, the percentage of the dependents would increase.
On the other hand if children under five years of age are
excluded, the percentage of dependents would decrease.
The bulk of the gainfully employed population still
works on land.

In 1937 about 58 percent of all the gainfully

employed workers were working in agrictxlture.

The proportion

would have been even higher if the many women, helping on their
relatives1 farms, classed in the census as unoccupied had been
included.
It was mentioned before that, according to the Egyptian
Ministry of Agriculture the number of workers engaged in agri­
culture and operations relating to it, and their families was
10,885,000 in 1937.

The Fellah Department in the Ministry of

Social Affairs estimated that the number of village population
in the same year was 12,044,000.

But neither the census figures

nor those of the Fellah Department referred to the rural non­
farm population which certainly exists in the Egyptian villages.
If we consider the figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture
as a basis, we could find that out of the 10,885,000 persons
engaged in agriculture, only 4,308,000 were gainfully employed.
In other words, 6,577,000 agricultural persons were dependent
on 4,308,000 persons.

That means that each gainfully employed

worker had to support 1.5 dependent persons besides himself.
It is unfortunate that figures concerning urban, rural
farm and rural non-farm, as well as the occupational status

78

are not available with a satisfactory degree of accuracy.
It is hoped that all the shortcomings were corrected in 1947
census, whose figures are not yet available, or will be
straightened out in the coining census.
Out of the 4,308j°^ainfully employed persons in agri­
culture in 1937, only 624,000 or 14.5 percent were females.
A more clear picture of the occupational status of the farm
people could be obtained by breaking the figure into its com­
ponents.

The following figures are taken from the 1937 census.
Humber of Male Workers
Engaged in Agriculture in 1937

Wage Earners
Peasants Helping
Relatives (unpaid)
Farmers Owning their Land
Farmers Leasing Land
Shepherds, Poultry and
Animal Breeders

1,457,267
1,226,887
959,975
210,385
78,696

Total Male
Total Female .

3,683,776
624,000

Grand Total

4,308,000

Out of the total number of females engaged in agri­
culture 170,362 were wage earners.

This made the total number

of agricultural laborers 1,627,629 or about 37.8 percent of
all the gainfully employed persons.

If we add to those the

number of persons helping their x'elatives (unpaid laborers)
the percentage of the agricultural laborers (paid and unpaid)
would jump to around 70.9 percent of the whole number of the

79
actively occupied in agriculture.

Egypt is known as predominant­

ly an agricultural country, but it should be called a predominently "agricultural laborers" country.
This figure concerning the agricultural laborers,
although nigh, does not give the true picture.

There are many

who own a small tract of one or less than one acre and who
were recorded as farmers operating their own farms.

It is

a pity, to mention again, that the data concerning the man-,
land relationship are not more accurate.

As they stand they

are of little help In studying the land tenure situation in
Egypt because they do not permit a complete classification
of tenure on the basis of either land ownership or operatbrship.

Many refinements to the crude classification of owners,

tenants, and laborers, all of which could be found in the
Egyptian census, should be Introduced.

Most of those who

own very small parcels of land derive a good part of their
income from outside work as laborers.

If the number of those

is added to the recorded laborers, the final percentage of
agricultural laborers will jump to more than 95 percent of
all the gainfully employed agricultural workers.
Crop production is the division of agricultural work
that furnishes employment for almost all the agricultural
workers.

Other activities, such as animal breeding, gardening,

forestry and others occupy a minor part of the occupied
agricultural population.

.

In connection with age grouping of the agricultural
population, it should be noted that children between 5 and 15
years of age, usually a liability in industrial areas, are
an asset in the agricultural ones.

This is because it is

not uncommon to find a young boy doing a kind of agricultural
work that suits his age, sucn as cotton picking.

This point

will be elaborated later.
Industry, as is evident from table 11 furnished employ
ment for* only 8.2 percent of the gainfully employed popula­
tion in 1937.

That is a surprisingly low percentage.

It

is even lower than that of the 1927 census which was about
9.6.

Competent observers believe that the census figures

are not accurate and put the industrial population (excluding

IT

transport) at 750,000.

It is believed that the number of

the industrial workers increased along with the acceleration
of industrial activities during the second World War.

The

1947 figures are not available.
Another striking feature of the Egyptian population is
the low percentage of the professionals.

In 1937 the number

of professionals was 151,000 or only two percent of all gain­
fully employed persons.
rather curious.

The composition of the figure was

Out of the total number of 151,000 about

3,744 were medical doctors, 350 were veterinarians and 600
were dentists.

The number of the professors and teachers

was 30,585 while the number of religion-people was 50,956.

81

While the number of religion-people was evidently more than
needed, there was a shortage in doctors, veterinarians,
dentists and teachers.

There was one medical doctor for

each 4,252 persons and a dentist for each 26,535.

The lack of

medical doctors and dentists speaks for itself.
One remaining point is that concerning the number of
domestic service people.

More than a quarter of a million

workers were domestic servants.
of any other

This indicates the absence

better opportunity, for that great number of

people are mostly agricultural laborers who left the depressed
life of the village looking for a more pleasant one in the
city.
The total number of the gainfully employed persons
included pupils who usually do not work in Egypt and who
depend completely on their relatives for subsistance and for
education costs.
increasing rapidly.

It could be noted that their number is
In 1927 tuey constituted 10 percent of

all gainfully employed persons but in 1937 the percentage
was 18.
7. The Marital Status:
It was mentioned in connection with the religious
status that about 92 percent of the Egyptians are Moslems.
One of the peculiar characteristics of Islam is that it does
not prohibit polygamy.

In other words, having more than one

wife is religiously and legally possible for the Moslems.
However, the social and economic implications of the matter

82

are rather taken into consideration than the religious lav/s.
One other characteristic is that divorce is an easier
practice in Egypt than it is in the United States and the
other non-Moslem countries.
It is commonly believed that polygamy and divorce
are largely responsible for Egypt's high birth rate.

But

according to the census data in 1957, polygamous represented
only 5 percent of the total marriages.
widespread.

Divorce is somewhat

The census figures indicate that in 1945 there

were about 277,000 marriages in Egypt while the number of
divorces was about 80,000.

This means that for each four

marriages there was one divorce.

It is probable that

frequent divorces and re-marriages tend to increase the
chances for child-bearing.

Appendix table 11 gives the

distribution of the Egyptian population according to the
marital status in 1957.
Marriages occur more frequently in Egypt than in
most of the other countries.

There are many factors which

contribute to this, but it is not the aim of this work to
discuss these matter's with more details.

It is sufficient

to list here the rate of marriages per thousand persona
in Egypt in different years:
Year
1959
1940
1941
1942
1945

Number of Marriages
184.000
199.000
256.000
265.000
277.000

Rate per
Thousand of population
22.5
25.7
27.7
50.7
51.8

i

8:3

8. Vital Statistics
Three main factors directly affect tue population of
any country, namely, fertility, mortality and migration.
The first two are called the natural factors.

The rapid

increase of Egypt’s population has been due almost altogether
to natural increase, because immigration in modern times
has been negligible.
There are three main measurements for fertility.
These are the birth rate, the fertility ratio and the net
reproduction rate.
In its simplest and crudest form the birth rate is
merely the ratio of the number of births occurring in a given
population in one year to the number of persons in the
population.

Multiplying this ratio by 1,000 gives a numerical

expression in two digits that is very convenient to use and
easy to interpret.

IE/

Although this measure is simple, it

is an unreliable gauge of human fertility.
The birth rate in Egypt has been and still is very
high.

It is the highest in the world except for the Palestine

Moslems, Formosa, the Maoris of New Zealand and Mexico.
Table 12 gives the crude birth rate for different countries
in 1940.

12/ Smith, T. L., Population Analysis, p.194, Me draw-Ha 11
Book Company, Inc., New York, 1948.

f

Table 12
Crude Birth Rate for Selected Countries-;:-

Year

• Crude
B.R.

Country

Year

Crude
B.R.

Palestine
(Moslems)

1940

47.4

Denmark

1940

18.3

New Zealand
(Maoris)

1940

46.9

U. S. A.

1940

17.9

Formosa

1937

45.6

Scotland

1940

17.1

Mexico

1940

43.5

Norway

1940

16.3

Egypt

1938

4o.4

Switzerland

1940

15.2

Salvador

1940

42.3

Sweden

1940

15.0

Unfederated
Malay State

1940 ~

41.4

Luxemberg

1940

14.9

Puerto Rico

1939

39.3

England and
V/ales

1940

14.6

France

1939

14.6

Country

Brazil

1940

38.0

Smith, T.L., Population Analysis, pp. 202-203, McGraw-Hill
Book Company, Inc.,' Hew York, 1948.
Many causes contributed to this high birth rate in
Egypt.

The essential of these are:

(1.) The poverty and general wretchedness of the most
numerous group in the country, the farm laborers, makes
procreation one of the few pleasures accessible to him.
(2.) The culture of the people gives prestige to the
big families, especially in rural areas.

This makes for

early marriages which raises the birth rate.
(3.) The influence of the cotton economy in the country,

35
which provides employment for children, turns the child

into

a financial asset at the early age of five.
(4.) The influence of the widespread illiteracy, and that
of religion iipon the people, make them both ignorant of the
use of contraceptives and vigorously opposed to abortion.

The

point of not using any contraceptives is rather encouraged by
the fact that those devices are still complicated and costly.
They

are beyond the financial ability of the poor farmer.
Appendix table 12 reports the trend in birth rates

in Egypt from 1901 - 1945.

During this period there was no

considerable change in the rates, the trend being neither up
nor down.

In my estimation, this might continue for sometime

and unless radical change in ideas of the prople, the instit­
utions, and the factors causing the high birth rate should
take place in the very near future, which is not likely, no
considerable change is possible.
The second index of use in gauging the rapidity with
which populations reproduce is the fertility ratio, which is
obtained by relating the number of young children to the number
of women of child bearing age.

Ordinarily the ratio is ob­

tained by dividing the number of childred under five years
by the number of women aged 15 to 44 inclusive and then mult­
iplying the product by 1000.
when census is taken.

This measure can be had only

It has some other disadvantages but is

86
a more reliable measure than the crude birth rate.
Table 13 indicates that there nas been a general
downward trend in the fertility ratio.
Table 13. - Fertility Rationin Egypt in
Different Census Years-*

Year

1897
1907
1917
1927
1937

h o . of
Female s (15-49)

2,400,000
2,609,000
3,026,000
3,513,000
3,852,000

ho. Chil­
dren Under
5 Years

FertiliRatio

1,680,000
1,776,000
1,754,000
2,031,000
2,108,000

700
681
579
575
545
JJ '

'-IT*

de Poche.
The third measure of fertility is the net reproduction
rate.

It is computed by relating the data on the fertility

of a population to those on mortality and expressing the result
as a percentage of that necessary to maintain a stationary
copulation.

This is a rather complicated measure and it is

sufficient to indicate when the race is 100 the population is
stationary or just replacing itself.

If the rate is more an

increase is taking place and if the rate is less, the popul­
ation is failing to replace itself.
According to the international vital statistics 1937-44
the net reproduction rate for Egypt in 1937 was 1.4.

This

indicates an increasing population.
Although Egypt is known for its high fertility, it is
also known for its high mortality.

The vital statistics

document an enormous human wastage in the increase of the

<

87
Egyptian population.

This is because of the high death

rate in the country.
There are two main measurements of mortality, namely
the death rate and life expectancy.

The former is comparable

in most essential to the birth rare and is secured by the
same procedure.
According to the census figures of 1937 Egypt had
the highest death rate in the world.
sand.

It was 27.2 per thou­

For the sake of comparison appendix table 13 gives the

death rates in some selected countries in 1937.
F o r 'indication of trends in death rates in .Egypt,
appendix table 14 gives the yearly death rate for the period
(1901 - 1940).

As in the case of birth rates, no considerable

change could be noticed.

But according to my own observations

and knowledge about the recent spread in health and medical
services to the Egyptian villages, the death rate should be
decreasing.

The projects of the social centers in the rural

areas of Egypt, which started functioning in 1941, is a great
and helpful factor in bringing the death rate 'down.

It should

be mentioned here that figures concerning births and deatns
should not be considered highly reliable, since according to
my own experience during my work in the rural centers the
registration procedure is not accurate.
The crude death rate if broken by age group will
disclose a higher rate for Infants who are less tnan one year

88
and also for the age groiip 1 - 4 years.

The death rates for

Infants less than one year In some recent years were as
follows:
Year

heath Hate per 1000
(for less than one year)

1959
1940
1942
1945

161.0
150.0
168.0
166.0

It is worth mentioning, in connection with age groups,
that in 1940 out of the 444,000 total deaths which took place
in Egypt 241,000 were four years of age and less.

This means

that more than 50 percent of all deaths were four years of
age and less.
Appendix table 15 gives the infant death rate in some
selected countries.

Egypt, while not having the highest rate,

still ranks high.
It is the opinion of the author tnat poverty, illiteracy
disease and dirtiness which all exist in the Egyptian villages,
are the main cause of the high ini'ant mortality rate.

It is

also believed that the near future will witness lower infant
mortality rates.
The second measure of mortality is the expectation
of life.

Life expectancy is usually expressed in

what is

known by "life table", which shows bne avei*age duration of life
for persons born at the same time and for persons of any given
age who are alive at the same time.

It indicates the average

89
number of years that those of any given age from birth on up
may expect to live.
The procedure of computing the life table is very
complicated.
A;ppendix table 16 gives

expectation of life in

some selected countries.
Egypt had the second lowest expectation of life after
India.

Most striking is the great contrast between the long

expectation of life at birth in a country like Netherlands
and that of Egypt.

Whereas in the former, children at birth

have on tne average more than 6 0 'years of life ahead of them,
in Egypt it is only about 34 years.
differentials are greatly decreased.

As age increases the
This means that if

Egypt could find a solution for the high infant mortality,
great human loss could be saved and the population increased
faster.
It is interesting to mention that diarrhea and
enteritis are the diseases that kill more infants in
tnan any other disease.

Egypt

Acording to the International Vital

Statistics 1939-44 these diseases caused in Egypt in 1944
about 55,000 deaths out of the total of about 444,000.
Appendix table 17 gives the number of deaths reported and
death rates by cause in Egypt in 1940 arranged according to
the magnitude.

90
9. Migration
Migration is one of the three factors taat help account
for the number of inhabitants and distribution of the population,
namely, fertility, mortality and migration. Its importance
in not confined to its influences on the number and distribution
of the inhabitants, but it is of great social significance as
well.

In- formulating his

"Population La?/" Mai thus assigned

a temporary and inefficient role to migration as a means of
relieving population pressure.

He saw clearly its effects

upon the mother country as well as the country of destination.
But from the standpoint of the mother country, he believed
that such a policy, as a permanent means of relieving pressure,
v/as useless, since it would result almost immediately in some­
what earlier marriages and a greater number of births.

Hence

the pressure would soon be as great as or even greater than it
13/
had been.
There are two main types of migration.
internal and international migration.

Those are,

International migration

is that wnich involves movement between two different countries.
Prom the point of vie?/ of the country sending the people, it
is emigration, but is immigration from the point of view of
the country receiving the people.

Internal migration on the

other hand is that which takes place within the boundaries of
any one country and the important variety of it is that from
~iliomp~s~ori, VI,S. Population "Pr oblems."p. 25 Mcflraw-HilT "Book
Company, Inc. N.Y. 1930.

91
rural areas to urban centers.
As far as tne influence of migration on the number
and distribution of the Egyptian population is concerned
triere

are two facts which are well known to those who

studied the demographic position of Egypt.

Those are:

(1.) The enormous increase in the Egyptian population
which took place during the last fifty years occured almost
completely through natural factors, fertility and mortality,
and the migration's effect was negligible.
(2.) That the Egyptian is by nature sedentary and loath
to emigrate.

Many people of the countries surrounding Egypt

migrated to the New World while hardly an Egyptian left his
country to come to America.

This attitude is not only toward

international migration, but also towards internal migration.
Once he is settled in a community the Egyptian hates to migrate
to another community.

This fact is demonstrated by the widely

varying density of population in the different parts of the
country.

It was mentioned before that the 1937 census indicated

that 92 percent of the inhabitants were born in the same pro­
vince or Grovernorate of residence*
Emigration from Egypt is practically negligible.

But

there is some internal migration in spite of the strong anti
migration feeling which dominates.
easily observed.

Two main streams are

The first Is the migration from the rural

villages to the urban centers, especially the bover’
n oratos.

92
Practically

all the Governor at es gained in population during

the decade of 1937-1947.

The population of Suez which numbered

49,686 in 1937 jumped to 108,250 in 1947.
increase.

This is 118 percent

Cair>o ,s population increased by 60 percent and that

of Alexandria increased 35 percent.

Most of the other big

cities had the same situation.
The second stream is that from Upper Egypt to Lower
Egypt, the Delta.

Uper Egypt is more densely populated than

the Delta and in 1937, excluding the province of Giza which
borders the Governorate of Cairo, it was found that over 32,000
persons born:: in Upper Egypt were living in the Delta, against
12,000 persons born in the Delta and were living in Upper
Egypt.
This intex*nal migration is not strong enough to balance
the labor shortage which is suffered during some seasons by
the northern provinces especially "Gharbia''.

This shortage

calls for recruiting of agricultural laborers which are called
in Egypt "Tarhella" from the heavily populated provinces.

The

economic and social implications.of tnat will be discussed
later on.

Also the reliance on migration as a relieving

factor for the population pressure in Egypt will be discussed
in the chapter on “ Remedies".
G. - Effects of the Demographic Position on tne Demand for Land
1. The Population Pressure and the Position of Landowners
in Egypt
As v/as indicated earlier Egypt is still an agricultural

93
country with the majority of its people relying on farming for
their livelehood.

In spite of the progress made in industrial­

ization industry does not as yet present much of an alternative
source of employment for the Egyptian population.

Unless

industry receives considerable impetus and protection from the
government in the future it will probably continue to be sub­
ordinate to agriculture as a pillar in the country's economy.
In agriculture land plays a more Important role, as
a factor of production, thati that it plays in any other industry,
and, assuming no or only slight technological progress, an
agricultural country with limited cultivable area will always
suffer a decreasing standarc. of living unless it xias a stag­
nant population.

The lav; of diminishing returns will always

set a limit above which the product produced from a definite
land area can not be increased regardless of increasing appli­
cation of labor and capital in the production process.
is one of the countries in this position.

Egypt

Its response to

technological changes has not brought spectacular Increase in
production, Its cultivable area nas increased very slowly
especially since the beginning of the second decade of this
century (because of physical limitations and the slow devel­
opment of irrigation and drainage projects), and its prpulation is increasing rapidly despite the heavy toll of deaths.
The result is an ever increasing population pressure on the
means of subsistence and a continuous decrease in the standard

^

of living of the majority of the Egyptian population.

Because

of the slowness of land reclamation during the interwar period,
there was only slight increase (2 percent) in the cultivable
area.

However, due to the conversion of about 200,000 feddans

to perennial irrigation there was an increase of about 10
percent in crop land area.
Area

1919

Cultivated area
Crop area

1939

• 5,200,000 Feddans
7,710,000
"

Percentage
increase

5,310,000 Feddans
8,450,000
"

2
10

During this period the total population increased from
12,751,000 in 1917 to 15,933,000 in 1937, an increase of 25
percent.

With this increase, population growth far outstripped

the expansion of both the cultivated area and the crop area.
The net result was a ..ieci'ease in the standard of living of
the Egyptian farmer.

This can be ascertained by studying the

consumption figures for the interwar period which are presented
in the following table.
Table 14. - Consumption of Staple Articles
1925- 1958 (Ave . 1920'-37 = 100)*

Year

Tobacco

1925
1926
1929
1950
1933
1934
1937
1938

111
110
113
105
77
81
86

89
108
109
111
98
76
90

X

X

Coffee

Tea

Sugar

87
76
117
109
124
145
143
139

106
114
148
130
99
145
124
124

x Figures not available
* Issawi, Chas. op.cit. p. 55
14/ Issawi, Chas. op.cit . p. 55

Meat
107
107
102
101
101
97
94
97

Textiles
116
88
105
92
105
101
105
95

Cereals
105
103
105
104
90
97
95
99

95
All the indices, excluding sugar and tea, showed a
decreasing trend.

Figures on sugar are misleading and should

not be taken on their face.

Sugar was not and to a considerable

extent still is not a peasant’s commodity.
The consumption of cereals which constitute the back­
bone of the peasant’s diet showed a decreasing trend.
meat and textiles showed the same trend.

That of

This decreasing

trend could appear more dramatic if computed on a per capita
basis, since the trend of total consumption was down in spite
of the increase in the number of mouths to be fed.
Despite the different opinions concerning population
pressure in

Egypt, it seems obvious that there is a surplus

agricultural population which could be taken away without ad­
versely affecting the national agricultural product.
sor Cleland,

Profes-

basing his estimate of laoor requirements on

actual observation, found that under the existing methods it
was possible for a peasant’s family to cultivate an area five
times the average area cultivated by that family.

This means

that the national agricultural product could at that time
nave been produced by as little as one-fifth of the labor
force used in its production.

Professor Cleland considers that

a safer estimate of the surpluswould be one-half of the 1957
farm population,

lie also maintains that with half the degree

of mechanization found on American fawns, 10 percent of Egypt’s
farmers could do the work now done.
15/ Clelahd,' W.'l. Population Plan for Egypt, L. Egypte Conter£poraine, hay 1959.

96
Additional light is sned on tns subject by the inves­
tigation made by the Fellah Department of the Egyptian Minis­
try of Social Affairs concerning the average number of days
a farm laborer works every year in the different provinces.
The result of tnis study can cy summarized as follows:
Table 15. - Average No. of Work nays per Average Egyptian
Farm Laborer, by Provinces, 1S45.

Province

Man

'Woman

Boy or Girl

Gharbia
Dakahlia
Beheia
Monufia
Sharkia
Giza
Ben Suef
Ivlinia
Assyut
Kenna
Aswan

185
220
210
210
180
220
200
180
150
120
115

140
135
170

140
145
210
160
170
190
160
115
100
100
90

Average No.
of work days
182
Average N o . of
unemployed days 185

-

120
160
160
100
-

144

144

221

222

This investigation, which confirms Professor Cleland*s
observations, indicates that agriculture in Egypt is overloaded
with a surplus of population, and that industry and other
economic activities do not present

an alternative to farming,

and are not able to offer emplo.yment to the increasing popul­
ation.

This has resulted in a great number of unemployed people,

a great number of partly employed, a very low wage and very low

97
standards of living.

The majority of the farm people are poor,

undernourished, illiterate and a victim of two or three diff­
erent diseases.

This is primarily a result of heavy population

pressure and reflects the operation of the Malthusian Doctrine.
Unfortunately the future is not any brighter, and
unless drastic measures are taken bj the government to alleviate
the problem, things will grow worse.

In Part "B1' of this

chapter it was indicated tnat the birth rate is not decreasing
and that it will continue for some cultural reasons to be very
high.

On the other hand it is my opinion that with the spread

of medical sei’vices to the villages, which has taken place on
a wide scale since the beginning of this decade, the death
rate will go down faster than the birth rate.

This will comp­

licate the population problem further and unless something is
done to check it, epidemics such as malaria, typhus and cholera
will continue to visit Egypt from time to time to harvest
their immature crop of poor human beings.
This population pressure menns an ever increasing demand
for.land.

Land is essential in farming and finds no substitute

in capital or any other factor of production.

According to the

secular law of diminishing return, even with the technological
improvements in agriculture, the point must eventually be
reached at which the law will begin to operate, and unless the
supply

01

cultivable land in Egypt is increased by some way,

or the fast growth in population is checked by some way also,
the pressure will be intensified.
pressure are very important.

The implications of that

On the one hand it adds to power

and the privileges the land owners have in the social and
economic world, which is reflected in the race for the owner­
ship of land by those who accumulate money, and in the ever
increasing prices of land which reaches, in some cases unbeliev­
able figures.

On the ocher hand it adds to the depressed and

weakened position and bargaining power of the agricultural
laborers who own no land, which is reflected in the very low
wages they get and the very low standard of living they enjoy.
2. The Meed for Governmental Regulation
The vast majority of the farm people are either farm
laborers or owners of very small tracts of land.

These people,

more than 90 percent of the farm population and about 66 per­
cent of the total population of the country, live miserable
lives and suffer many inconveniences.

To raise theii* standards

of living some kind of governmental control of landed property
is needed.

As Renne Y/rites: "Property is a social trust, and

the individual is nothing more or less tnan a steward taking
care of the property during the period when society approves
and permits such stewardship.

The social right to regulate

private property is basic to the institution of property itself."
In controlling property rights two objectives should be
kept in view:(l.) raising the standard of living of the farm
16/ R enne, op.cit. p .151.

99

laborers and amall land owners who make more than two-thirds
of the total population, and (2.) attaining an adjustment
between the rights of the individual and the society as a
whole that will not discourage or destroy.private initiative.
Governmental control and regulation is neither unusual nor
untried.

It has been tried by the governments of many other

European countries and even by the United States, the most
capitalistic country at the present time.

It limits and mod­

ifies but need not work at cross purposes with the free enter­
prise system.

Rather it is merely a measure to save the system

by correcting isolated abuses or weaknesses especially in the
fields where competition has been drastically restricted so
that the laws of supply ana demand no longer operate as they
are supposed to.

In fact government interference is basic

for the survival of democracy which is a compromise between
17/
individualism and equality.

It is called by Nathan Robertson

the "Safe Enterprise System1'. Robertson in one of his articles
cited the many controls and interferences the United States
government exercises over different segments of the country’s
economy and spoke of this safe enterprise system as follows:
"This safe enterprise system is almost, as different from the
one that Adam Smith talked about, or the system we once had as
the economy of Nazi Germany or of Soviet Russia.

But it is

just as American and goes with democracy and liberty as natur­
ally as the original".
17/ See, Nathan Robex’tson, "Vi/hat Do you Mean, Free Enterprise?"
Harper’s Magazine, November 1948, p. 70.

100
Even in Egypt the government exercises many regulations
in many of the other segments of the country's economy, and
there is nothing against subjecting landownership to regulations
which might result in more prosperity and a higher standard of
living for the majority of the.people.
Very small tracts of land, as well as very large estates,
shovild be discouraged,

what Egypt needs is more family farms

which will add to the solidarity and the welfare of the farm
people, and which, as will be shown

in Chapter 3, could add

to the productivity and the wealth of the country as a whole.

101

CHAPTER III
THE LAMP TENURE SYSTEM IN EGYPT
A. - The Evolution of tne Land Tenure System
From the Pharaonic days down to the Arab invasion,
ownership of land in Egypt was vested in the ruler.

the

The culti­

vators were allowed to cultivate the land and enjoy its product
on payment of the land tan y/nicii was levied on each village as
a whole,

while the permission to cultivate the land was a

privilege which could be withdrawn at any time, the distribution
of the cultivated area and the tax to be -paid was left to the
villagers tnemselves.
under the Arab rule, Egypt was considered as "Kharadj
land" which had to pay the land tax imposed by the ruler.
Another kind of land, in the Arabs ’ conception, was the Ouchouri
land which is privileged and pays only the tithe.

The farmer

was allowed to cultivate tne land, so long as he paid the tax.
But he had no right of ownership.

The land could be taken from

him at any time for public 'works without compensation, and he
had

110

right to dispose of it by any means.

si/hen he died his

heirs had no guaranteed right to receive it.
under Turkish rule, the Moultizims were responsible
for the collection of a land tax.

Each of them was responsiole

for an area which consisted of a certain number of villages.
This system was a family privilege handed down from father to
son.

The Moultizims were

land called Wissiya land,

allowed a certain area of tax-free
and had the.right to corvee1 the

10 2
farmers of M s

district to cultivate M s

land.

Tiie Rizka lands supported anotrier kind of land tenure
which prevailed during the rule of the Turks.

These lands were

large estates given in the name of the Sultan to officers and
high officials and were exempted from payment of taxes.
Another large group of tax-free land was formed by the
creation of Wakfs, or religious foundations.

This type of land

could not be alienated, and the government had no power over
it.

The revenues of the Wakfs could be constituted to the

benefit of one person, the members of a family, or for other
philanthropic purposes.
Yi/Vien Mohamed Aly defeated the Mamelukes and established
himself as the ruler of Egypt in 1805, he changed the whole
economic system.
Ms

So far as the tenure system was concerned,

first attack was on the "Iltizan" system, the land tax col­

lection.

In 1808, Mohamed Aly requested the Moultizims or tax

collectors to state their annual profit from their operation.
They, fearing that he intended to demand bigger contributions
from them, estimated their profits as low as possible.

The

smart ruler abolished the system and granted the ivioultizims
a life-pension based upon their estimated profits,
then co3.1ected by the government agents.

Taxes were

Within a few years

most of the Ivioultizims had died ana their pensions were exting­
uished.
The Wissiya estates which were in the hands of the tax
collectors were left to them. But when tne Mamelukes were com­
pletely defeated in 1811, their private estates, as well as the

103
Wissiya lands of the Upper Egypt's koultizims were confiscated
by the ruler. By doing so, Mohamed Aly became the owner of
practically all the land in the country.
titles to land fell into his hands.

In 1814, the last

The moultizims of Lower

Egypt were allowed to retain their land, but later the land
tax was imposed on them.

The right of succession to Wissiya

estates was allowed by decree in 1855 and in 1359.

The Law

of ’'ivioukabala11, which covered the Wissiya lands, left them
practically as the Kharadj taxed land.
The Rizka lands, grants of tax-free land made in the
name of the Sultan, were taxed by Mohamed Aly and under the
law of 1858 were assimilated with Kharadj lands.
In 1813 a general cadastral survey was made and the
cultivated land was divided between the farmers.

Prom three

to five feddans were inscribed in the farmer's name on the
official registers.

This did not mean that the ownership

of the land itself v/as granted to the farmer.

Because it was

definitely laid down that the ownership of all the land was
vested in the government, and the farmers acquired an usuf­
ructuary right only.

They had no right to sell or mortgage

the land and it could be taken from them by the government
fox1 any reason without compensation.

But the farmers were

usually permitted to use and exploit the land so long as they
paid their taxes.
The fact that each farmex’ had his cultivated area in­
scribed in tne official registers was a step in the direction
of individual ownership, which development was actually taking

104
place throughout the rule of Mohamed Aly.

In 1846, the holder

of a piece of land was given the right to mortgage his land, or
to transfer it to another person.
The principle of ownership in land was further affirmed
by Mohamed Aly when he granted some of the rich notables areas of
uncultivated land in full ownership and tax free for a period of
ten years, on condition that they bring

the land under cultivation*

this land was known as the !,Abadieh land".

Foreigners were usu­

ally forbidden to become owners of land. But some of the Abadieh
lands were given to rich foreigners by Mohamed Aly who emphasized
their right to ownership of land by giving them a certificate of
ownership.

Their right to hold land was finally confirmed by

Imperial decree from Constantinople in 1867.
Mohamed A l y ’s second point of attack was on the Wakf
system.

He amended the system, by putting his hands on all the

land entailed for philanthropic purposes.

In return he financed

those works from the government budget and he gave the managers
of the Wakfs annual pensions
U

In 1854, the year in which Said ascended to Egypt’s throne,
the registration of land was further refined.

The village sheikhs

who had handled the registration had abused their power,

A new

decree stated that all transfers of land must be made by contract
registered in court.

The principle of family inheritance also was

legalized at that time.
V

Mohamed Aly turned the throne over to his son Ibrahim in 1848.
Ibrahim died that same year and was succeeded by Abbas who
died in 1854. Mohamed Aly died in 1849*

105
Land left by the parents was inherited by the male issue, but
women of the family might be granted the land under certain
circumstances.
In 1858 the inheritance principle was further affirmed
and the transfer of land was authorised to the heirs of the
tenant without distinction of sex.
with the Islamic law.

Thisw as in accordance

It was further stared that any tenant

who had cultivated the land for a period of five successive
years, without

any delay in paying taxes, should become the

owner of the land without any dispute.

By tbjfc time the tenant

had the right to mortgage, sell or leave the land by inheritance
to his heirs.
ownership.

This does not differ much from the right of full

The only limitation was that the state reserved

to itself the right to expropriate the land without giving any
ind enmity.
In 1865 a decree was enacted which required each tenant
to obtain from the provincial court a certificate stating that
he is the life tenant of the land he occupied.

The finial step

in legally recognizing the tenant’s right to full ownership in
the land he occupied was.taken by the Law of Moukabala in
1871.
This law, a desperate attemp on the part of Ismail and
his minister of finance to raise money when they found it diff
icult to borrow from the foreign financiers, gave land owners

10 6
who paid six years in advance:
(1.) Absolute property rights in the land on which they had
paid advance taxes,
(2.) reduction of the land h a to one-half; and
(5.) interest at 8.5 percent on the amount of money paid
in advance.

y

The law covered both the Wissiya and the Abadieh lands.
It was repealed and x^e-enacted in 1876 and finally abrogated
in 1880;

y

and anotner decree was passed granting full rights

of ownership in land on which the Ivioukabala had been paid in
whole or part.

Finally this was confirmed by the Law of Liq­

uidation in 1880.
In 1869 a decree was enacted
inheiritance.

changing the rule of

It stated that on the death of a tenant his prop­

erty would be registered in the name of his eldest son.

The

product of the land, however, would be divided among all the
members of the family.

But this law was abrogated in 1881 and
I
the succession was decreed to be according to the rules of the
Islamic lav;.

The legal machinery for registration was completed

by the establishment of the Mixed Courts in 1875.

And by 1881

practically all of the land in Lgypt had passed in full owner­
ship to its holder.
2/ Lebieta, M. op.cit. p. 522
3/ Cronclxley, A.E. The Economic Development of Modern Egypt.
Longmans, Green and Co. London 1938.

In 1899 the land tax was standardized at about 29 percent of the annual rent with a maximum of 164 P.T.
feddan.

y

on any

Between 1892 and 1907 a complete eadastral survey was

made of the country and a new schedule of tax rates wa s ■intro­
duced and came into operation in 1912.

The principles of tax­

ation formulated at that time continued in operation until
they were amended in 1939.

The 1939 amendment fixed the rate

of taxation at 16 percent of the estimated annual rental value
of the land..

These new rates remained in operation until they

were again amended in 1949.
In this brief history of the evolution of the land
tenure system in Egypt; two very important things can be noted:
(1.) Whereas communal ownership of land, which is the mark
of a backward order of society, and which hinders the develop­
ment of better methods of cultivation, 'was abolished and gave
way to the rights of private property at an early date in
Western Europe; in Egypt the rights of private property did not
develop until the second half of the nineteenth century.
(2.) That the concentration of land holdings in few hands,
while the majority of the farm people are either laborers or
owners of very small pieces of land, had its origin in the in­
equality of the opportunity fox1 getting land which prevailed
during the Turkish rule, and continued to prevail with some mod­
ifications dui*ing the more recent times of the country’s history
4/ P.T.- Egyptian paistre. It equals .01 of the Egyptian pound.

10 8
B. - The Present Day Situation
1. Land Ownership in Egypt
.With the removal of the last restrictions on ownership
of land at the close of the nineteenth century, owners acquired
the equivalent of fee simple rights in their estates.

This

development brought a keen race for land ownership, a race based
on the social as well as the economic implications of land own­
ership,

Even those who accumulated small amounts of money

bought themselves whatever area they were able to pay for.
The number of landed properties increased from 767,000 in
1896 to 1,557,000 in '1913, an increase of 103 percent.
that time the number has been steadily increasing.
the rate of increase has been decreasing.

Since

However,

Between 1913 and

1929 the rate was 40 percent, between 1929 and 1939, it was
14 percent, and between 1939 and 1945 it was 5 percent.

By

1945, the number of landed properties had increased to about
2,606,000.
On its face this increase looks lika a desirable
change.

Unfortunately this is not the case at all.

To begin

with these figures are not an adequate guide of land ownership
in Egypt for the following reasons:
(1.) These figures indicate the number of landed properties
and not that of proprietors; thus it is possible that one land
owner may own sever>al properties in different villages and as
a result, he would be counted as two or three proprietors,

according to the number of villages he may own land in.
Many of the big owners own land in more than one village and
sometimes in more than one province.

As a result, the numb ex1

of big land owners reported is usually exaggerated.
(2.) In many cases when the head of the family, under
whose name the property is registered, dies the heirs divide
the property between themselves but fail to register this
fact with the court.

As a result, the whole -property continues

to appear in the official books as one unit owned by one owner,
which is not true.

This practice considei’ably changes the

picture of land ownership in Egypt by making the number of
land owners, particularly the small ones, appear smaller than
it should be.
Also, this increase In the number of landed properties
is mostly accounted for by the Increase in the number of the
very small ’holdings which do not provide, by any means, a
minimum subsistan.ee level.

The owners of these properties are

usually employed as part time laborers.

Table 16 shows the

change in land ownership from 1890 to 1945.
The Increase in the number of the very small holdings
Is clearly shown by Table 16.

bhile the total number of hold­

ings was increased from 767,000 in 1S90 to 2,606,000 in 1945,
the number of small holdings of less than five feddans increased
from 611,000 to 2,447,000 in the same period.

This means that

the number of holdings with five feddans or more increased
from abour 156,000 in 1396 to about 159,000 in 1945.

This very

Table 16. - Land Ownership in Lg;>ot in Some Selccted Years-x<-

oluCui

1396

No. of holdings
767,000
% increase in Lumber
All
mold­ Area in Feddans
3,002,000
ings % increase in area
Average size of Hold­
ings (Fed.)
6.5
Less
than
one
Feddan

No. of Jloldin ••5
increase in Nw/nbciArea in Feddans
% increase in area

Less
than
5
’edeisms

Ho. of Holdings
fj increase in Humber
Area in Feddans
% increase in area

1913
1.557.000
1033
5 .293.000

5.3%
3.1
9l3,000

1/
611,000

99l, 000

i'o. of Holdings
iU-,000
7' increase in Humber
1,elo,000
Area in Feddans
6 increase in area

L.06 ,000
1.1111.000
131 .1 .
1 .1.
1.
19.000
1[2.65
1
133,000

-/

1 ,633,000
-1 0 5

1929
2,176,000
li0%
5,79tl,000
9.55
2.7

1939
2,132,000
ill
?,337,000

1915
2,606,000
55
5,881,000

0 .7 5

0 .8 9

2 .1

2 .3

1,176,000
575

1 ,752,000

569,000
1.05

702,000

2 .019.000

2 .323.000

135
1.706.000
20.15

159
1.915.000
.125

2.117.000
59
1 .969.000
2.89

116,000
1.15
1 ,671,000
-1.85

117,000
0.75
1,771,000
6%

ill, 000
O.!T
'
//
b
1,759,000
7.79

195
23.15

1,811,000
l-'*;/
07753,000
75

12,000
12,000
13,000
13,000
13,000
Ho. of holdings
increase in Humber
-7.75
5 .3 5
2,133,000
2,192,000
2,21.1.1,000
2,327,000
2,160,000
Area in Feddans
0 pa
-25
2 .2 5
% increase in area
-6.35
-^-Source: Computed by the author iron iigures tahen from Annuaire Itatistique op..cit. p.290 ,
Issavri., Qhas. op.cit. ;o. 73 ar.d other sour ces.
1/
lipares not available.

orr

50
and
up

Ill

slight change is accounted for by the increase in the number
of the holdings of 5 - 49.5 feddans which was 144,000 in 1896
and 147,000 in 1945.

The number of holdings of fifty feddans

and up was 12,000 in both 1896 and 1945.

Another important

fact which should not be overlooked is that in 1945 about 75
percent of the holding in "less than five feddans" group were
less

than one feddan in size.
The total area of all the holdings of five feddans

and up was 4,008,000 feddans in 1896 and slightly decreased to
3,912,000 in 1945, while the area of the holding of less than
five feddans increased from 994,000 to 1,969,000 feddans in
the same_period, an increase which absorbed not only the whole
increase in the cultivable area, but also the reduction which
took place in the area of the other holdings.

Thus the result

of the past fifty years of unrestricted ownership of land has
been an enormous increase in the number of the very small
holdings which can not provide a minimum subsistence, while
the number and area of the medium and the large estates has
remained the same or encountered only negligible change.

This

has not been a desirable trend, because even though it has
brought an enormous increase in the number of owners, most of
them live on subsubsistence units and still have to work as
laborers in order to survive, and actually are not much better
off.

On the other hand, this situation involves waste of time

and hinders technological progress in agriculture.

112
The average size of holdings in the country steadily
decreased from 6.5 feddans in 1896 to 2.3 in 1945?

As Table 17

shows* file ownership picture differs considerably for each of
the three different groups of land owners, namely: the nationals,
the foreigners and the Wakfs.

In 1945 there were about 2,582,000

national land owners owning 4,838,000 feddans with an average
holding of 1.9 feddan, about 19,000 V/akfs owning 661,000
feddans with an average holding of 34 feddans, and about 4,600
foreigners owning 382,000 feddans with an average holding of
83 feddans.
In 1945 the very small holdings of less than one feddan
numbered 1,844,212_out of 2,605,917 or about 71 percent of
the total.

Holdings of 1 - 1.9 feddans numbered 358,959

or

13 percent of the total and those of 2 - 4 . 9 feddans numbered
265,782 or 10 percent of the total.

This makes the total number

of all the holdings less than five feddans about 2,446,953
or 94 percent of the total.

In terms of area the picture was

different since all the holdings of less than one feddan accounted
for only 753,173 feddans or 13 percent of the total area, an
average size of 0.4 feddan per holding.

The area occupied

by the holdings of 1 - 1.9 feddans was 498,495, 8 percent of
the total area or an average of 1.47 feddan per holding; and
that occupied by holdings of 2 - 4.9 feddans was 717,813 fed­
dans or 13 percent of the total with an average of 2.72 feddans.
The whole group of holdings of less than five feddans occupied
1,969,481 feddans or 34 percent of the total area with an average

Table 17• Distribution of Land Ownership in Eg.ypt in 19U5#

Number of Holdings
Total No. % of total

Group

Area in Feddans
Total No. % of total

Average size of
Holdings (feddans)

Less than one fed. 1,3 V*, 212
1 - 1,9 feddans
338,959
263,782
2 - 1*.9
»
Total - less
than 5 feddans
2,1*2*6,953

71.00
13.00
10.00

753,173
1*98,1*95
717,813

13.00
8.00
13.00

0.1*0
1.1*7
2.72

9l*.00

1,969,1*81

3li.00

0.80

85, oil*
1*0,969
11,720
9,301*
6,638

5.oo
1.60
o.5o
0.1*0
0.25

57o,l?i*
561,111
281*, 800
357,975
1*57,521*

lo.oo
9.00
1*.80
6.10
7.90

e>.7o
13.69
21*. 21
38.1*7
68.25

153s69^

5.75

2,231,581*

37.80

11*. 52

0.15

0.25

**35,122
360,71*3
21*3,521*
106,261*
76,1*21*
1*59,918
1,679,995

7.00
6.10
1*.10
1.80
1.20
8.00
28.20

100.00

5,881,060

100.00

5
10
20
30
50

- 9*9 feddans
-19.9
"
-2 9 .9
«
-1*9.9
"
-9 9.9
"
Total 5 - 99.9
Feddans

1(50 - 199.9 Feddans ' ’7,121
200 - 399.9
"
1,189)
1*00 - 599.9
rt
1*79)
160)
600 - 799.9
"
800 - 999.9
"
85)
More than 1000 ”
235)
Total-100 and up
5,289
Grand Total
^Source:

2,605,917

0.10

--- T37.-77------------308.16
508.1*0
663.96
897.92
1957.00
318.85”

"

2.25

Computed by the author from figures taken from Annuaire Statistique, op,cit, p. 290-91
and other sources.

holding of 0.8 of one feddan.

At the same time the number

of all holdings whicr. were between 5 and 99.9 feddans was only
153,695 or 5.75 percent of the total number.

They occupied

an area of 2,231,584 feddans or 37.8 percent of the total area
and had an average size of 14.52 feddans.

The number of all

the holdings which were a hundred feddans or more was only
5.269 or 0.25 percent of the total.

They occupied an area

of 1,679,995 feddans or 28.20 percent of the total area and
averaged 318.85 feddans in size.

Thus while 0.25 of all the

land owners (and probably less than that for the reasons men­
tioned before) owned 23.2 percent of all the area, 94 percent
of the owners (and probably more than that for the reasons
mentioned before) owned only 34 percent of the area.

This

unbalanced ownership situation is a chief cause of the very
low standard of living which the majority of the farm people
in Egypt have.

It also is the stumbling block in the way of

the technological progress in the field of agriculture.
If analysis is made in terms of sizes of farms, instead
of holdings, it also appears that the size of the average Egypt­
ian farm is very small.

It shoula be indicated first that the

term farm, as used in the agricultural census of Egypt, has a
different meaning than that used in the united States.

The

agricultural census of Egypt 1929 defines the Egyptian farm
as follows:

The farm from the point of view of the census, is

any land used partly or* wholly for production of crops or breed­
ing of trees.

It is superintended by one person whether by the

right of ownership or by lease.
centrated or scattered.
for vegetables.

The cultivated area may be con­

The farm may be an orchard or a field

It may incluae crops, fruits, or pasture,

y

ms to the area, the consultative committee for the census in
Egypt found

that the distribution of property in Egypt nec­

essitates the enumer sting of all farms however small, as the
number of those who own small areas Is too large to be over­
looked.

The classification of a farm involves no minimum in­

come requirements.
According to the Egyptian ministry of Agriculture,

y

the total numbe,: of farms In 1947 was 1,000,063 and the area
those farms occupied was 6,036,879 feddans.

Thus the average

size of the Egyptian farm was about six feddans in 1947.
1929 this average was also six feddans.

In

The complete picture

of number and sizes of farms In 1947 was as in Table 18.
Although the average size of the Egyptian farm was
about six feddans In 1947, which is a small size compared with
the average size of farms in the other advanced countries,
actually the majority of the farms were far smaller than tills
average.

Farms of less than one feddan represented more than

37 percent of the total number of farms In the country.

Those

between 1 - 1 . 9 feddans accounted for about 20 percent of the
total and those which of less than five feo.dans for more than
80 percent of the total with an average size of 1.40 feddans.
5/ El-Zalaky,' M.~ op. cit.
’
6/ Egyptian Ministry of Agricultureal, Agricultural and Economic
Statistics op.cit. 39.

Table 18. Number and Sizes of Farms in Egypt in 1987*

Group
Less than 1 Feddan
1
- 1.9
"
2 - 2.9
"
3
- 3.9
11
8 - 8.9
"
Total less than
5 feddans
5 - 9.9
"
10 - 19.9
”
20
- 89.9
”
50 - 99.9
"
Total
5 - 99.9
"
100 -199.9
"
200 - 899.9
"
500 - and up
Total 100 and up

Grand Total
■BSource;

Number of Holdings
% of total
Total No.

Area in Feddans
Total No. g of total

173,69*
208,132
112,691
69,828
85,781

37.37
20 .III
11.27
6.98
8.58

153,180
275.887
265,289
238,628
199,622

2.58
8.57
8.39
3.89
3.30

0.81
1.35
2.35
3.36
8.36

806,120
100,11*2
50,583
27,683
8,778

80.61
10.01
5.05
2.77
0.88

1,128,566
6B8,853
689,081
833,987
608,918

18.69
11.38
11.82
13.81
10.02

1.80
6.88
13.63
30.12
68.91

187,186
8,053)
2,011)
733)
6,W

18.71

2,812,795
566,113
598,17h
9lil,231
2,095,518

86.59
P.21 _ '
9.92
15.59
38.72

1 ^000,063

0.68

0.68
100.00

6 ,036,879

100.00

Average Size
of Farm

15.03
68.9I
297.85
1288.08
OT.35” '
6.03

Computed by author from figures taken from Agricultural and Economic Statistics, op.cit.' p. 39.

o\

On the other nancl, farms of between 5-99.9 feddans accounted
for about 18 percent of the total and had an average size of
about 15 feddans, while those over a hundred feddans represented
only about 0.7 percent of the total and averaged about 308
feddans in sise.

The situation can be summarized as follows;

About 80 percent of the Egyptian farms have an average
size of 1.4 feddans, about 19 percent of them have an average
size of 15 feddans and less than one percent have an average
of 308 feddans.

In terms of area the picture is different,

since 80 percent of the farms of less than five feddans
occupied only about 19 percent of the total area, the 19
percent.of farms which were between 5-99.9 feddans occupied
about 46 percent of the area and the remaining less than one
one percent of the farms occupied about 55 percent of the
area.
Besides the very small size of the Egyptian farms,
almost all of them have another characteristic which concerns
the farm layout.

Owing to many reasons, of which inheritance

customs is one, most of the farms are made up of numerous
tracts, sometimes of very impractical size and sometimes at
great distance from each other and from the farmer's house.
This situation involves the following troubles:
(1.) Farming practices such as moving manure to the fields
and other similar things usually take more than due time.
(2.) Irrigating ditches and drains usually take a consid­
erable part of the farm land.

This fragmentation and dimuta­

118
tion of farm areas constitutes a serious obstacle to the pro­
gress of drainage works In Egypt.
(3.) A great deal of energy is lost in the unavoidable
farm boundary disputes.
(4.) Many roads are required to give every farmer access
to his various strips which are spread over the village grounds.
Many writers are inclined to blame the Moslem law of
inheritance for this tendency towards subdivision and fragmen­
tation.

This is not the determining factor, however, because

the law does not prohibit anyone of the heirs from buying the
whole farm so long as the price is distributed, between the
heirs according to the regulations of the law.

There are

three main causes for continued fragmentation and stfodivision
of farms.

They are:

(1.) The culture of the people, which overestimates the
value of land ownership to the extent that the farmer desires
to acquire any piece of land even if it is very small and even
if he puits himself into life-long debt.
(2.) The lack of an efficient farm credit system, which
would provide some heirs with the funds needed for payment of .
the other heirs’ share in cash.
(3.)

The shortage of cash which most of the heirs exper­

ience and which makes them unable to buy the share of the
others.
These throe factors nave worked side by side in bringing
about the present landownership situation in Egypt.

The effi­

cient solution would be to tackle them all at the same time.

119

As to who owns the land in Egypt the census book of
1945 gives the figures

Area in Fe d .

1. Total land in private
owner ship
Land owned by nationals
Land owned by Foreigners
2.

5,259,580
4,867,681
381,899

63.0

665,965

8*0

V/akfs
Vyakfs managed by Ministry
of Wakfs
Wakfs managed by individuals

149,945
516,020

3.

Land owned by the Government

1,505,302

4.

Land for Public Utilities

29.0

915,898

1/

Grand Total

% of total

8,336,745

100.0

Thus 63 percent of the tcfcal cultivable area was in the
hands of private owners, 8 percent was V/akfs, and 29 percent
was in the hands of the government.

Out of the 29 percent

which were in the hands of the government 11 percent was re­
served for public utilities and a small part of this reserved
land was temporarily leased for cultivation.

Most of the gov­

ernmental land is administered by the Bureau' of Public Domain
§/
and it is mostly uncultivated land which is now oeing reclaimed.
Land is owned privately either by individuals or corp­
orations.

However, the part owned by corporations is very small

and consists of either newly reclaimed land which will be sold
to the individuals, or lands taken from individuals by fore­
closure and held temporarily until it can be sold again to indivAnnuaire Statistique,
This figure includes
8/
In 1945 uncultivated
Bureau was about one

on. cit. p. 289.
iroded and free of tax land.
land under the administration of this
million feddans.

iduals.

Corporate farming is not common in Egypt.
Although the 7;akfs occupied only S percent of the cul­

tivable land, they occupied more than 10 percent of the land
under cultivation.

V/akf land is inalienable and there are two

kinds of V/akfs.
(1.) Land dedicated to some religious or philanthropic
purpose.

This is known as V/akf Khairi and occupies around

100,000 feddans.
(2.) Lands which are entailed in favor of heirs in per­
petuity.

Wakfs occupied more than 500,000 feddans of this kind

of land.
This system of land tenure gives rise to many evils
and calls for* urgent reform.
Characteristics of individual owners are not given any
attention in the census takings thus far available.

Figures

concerning the exact number of owners operators, part owner
operators and absentee landowners are not available.

Other

characteristics, such as the sex of owners, the age of owners
and the occupational status of owners also are not known.
It is a common practice in Egypt for wealthy profes­
sional employed persons to invest their accumulated capital
in land.

Many of the medium size farms belong to this group

and are usually rented out.

Many of the old retired govern­

ment officials, instead of receiving their pensions, got a
piece of government land.

These owners, having no experience

in farming, usually live in large cities and either rent their
farms or hire a manager.

How much background for farming the

121

the owners had v/hen they became owners is not known.
situation applies to their tenure experience.

The same

There is nothing

in the available data that shows how long the owner spent on the
different rungs of the agricultural ladder.
hata regarding the relationship between the amount of
rent collected and the landlord’s other earnings or income also
are unavailable.

These statistical shortcomings are realized

by all who try to study the land tenure problem in Egypt,
particularly the Fellah Department of Ministry of Social Affairs
which has suggested numerous refinements in land tenure data
to the Bureau of Census.

It is hoped that all or at least most

of these, shortcomings will have been taken care of in the tabu­
lations on general census of 1947 which are not as yet available.
Most Egyptian farms sure acquired through purchase,
inheritance, or combination of these two methods.

It is imposs­

ible with the data on hand, to disern the proportions acquired
through each of these methods.
important method of acquisition.

But inheritance is the most
Except in areas

reclaimed land, purchase is no frequent.

of newly

The reason may by the

very high prices charged per acre, coupled with the social
prestige put on landowner ship which makes the people keen to
preserve their land and pass it from father to son.
As to the different tenure grn ups in Egypt, as in all
the other countries which sanction tne right of private owner­
ship in land, there are three basic tenure groups, namely; land­
owners, tenants and laborers.

122

In 1937, the last year for which census data are
available, the number of the different tenure groups was
as follows.*1.
2.
3.
4.

Farmers operatingtheir own farms
Farmers oper*atingrented farms
Family laborers
Wage laborers

959,975
210,385
l,226,887g/
1,457,267“/

'these figures are thought by many of the Egyptian
authorities to be unreliable and do not give a true' -picture
about the situation*

Many of the owners who owned a very

small piece of land and who at the same time rented another
piece, were probably classified as owners, a practice which
deflated the number of renters.
According to the figures, the group of landless ag­
ricultural laborers not only outnumbered any other group,’but
also outnumbered the ov/ner operators and the renters combined.
Besides, they Increased

-very rapidly from 659,883 in 1927

to 1,4-57,267 in 1957, an increase of about 121 pei*cent, wnile
the number of owner operators and renters Increased from
963,233 in 1927 to 1,170,360 in 1937, an increase of only 21
percent.

This continuous increase in the number of landless

laborers presents a most serious problem in the Egyptian
economy.
The recent, but yet unpublished investigations of the
Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture show that tenancy is becoming
-ic-Annuaire Statistique de Poche, op.cit. p. 10
9 ! "Not "including the females whose number was 170,562*

123
more extensive in the country.

In 1948, out of the total of

5,942,978 feddans,under cultivation, tenants operated 3,500,583
feddans or almost 59 percent.

No other recent figures concern­

ing the numbex1 of tenants, kinds of tenancy, and the size of
farms operated by the tenants are available.
2. The Agricultural Ladder and the Acquisition of Land
The concept of agricultural ladder, despite its limit­
ations, provides a useful tool for analysis in.studying the
10/
farm ownership process.
It involves a number of separate
steps or rungs on which one advances from the bottom to the
top as he gains experience and accumulates funds to become a
farm owner.

Vi/hile it is usually agreed upon that in the United

States there are four fundamental rungs which are character­
ized by the letters P (for unpaid family labor) - H (for
hired hand) - R (for renter) and 0 (for owner), in Egypt
there are only three main rungs.

Those can be characterized

by H (for hired laborer) - T (for tenant) and 0 (for ov/ner).
Unpaid family laborers do not constitute a distinguished group
in Egypt since they do not differ much from hired laborers and
they derive most of their income from working on other big
farms.

They are rather considered as a subgroup of hired

laborers.
Those three main groups which stand on the different
Toy "See' J.F. Timmons & R. Barlowe, Farm Ownership in the Midwest.
Research Bulletin 561. June 1949, A.E.S. Iowa State College,
Ames, Iowa, p. 892-93.

124

rungs of the ladder may be further divided into subgroups.

Under

the first one, which represents the owner, come the following
subgroups:

(1 . Owners of a whole debt-free farm.

(2 .

Owners of part of a debt-free farm.
Owners of a whole mortgaged farm.
w
Ov/ners
of
part
of
a
mortgaged
farm.—
'
(4.
Owners
of
a
small
debt-free
farm
who
rent in some
(5.
land at the same time.
(6.) Owners of small mortgaged farm who rent in some
land at the same time.

C3.

Under the tenant grovip comes the following subgroups:
(1.) Gash renters.
(2.) Gash and s hare renters,.
(3.) Share renters who pay to the owner a fixed amount
of the product.
(4.) Share renters who pay to the owner a percentage of
the product.
And under the hired laborers group come the following
subgroups:
(1.)
(2.)
(3.)
(4.)

Tamallia
Family laborers
Hired laborers
Migratory laborers

Subject to the known limitations of the concept of the
ladder, this classification of groups and subgroups implies
the gradation of financial standings as well as independence of
control.

Thus at the very bottom of the ladder lies the mig­

ratory group which represents the most depressed and underpri­
vileged. group in the country, v/hile at the top stands the group
of the ov/ners of debt-free farms who are usually in a good fin!l/ These are joint owners.

124

rungs of the ladder may be further divided into subgroups.

Under

the first one, which represents the ov/ner, come the following
subgroups:
Owners of a whole debt-free farm.
Owners of part of a debt-free farm.
Owners of a whole mortgaged farm,
(4*) Owners of part of a mortgaged farm.
(5.) Ov/ners of a small debt-free farm who rent in some
land at the same time.
(6.) Ov/ners of small mortgaged farm v/ho rent in some
land at the same time.

(1 .

(I:

Under the tenant group comes the following subgroups:
(1.) Cash renters.
(2.) Cash and share renters,.
(3.) Share renters v/ho pay to the owner a fixed amount
of the product.
(4.) Share renters who pay to the owner a percentage of
the product.
And under the hired laborers group come the following
subgroup s:
(1.)
(2.)
(3.)
(4.)

Tamallia
Family laborers
Hired laborers
Migratory laborers

Subject to the known limitations of the concept of the
ladder, this classification of groups and subgroups implies
the gradation of financial standings as well as independence of
control.

Thus at the very bottom of the ladder lies the mig­

ratory group which represents the most depressed and underpri­
vileged group in the country, while at the top stands the group
of the owners of debt-free farms who are usually in a good fin-

w

These are joint owners’.

125
ancial position and v/ho are completely independent so far as
control is concerned.

Some of the characteristics of these

groups and subgroups v/ill be discussed moiie in detail later.
Data concerning the age distribution of Egyptian farmers
on the various tenure rungs and their tenure experiences are
not available so it is impossible to tackle the subject from
these angles. -The subject can be approached, however, from
another angle which concei^ns the acquisition of land.

The

concept of the agricultural ladder implies that the farmer
in climbing the ladder from the lower rungs to the upper one
spends some time on each rung to accumulate the funds needed
to put him on a higher step.

The length of the period spent

on one rung differs from one country to another and depends
on many factors.

In the countries where there is a shortage

of farm labor and little population pressure on land, wages
are usually higher while land prices are lower than in the
countries with a surplus of agricultural laborers and popula­
tion pressure.

Climbing the ladder is not as difficult a task

in the former countries as in the latter ones.
Now, what is the situation in

Egypt?

In answering

this question some facts have to be kept in mind.

These are:

(1.) Egypt is predominantly an agricultural country in
which other economic activities, industrial and commercial,
do not offer a good alternative source of employment.

Seventy-

five percent of the 20 million people living in the country rely

126
12/
on agriculture for their livelihood.
(2.) Egypt has a high man-land ratio, about 3 persons per
feddan and agriculture is overloaded.

Many investigators

believe that fifty percent of the agricultural Dabor force
could be considered as surplus labor.
(3.) The supply of land in Egypt is highly inelastic
while the population continues to increase rapidly.
(4.) There is a maldistribution of land in Egypt to the
extent that 94 percent of the land owners hold only 34 percent
of the land while 0.25 percent of the ov/ners hold 28 percent
of the land.
Y/ith these facts in mind, it is easy to see why agri­
cultural wages in Egypt are very low, rents per acre are very
high and land prices also are very high.

This situation makes

it very difficult for a laborer to climb not only to the top
of the ladder but to any. higher rung.

The time that an Egyptian

agricultural laborer has to wait until he accumulates the funds
needed to buy even one feddan is almost infinite.

Perhaps a

comparison between the prices of the agricultural land and the
wages of the agricultural laborers in Egypt and in the United
States will show the wide difference between the two countries
in the opportunities of the agricultural laborers to become
land owners.
In 1945 the average per acre value of farm land in the

w

See chapter 2 of this work.

127
United States was i?40.63,

while the average farm wage per
14/
day without board in April 1, 1945 was ,;ii.12.
This means

that in 1945 it took the farm laborer in the United States
the wage of less than 10 days to buy one acre.

Owing to

wide geographic variations, farm wages and agricultural 3and
values varied from state to state.

The situation was as

follows:
State
Iowa
Montana
Mississippi
Washington

Average value per
acre (1945) dollars
£104.81
8.81
33.01
53.84

Wage per day without board in dollars
(April 1, 1945)
^5.75
6.50
2 .65
7.70

Thus in Iowa,_the state with the highest share of the
first grade land in the United States, it took the agricultur­
al laborer the wage of about 18 days to buy one acre of land,
in Montana it took him the wage of less than two days, in
Mississippi it took him the wage of about 15 days, and in
Washington it took him the wage of seven days.
al Egypt the picture is far different.

According to

the investigation of the Fellah Department the average wage of
agricultural laborers in 1945 was 9 piastres while the average
value of one feddan was 300 Egyptian pounds.

This means that

it took the agricultural laborer in that year the wage of
W

See United States Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract
of the United States 1948 p.597.
14/ See Bureau of Agriculture Economics of United States Depart­
ment of Agriculture. Farm Labor. April 1945.

4

3333.3 days, or about ten years, to buy one feddan.

Knowing

that the days of employment available for the agricultural
laborer in Egypt is only 180 days per year, it could be seen
that it would take 20 year's for him to buy one feddan even if
he could save his entire wages for this purpose, which, of
course, is an impossible assumption.
year, the situation was worse.

In 1939 which is a normal

The average wage was only three

piastres while the average price of land was 150 Egyptian pounds
per feddan.

This means that on the same assumptions the agri­

cultural laborer would have to v/ait about 27 years before he
could buy one feddan.
The tenant's opportunity to climb the agricultural
ladder1 to ov/ner ship is hardly any brighter than the laborer’s.
As mentioned earlier, rents in Egypt are very high.

According

to the investigations of the Fellah Department, the average
rent per acre was as follows:
1938-39
1942-43
1943-44
1944-45
1945-47
1947-48

L.E.

7.10
15.00
18.00
19.00
22.00
24.00

Available data concerning the per acre gross income, the
cost of production, and the net income are crude and unreliable
since no records are kept by small farmers.

Addressing the

third Agricultural Conference held in Cairo March 29, 1949,
H.E. Dr. Ahmed, Hussien Bey, Under Secretary of State to the
Ministry of Social Affairs and the former director of the

129
t

Fellah Department, stated that the investigations of that
department revealed that after deducting the tenant's wages,
the wages of his family and the other production costs from
his gross output, he is left with a net output which is less
than the rent he has to pay.

Dr. Hussien stated also that

studies of the big estates where records are kept and some of
the land is owner operated while lands are rented show that
the rents charged are higher than the net output obtained
from the land operated by the owner.

This is the reason why

some of the capable landowners, v/ho reside in villages, some­
times prefer to rent their land to small farmers instead of
operating them.
This shows that the tenants in ligypt are having no
better luck thato the agricultural laborers.

Instead of making

someiiing out of the land they rent which might help them in
climbing the agricultural ladder to the rung of ownership,
they squeeze themselves and live miserable lives while paying
high rents to the landowners.
As far as the movement of prices of agricultural land,
rents and wages of the agricultural laborers is concerned, it
is well known to all who studied t.ae subject that the price
trend since the beginning of this century has been and still
is on the upward side.

This is a natural thing which happens

in all the predominantly agricultural countries with an inelas­
tic supply of land and a rapidly growing population.

However,

i

130
accurate and reliable figures which could be used in this analy­
sis are not available.
As to rents the situation is little better since some
figures are available.

A cadastral survey of the country was

made in three different periods during this century.

The

first one was condiicted for the period 1892-1907 and gave a
total rental value of the agricultural land of the country at
that time of 16,356,000 Egyptian pounds or 5.595 Egyptian
15/
pounds pei’ feadan.
The second was that conducted for the
period 1935-58 which gave a total rental value of 34,420,000
Egyptian pounds.

Although the total rental value for the agri­

cultural land of the country was more than doubled, the per
feddan rental value was increased only from 3.595 Egyptian
pounds in the first period to 6,457 Egyptian pounds in the
second one, because the area under cultivation was larger in
the second period than in the first one.

The third survey

was for the period 1946-48 and gave a total rental value for
the 5,963,000 feddans under cultivation, at the time, of
109,954,273 Egyptian pounds or 18.430 Egyptian pounds per
feddan.
Aside 'from these cadastral estimates of the rental
values the investigations of the Fellah Department show that
vA

the movement of the actual average,<per acre in some of the
15/ Issawi, Chas. Egypt, an Ecoinonic and Social Analysis op.cit.
p.76.
16/ Figures taken from the paper presented to the third agri­
cultural conference held in Cairo, Iviarch 29, 1949 by H.E.
Dr. Ahmen Hussien Bey, under Secretary of State for the
Egyptian ministry of Social Affairs.

131
recent years was as follows:
Year

1928

1952

Rent
10.00
5.00
(L.JtS. pen feddan)

38/39

42/43

45/44

44/45

46/47

47/48

7.10

15.00

18.00

19.00

22.00

34.00

Although rents are affected by the business cycle and
although the sharp increase wnich took place in this present
decade is attributable to the second World War conditions, it
could be easily seen that the trend is upward.

For instance,

the average rent in 1932, which was a slump yean, was higher
than that estimated for the period of 1892-1907.

On the other

hand, taking 1938-39 as a base, the Fellah department found
that the index number of agricultural income from the main
crops rose to 228 in 1944-45 while that of rents rose to 267.6
17/
wnlch means that tenants did not profit by the ooom.
. As to the movement of the wages of the agricultural
laborers, figures

concerning the average money daily wage

the man agricultural worker,

the cost of living index and

for
the

adjusted wages to the cost of living index were as follows:
Year
Wage (piastre
per day)
Cost of living
index
Adjusted wage

1913

1929

1934

1939

42/43

5.00

6.00

9.00

131
2.2

273
2.2

370
2.4

4.00

5.00

2.5

100
4.00

151
3.3

125
2.0

44/45

Thus although the average moneyw age seemed to be in177~"Note' on questions relating to agriculture in Egypt, pre­
sented by the Fellah Department to the International Labor
Organization.
Mission of the United Nations in 1946.
18/ Calculated by
the author from figures taken from different
sources.

132
creasing since the beginning of this century up until the
present time, except for the period of the great depression
and the years following it, until 1940, the adjusted wages had
declined from four piasters in 1913 to reach two in 1934 and
then slightly increased to 2.4 in 1944— 45 which is still far
below the wages of 1913 or those of 1929.

The reason for that

is the ever increasing supply of agricultural laborers in
the country which compels that group to accept without resis­
tance the low wages offered them by the landowners.

The pre­

vious analysis adds to better understanding of the working of
the agricultural ladder in Egypt and the possibility of acquir­
ing agricultural land by agricultural laborers or tenants.
One more point which has a bearing on the subject has
to be discussed before closing this part on the agricultural
ladder.

It is that of farm credit.

The nature of the credit

facilities available to the farmers of any given country and the
use made of these facilities has a definite effect upon the
conditions of land tenure in that country.

In many instances,

the use of credit facilities is one important factor that deter­
mines whether or not a fanner will be able to climb
cultural ladder.

the agri­

If unable to accumulate the funds needed to

ascend the ladder, the laborer, or the tenant, may resort to
credit agencies to borrow the needed funds, if he can find the
agency that is willing to lend him tne proper amount at the
proper time and at a reasonable cost.

4

In Egypt

no governmental agency offers the agricultural

laborers any kind of credit.

In order to get credit, one should

have some real estate, or crop to be mortgaged as a security.
The agricultural labor ex’ usually has none.

Tenants can get

production loans from the Agricultural Credit Bank, but only
after considerable red tape which makes farmers prefer to
borrow from merchants and money lenders at a very high interest
rates rather than go to one of the branches of the bank.
There are no tenant-purchase loans, like those offered by the
Farmers Home administration of tne united States Department
of Agricultural, which arc designed for the purpose of making
owners out of farm tenants and other eligible laborers.

This

is a type of loan badly needed in a country like Egypt.
Thus it could be concluded that the farm credit fac­
ilities available in Egypt do not help either the agricultural
laborers, or the tenants in climbing the agricultural ladder.
From the aforementioned facts it may be concluded that
climbing the agricultural ladder is a very difficult, if not
impossible job for the agricultural laborers and tenants in
Egypt.

Only those large membered families who get land at

somewhat low rent because they are feared by some of the inex­
perienced absentee landowners, and those numerous intermediaries who frequently appear on the stage oetween the land­
owners and the small tenants can accumulate the funds which
enable them to become landowners,

Aside from that, acquisition

134
of land is possible only to tnose v,rho make fortunes in some
other field, such as the professions, and to those who inherit
it.
3. Costs, Returns and Efficiency on different Sizes of Farms,
It was mentioned before that one of the characteristics
of the Egyptian farms is their smallness In size.

Although the

average size of farm was around six feddans in 1947, actually
81 percent of the farms covered less than five feddans.

Those

which were between five and fifty feddans accounted for about
18 percent of 'the total and those which were more than fifty
feddans about one percent.

The number of feddans, however, by

itself, is' not an adequate measure of the economic size of any
farm, and it should be related to other factors which have a
bearing on the matter such as the degree of intensity in apply­
ing labor and caoltal and the extent of mechanisation used in
19/
farming.
Considering as a medium sized farm the family farm
wnich Is big enough to offer employment for the labor force of

20/
an average Egyptian rural family which consists of six persons,
and the income of which would be adequate to maintain an accept­
able level of living for the family, actual observations support
the Idea of classifying, under the present state of technology,
all the farms of less than five feddans as small farms, those of
five -to fifty feddans as medium size farms and those of more than
fifty feddans as large size farms.
19/ For additional information about the matter, see J,~D. Black,
Introduction to Production Economics. Henry Holt and Co.
W. Y. 1926. Chapter 21.
20/ See Cleland, V/.W.A Population Plan for Egypt. The Milbank
Memorial Fund Quarterly. Vol 22 Oct. 1944 p. 412.

135
This classification sill be used in discussing the matter
of costs, returns and efficiency on the different sizes of Egypt­
ian farms.

The number of farms under each group will be given,

together with the total area in feddans occupied by each group
and from that the average size farm for each of the three groups
would be obtained.

The per acre gross output, and the per acre

imput, when available, will be given also.

Then efficiency of

production on the different sizes will be measured by the ratio
of the per feddan gross output to the per feddan imput.
of efficiency, however, are not universal.

Measures

Some countries em­

phasize the return to the man-hour, others rather emphasize the
yields per acre, and still others use different measures.

In

our case, the fact that in Egypt land is a more determining
factor than labor, coupled with the available data at hand,
compels us to confine the analysis to the per feddan costs, and
returns on which some figures, although not all the needed ones,
are available.
In a bulletin releasee, by the Egyptian Ministry of Agri21/
culture In 1949,
the contributions of the different groups of
different sizes of farms to the national gross agricultural
production, as well as the number of farms of each size and
the areas those farms occupied for the year1 1946-47, were given.
Those figures helped in classifying the farms into small, medium
and large and calculating the average size of farm for the tnree
21/ Ministry 'of Agriculture.
oo.cit. 'o. 23.

Arri'cultural

Economic Statistics

136
groups and the per feddan gross output for each of the three
sizes.

Size
(fed. )

The situation was as follows:
No.
of
Farms

7
/°
of
"C*o1

Total
Acreage
(fed.')

Total
output
(L.E.)

'y'o b v.Size
of
of
Total farm

Av.Fed
y°
output
of
Total (L.E.)

0 -5

806,120

81 1,128,566

18.69

1.4

40,212,726 17.62 35.4

5-50
Over
50

178,368

18 2,207,881

35. 57

12.4

88,117,547 38.61 39.9

15,575

1 2,700,432

44.74 173.4

99,872,043 43.77 36.9

Total 1,000,063 100 6,036,879 100.00

6.0 228,202,116 100.0 37.8

±t could be seen that in 1947 about 81 percent of the
Egyptian farms were of the small size with an average of 1.4
feddan and an average gross output of 35.4 Egyptian pounds, 18
percent of the farms were of the medium size (5-50 feddans) with
an average size of 12.4 feddans and an average gross output of
39.9 pounds and one percent of the farms was of the large size
(over 50 feddans) with an average size of 173.4 feddans and
an average gross output of 56.9 pounds.

The group of medium

size farms had the highest average output, followed by the
large size group and then the small size one.

Thus as far as

the gross output is concerned the medium size group is favored.
It might be interesting to mention tii,.t the medium size group,
when broken into the following three groups (1.) from 5-10
feddans (2.) from 10-20 feddand and (3.) from 20-50 feddans, the
group of 5-10 feddans had the highest average per acre output.
Figures pertaining to this group were as follows:
No. of
Farms
100,142

Percent
of total
10$

Total area
feddans
684,853

Av. Size
of Farm
6.8

Total Gr.
Output
28,367,808

Av. per
Fed. Outpul
41.4

i

137
Thus in 1947 about 10 percent of the Egyptian farms
were from 5-10 feddans with an average size of 6.8 feddans
and an average gross output of 41.4 Egyptian pounds per feddan.
As far as productivity is concerned this group was the most
productive.
To measure efficiency, though, figures concerning the
l

cost of production per* acre for the different groups are needed.
Unfortunately, such figures are not available for 1947 and as
a result we are obliged to go back to the year 1937 for which
some figures about the cost per acre, as well as the output
per acre, are available.
A survey covering 20,532 feddans, or 0.4 percent of the
total area of Egypt, including every province, was carried out
in 1938 with a view of determining the gross agricultural out22/
put and net return of the different parts of the country.
The results obtained throw some light on the relative level
of costs and returns on the farms of different sizes.

In con­

ducting the survey, farms were classified into three groups.
The first group was that of farms containing about five feddans,
the second was that of farms approximately fifty feddans and
the third was of farms about 300 feddans in size.

Table 19

gives the costs and returns on the different sizes of farms
on a regional basis in Egypt in 1937.

557- issawi,

Ghas. Egypt,' an Economic and jocial Analysis,
op.cit. p. 47.

138

Table 19. - Costs and neturns on
Different farms in Egypt, 1937 *

Size of
farm in
feddans

Costs
(L.E. per
feddan)

Gross output
(L.E. per
feddan)

Wet Heturn
(L.E. per Fed.
Before tax. payment

1. Delta Area
about 5 fed.
"
50 "
" 300 "

5.204
5.827
6.914 -

14.414
14.366
14.012

9.210
8.539
7.098

2. Upper Egypt
(perennial)
About 5 fed.
" 50 "
" 300 "

7.488
7.447
7.778

19.555
16.047
17.466

11.865
8.600
9.688

3. Upper Egypt
(Basin)
About 5 fed.
" 50 "
" 300 "

6.783—
7.053
8.074

13.101
12. 606
12.461

6.318
5.553
4.387

* Source: Issawi, Clias. Egypt, an Economic and Social Analysis.
op.cit. p. 78.
Gross retunns were highest on the first group, the
under 5 feddan group.

Costs were lowest also on the same group

ana the result was that this group has the highest net retunns.
In the Delta area for each Egyptian pound of costs per feddan
the farmer got about 2.8 pounds of gross output per feddan on
the farms of about 5 feddans, about 2.4 pounds of gross output
per feddan on the farms of about fifty feddans, and about t wo
pounds of gross output per
feddans.

acre on the farms of about 500

In the area under perennial irrigation in Upper Egypt,

4

139
i'or each, pound of costs per feddan, the farmer got about 2.6
pounds of gross output per acre on the farms of the flrs’
t
group, about

2.1 pounds on the farms of the second group and

about 2.2 pounds

on the farms of the third group.

Figures

concerning the part under Basin irrigation in Upper Egypt
were about two pounds of gross output per acre for every pound
of costs expended on the first group of farms, about 1.3
pounds on the second group, and aoout 1.5 pounds on the third
group.
From

thefigures released by the Ministry of Agricul­

ture, it wasfound that
5-10 feddans with an

the group of farms which were between
average of about 6.8 feddans was the

most productive group, giving an annual gross output of 41.4
Egyptian -pounds per feddan.

And again the survey of 1938

indicated that the group of farms which were about five feddans
were the most productive and at the same time, the most effic­
ient.

This result is of great importance since it means that

breaking up of large estates, and cue elimination of the verysmall size farms (under five feddans) may actually lead to an
increase in the total productivity ana the national agricul­
tural output.
4. Effect of the System on Land Use and on the national Agricultura1"Pro.
d uct.
The type of farm business chosen by any farm operator
depends on the interplay of many factors.

Outstanding among these

factors are the following:

i

140
(1.)
(2.)
(3.)
(4.)
(5.)
(6.)

Soil and climatic conditions.
Labor needs.
Marketing facilities.
Size of the farm.
Capital needs.
The conditions under which the operator holds the

land.
The last three factors which are closely related to
the land tenure system are the most determining as far as
land use in Egypt is concerned.
As has been pointed out, more than four-fifths of
the farms in Egypt are very small, their average size being
25/
only 1.4 feddans.
These so-called farms, which account for
only IS percent of the total area under cultivation, are pri­
marily self-sufficient units on which the principles of farm
management generally are ignored.

The owners of these small

tracts are not guided in their use of land by prices and pro­
fitability, since their main objective is to produce what they
need for their families.
Crop statistics indicate that a large part of the
productive area in Egypt is used for producing crops used by
the family and do not enter commercial channels.

The following

figures show the percentage of the total crop area in Egypt
used in the oroduction of the four reading crops in two diff24/
erent years.
Crop
Corn and Lillet
barseem
Cotton
Wheat

1938
23/
21/
21/
17/

1947
24/
22/
14/
18/

25/ See Table 18.
24/ Computed by the author from figures ta ken from different
sources.

i

141
Corn and millet are the leading crops produced and
usually occupy about one-fourth of the total crop area of the
country.

These crops are the backbone of the farmer's diet.

Millet is produced mostly in Upper Egypt because of its high
yields there and because the people of that part of the country
like it more than the people of the delta, where corn is much
preferred.

It should be emphasized that corn is raised in

Egypt primarily for human consumption and not for the -purpose
of feeding livestock as In the United States.
Figures concerning the production of barseem, the
second leading crop, also support the idea that a large part
of the crop area in Egypt is used for self-supporting purposes.
Barseem "the Egyptian clover" usually occupies more than onefifth of the crop area.

It forms the main green fodder in

winter and when dried provides summer fodder "hay".

Practically

every farmer raises barseem to feed his livestock, consisting
mostly of working animals.

Very few produce barseem to raise

livestock for fattening or milking purposes.

Thus a good

forty-five percent of the crop area is worked for home use;
production of corn and millet to feed the human being and pro­
duction of b a r s eemto feed their working animals.

Owners of

small parcels of land are in most cases unable to produce any
other crops.

Therefore the first effect of the land tenure

system on land use is that a sizable area is devoted to the
production of farm consumed products in the growing of which

142
the farmer is not guided by economic factors.
The great majority of owners of small farms are usually
short of the capital they coxELd use to increase the size of
their business.

Size of business could be increased by growing

crops requiring more labor, that is, by following a more inten­
sive form of farming.

Although many writers believe that farm­

ing in Egypt is intensive, yet there is no doubt that it is not
as intensive as in some otner countries, such as Denmark or
the Netherlands.

There a_-e many agricultural products, such

as truck, fruit, poultry, dairy and meat products, in the grow­
ing of which Egypt has a comparative advantage because of its
soil fertility and climatic characteristics.

They are not

grown in large quantities, however, because of their inadaptab­
ility to the existing land tenure system.

Intensive farming,

that could employ some of the surplus agricultural labor of the
country, needs capital.

But more than eighty percent of the

Egyptian farmers are usually short on capital.

Thus the second

effect of the land tenure system on land use is that it hinders
the use of intensive farming needed to take care of the problem
of the surplus agricultural laborers and also hinders the pro­
duction of some crops that could be produced with advantage
while the country»s needs of these products are filled through
25/
importation.
Although not more than 1.5 percent of the Egyptian farms
are larger in size than fifty feddans, yet this 1.5 percent
£5/ See Appendix faole 18 for the kinds and amounts of imports
of agricultural products.

i

145

occupies about 45 percent of the area under cultivation.

Many

of the owners in this group are absentee landlords who do not
operate their land themselves.

home recent figures indicate
26/
that tenancy is becom ng more extensive in Egypt,
and tenancy
has something to do with land use.

It is nearly always assoc­

iated with the production of cash crops.

Cotton is usually

the third leading crop as far as the area is concerned, except
when its production is restricted by the government.

It is

a commercial crop that constitutes the basis of Egypt’s income,
but as a rule is produced only on larger farms.

Its popularity

hinges mostly on the fact tnat it is not consumable by the
farmers and thus admirably suits absentee landowners.

It may

be a good remunerative crop, but still there are many other
more remunerative crops which are not produced because they do
not suit absentee landowners, or because their production re­
quires more working capital than the average farmer has.

Mar­

keting facilities and storage adaptability have something to
do with the production of cotton.
Wheat is the fourth leading crop in spite of its comp­
arative disadvantage as far as Egypt is concerned.

Egypt can

get wheat cheaper from the major wneat producing countries,

out

the landowners faced with the falling prices of cotton, tried
to recoup their losses by securing higher prices for their
wheat.

They did this by getting the government to impose a

prohibitive tariff on wheat in 1950 ana to subsidize wheat exports
&6/" ‘See the part on tenancy which will come later in this Chapter.

144
in 1937 and 1939.

The result of these measures was to raise

the price of wheat to more than double that of imported grain.
The poor urban people were the ones who suffered.
wheat is a crop which suits absentee landowners for
the following reasons:
(1.) Small farmers usually eat cornbread and not wheat
bread.

Thus the whole wheat crop can be sold and the funds

used in paying rents.
(2.) Wheat is a crop adaptable to marketing facilities
existing in Egypt.
(3.) It is a fast growing crop and occupies the land for
only six months, therefore it suits the year to year leasing
procedure and even the one crop lease method which is frequen­
tly used in Egypt.

This is an important point affecting land

use since under such leasing procedures, many of the crops
that could be produced advantageously in Egypt are not pro­
duced on rented land because they require long periods of
occupancy.

Thus the third effect of the land tenure system

on land use in Egypt is that it leads to the unsound economic
practice of growing crops, in the production of which the
country has a comparative disadvantage, while preventing the
production of other crops that could be produced with advantage.
The main reason why' the -production of fruits, meat,
dairy products and poultry is still backward in Egypt, which
can be one of the suppliers of the European markets with some
27/ Issawi, Chas. op.'cit. p. 69.

145
of these products, is the limitations imposed by the land tenure
system.

Without reforming the system there is little hope for

the advancement of either agriculture or industry.
This land tenure system affects the national agricul­
tural product in two different ways, namely: the kind of crops
produced and the efficiency of production.
As to the kinds of crops raised it has been indicated
that the system imposes

som e

particular crops which suit either

(1.) the owners of small parcels of land who are guided in
their selection of crops by self-supporting motives rather
than sound economic and farm management practices, or (2.) the
absentee landowners who are interested primarily in nonconsum­
able cash crops.

The value of the national agricultural out­

put, and the incomes of the people could be increased through
a shift in crop production in accordance with the principle of
comparative advantage.

But the restrictions imposed by the

land tenure system do not permit such shifts in Egypt.

The

result is that the national product is not maximized.
The second way in which the system affects the national
product concerns the efficiency of production on the different
sizes of farms.

So far as costs, return and efficiency on

different sizes of farms are concerned data show that the group
of medium sized farms had the highest gross and net output of
28/
production.The number of farms in this group is very small
when compared with the number of farms in other groups.

ES7

By

146
Increasing the number of medium sized farms, eliminating the
very small farms and breaking up large estates, the national
agricultural output could be increased.
G. - Some Results of the Situation
As has been indicated, the almost fixed supply of
agricultural land in Egypt is mostly concentrated in sizable
land-holdings held by a small group of owners.

About 75 per­

cent of the total population are either owners of very small
pieces of land or landless agricultural laborers.

The lack

of any extensive Industrial and commercial activities, which
can offer employment ®boa considerable number of the country’s
labor force makes

agriculture overpopulated.

Thus the natural

result of such a situation is the existence of a large number
of agricultural laborers who offer their services for very low
wages, the existence of a large number of tenants wh o accept
the very high rents asked by the landowners, and finally a
very low standard of living for the majority of people.
In this section of the chapter, two points will be
discussed, namely: the agricultural laborers, and the standard
of living.

The tenancy problem will be dealt with separately

in the following section.
1. Agricultural Laborers
Agricultural laborers constitute a large group of the
Egyptian farm population.

Reference to their number has been

made earlier in this chapter in connection with the agricultural
ladcec, however, the Egyptian delegates to the United Nations

147
pood Conference in Hot Springs, Virginia, U.S.A. gave the number
of peasants working f o r w a g e s in agriculture as 1,627,600 in
29/

1939.

This figure is close to that of the 1937 census.

It

does not include the family labor that was estimated at 1,505,000
in the same year.

Thus the total number of the agricultural

workers (paid and unpaid) in 1939 accounts for more than seventypercent of the total number of the people employed in agricul­
ture.

The following subgroups come under the farm laborers

group:
(1.)
(2.)
(3.)
(4.)

Tamallia
Family laborers
Hired laborers
Tarhila or migratory laborers

‘
JTamallia is the name of tho® permanently employed
laborers who work on large estates.

They have the highest

status among the laborers and resemble tenants in a way.

They

are paid by the year and receive in payment a small parcel of
land varying in size accoi’ding to the fertility of the soil,
the nature of the job assigned to them and the prevailing agri­
cultural wages and prices of farm products.

They usually live

free of charge on the estate in dwellings given to them by the
owner.

Their housing conditions in most cases are superior to

those of other farm laborers.

The percentage of tamillia in

the agricultural laborer force is small.
After the tamallia, come the family laborers.

These

are usually the sons, daughters and relatives of owners of small
29/ Reda, K.' op.cit.'

pieces of land.

They usually help their relatives and at the

same time work as hired laborers.

The only difference between

them and the hired laborers is that they are related to someone
who owns a piece of land, but the conditions under which they
work, and their level of living, are identical with those of
the hired laborers, and no distinction Detween them need be
made in this analysis.
Agricultural laborers, other than the tamallia, are
commonly employed by the day and their wages very according to
seasons and demand,

deference has been made earlier to their

average daily wages and to the average number of days they
usually work per year.

In some cases piece work is followed

and it yields more income to the worker than the normal daily
wage.

Such cases, however, are confined to operations

such

as dredging, rice gathering, and sugar-cane breaking. Wages are
normally paid in cash.

In certain cases, especially in the

gathering of grain crops, they are paid in kind according to
rates conventionally agreed upon.
cash payments.

But there is a trend towar*d

The laborers usually live in their own dwellings

in the villages and they are recruited directly by owners of
small and medium sise farms.

Owners of large farms, however,

usually recruit their workers through the intermediary of a
contractor who gets a certain fee from every worker or a comm­
ission from the landowner.

In the latter case, the wage paid

the worker is usually a little lower than when the laborer is
hired directly by the owner.

149
At the bottom is found the subgroup of tarhila or mig­
ratory laborers.

They are seasonal agricultural laborers who

journey from one region to another in search of work.
the most poverty-stricken of all the worker groups.

They are
Usually

they are recruited by contractors from congested areas in
periods of seasonal demand, and stay for s. period of one or
two months in one region living in tents or in the open air
under living conditions next to those of animals.

There

exists no legislation regulating the work or* housing of this
subgroup.
The work day for laborers usually extends from morning
to nearly sunset with an interval of rest at noon.

No legis­

lation exists providing fox’ paid holidays, hours of work or
rates of compensation for agricultural laborers.

All labor

lav/s so far passed exclude agricultural 'Ja borers from their
scope.

In some parts of the country tradition and custom keeps

women from working in the fields.

Children of seven years and

over undertake light agricultural work since there is no law that
regulates the work of children in agriculture.
2. The Standard of hiving
In spite of the high productivity per.acre in kgypt,
the income per head is very low, probably the lowest of any
country with advanced agricultural methods.

According to the

ministry of Agriculture, the gross agricultural output in 19^7,
a prosperous year, was 228,202,116 Egyptian pounds.

The culti

150
vated area v;as 6,036,879 feddans and the average gross output per
feddan was 37.8 Egyptian pounds.

If the gross output from agric­

ulture had been equally aistriouted among the 14 million persons
in the farm population It would have given each person a gross
income of sixteen Egyptian pounds or about 96 Egyptian pounds per
family.
According to the investigations of the Fellah Department,
approximately 120 Egyptian pounds was needed to give a laborer's
family, consisting of six, the necessities of life.

This even if

the land were equally distributed among the farm people, the gross
p.

income would, have permitted only a very low level of living.

How­

ever, the distribution of the landownership is extremely unequal.
According to the available data 71 percent of landowners owned less•
50/
that one feddan
and thus had annual gross incomes of less than
57.8 Egyptian pounds; 84 percent of the owners had less than two
feddans which means an annual gross income of less than 75.6 Egypt­
ian pounds, and 94 percent of*the owners nad less than five fedd­
ans which means an annual gross Income of less than 189 Egyptian
pounds.

Less than six percent of the landowners had an annual gross

output of between 198 - 35,800 Egyptian pounds and only 235 of the
2,605,917 landowners had an annual gross output of more than
55,800 Egyptian pounds each.

This shows the extreme inequality

of income distxibution that exists in Egypt where more than 84
percent of all landowners had less than the necessities of life.
31/
As Doreen V/arriner
said: "Tnis is no standard of living.
5O'/' See part B of' this chapter
51/ Warriner, D. Land and Poverty in the middle East. Loyal
Institute of International Affairs. London, 1948. p. 38.

151
Anything lower 'would be death."
Bad as the condition of the landowners was, the condition
of the agricultural laborers and tenants was worse.

Even the

war, which brought some improvement in the incomes of the cult­
ivators in other Middle lastern countries, worsened the position
of the lower farm classes in hgypt.

Housing conditions, health

services, nutrition and education facilities are almost as bad
as they can be.

Without a continued further expansion of

Egyptian industry and a reform of the land tenure system, it
is unlikely that the majority of the Egyptian farm people can
look for any improvement in their levels of living*
i>. - The harm Tenancy Iroblem in Bgypt
Owing to the close relation that exists between the well
being of farm people and the conditions under which they hold
their land, farm tenancy is among the most discussed topics of
the day in nearly all the countries of the world.

Tenancy is

usually condemned by those who believe that the best and most
profitable and stable type of land tenure is the owner— operator
type, and considered by them to be one of the factors responsible
for the existence of a group of underprivileged farm people in
any country.

But there are those who believe that many of the

ills ordinarily attributed to tenancy are in reality the result
of concentration of land ownership and not the mode of leasing
52/
lands.—
They further believe that tenancy of the right type •
52/ Se'e~ Imith, T.L. The Sociology of Aural Life. I-iarper
Brothers, Hew Xork^ 1940. p. 290.

is a useful and important institution in frj^ny ways; but, like
many other institutions, it has bad features as well as good,
33/
depending u-on the conditions surrounding it.
It is not an objective of this work, though, to
criticize or defend the thesis of either of these two schools
of thought.

But the tenancy problem as it exists in Egypt,

its implications and its results will be discussed in this
section of Chapter 5, while remedies to the tenancy problems,
as well as to the other problems of land tenure in Egypt will
be discussed in Chapter 4.
1. Conditions Contributing to 1'enancy and the Tenancy Trend in
Egypt
The existence of tenancy as a form of land tenure in
Egypt is a ttributed to many factors, the important of which are
the following:
(A.) Concentration and paceilation of land holdings
One of the most important factors, if not the most impor
tant, contributing; to the existence and the spread of tenancy
in Egypt is the concentration of the major land holdings in few
hands while the majority of the farm people are either landless
or owners of pieces of land too small to provide adequately
for their subsistence.

As has been pointed out 66 percent of

the agricultural 3a na Is held by 6 percent of the owners.

This

concentration has its origin in the inequality of opportunity •
for getting land that prevailed during the Turkish rule and
55/ See, Renne, R.K. Land Economics, op.cit. p. 455.

which has continued to prevail with some modifications during
more recent times.

Many of the large land holders are either

absentee land owners, who prefer to live in modernised cities,
or owners of big estates who live on their farms but lease all
or part of their ..estates to small farmers or to intermediaries.
Parcellation of land holdings which is common in Egypt contri­
butes also to the spread of tenancy.
(B.) Average size of Land holdings and Average Size of
Farm Families in Egypt
In 1945 the average size of land holdings in Egypt was
2.3 feddans, besides the fact that 94 percent of the land hold­
ings were of less than five feddans with 71 percent of the total
being lets than one feddan.

On the other hand, th e ■average

size of farm families was six persons.

This average size of

holding is too small to provide either for the subsistence of
the family, or enough work to employ the families1 labor force.
As a result some of the families try to increase the size of
their operating unit by renting some lend while others work as
hired hands on larger farms.
(G .) hack of any Restriction on Land Ownership
By the close of the nineteenth century all the restri­
ctions on land ownership were completely removed, and a keen
race toward ownership took 'place.

The government made no attempt

to regulate land ownership or to limit the acreage that could
be owned by one person.

This situation helped the big land

owners to obtain more land while the rest of the farmers were
either unable to buy land or had to be content with the ownership

154
of tlie small holdings.
(D .) High Land Values
As has been pointed out, there is a tremendous demand
for agricultural land in Egypt and land prices are very high.
High agricultural product prices after World War I brought
an inflation in land values.

The high values have been supported

also by noneconomic factors associated with the culture of the
people.

Land ownership was and- still is over-valued in the

minds of the people to the extent tnat land values are forced
out of line with land -productivity.

This has limited the ac­

quisition of large units to those few individuals who can pay
the high prices.

This has added to the concentration of land

holdings in few hands and is the main cause of tenancy.
(S.) Lack of Efficient harm Credit System
Farm credit of the right type could help tenants as
well as farm laborers climb the agricultural ladder to the rung
of ownership.

There are many who could succeed as good farm

owners if given the opportunity but remain as tenants or farm
laborers because they are unable to obtain adequate credit
from any source.

Farm credit in Sgypt was and still is inad­

equate to meet the needs of the landless farmers who would
become owners.

This inadequacy has helped to make land owner­

ship inaccessible to the large number of the Egyptian farm
people.

Thus it has helped to increase the number of tenants

and the number of farm laborers.

The provision of adequate

155
farm real estate credit by some governmental agency will b e
dismissed more in detail In the chapter on remedies.
(F.) The Wakf System
The YJakf system which was briefly referred to earlier
in this- chapter is one of the factors that has added to the growth
of tenancy in Sgypt.

In 1945 about 665,905 feddans more than

10 percent of the area under cultivation in that year, were
owned by Wakf s.

Almost all these lands, whether entailed for

charity, philanthropic, or Individual families, are usually
operated by tenants.

Some of the lands entailed for the bene­

fit of individual families were operated by the beneficiaries.
But with the passing of time, the number of beneficiaries increase
and it becomes practically impossible for all of them to operate
the land.

Thus the normal procedure is to rent the land to some

other people and divide the rent between the beneficiaries.
At the present time almost all of the Wakf lands are operated
by tenants.
(Or.) Lack of Industrialization
Finally, one of the factors that contributed to the growth
of tenancy, as well as to the growth of the number of farm lab­
orers in Egypt, is the lack of industrialization*
and commercial activities do
labor* force of the country.

Industrial

not absorb much of the increasing
As a result those who can not find

a job elsewhere resort to farming.
laborers or some times as tenants.

They enter, farming as farm
This continuous increase in

the number of the labor force not only contributes to the growth

i 56
of tenancy but also inflates rents and depresses the wages of
the farm laborers.

The result is a lower standard of living

for the majority of the people of the country.
According to the Annuaire dtatistique de Poche 1945,
the number of tenants in Egypt was 238,356 in
to 210,385 in 1937.

1927 and decreased

Figures concerning the area operated by

tenants, in both of the two mentioned census years, are not
known.

However, the agricultural census of 1959, gave the

following figures concerning the area operated by tenants:
Kind of Kent
1.
2.
5.
4.

Gash rent
Share rent
Other pents
Governmental lands rented
Total

Area Operated
(in feddans)
635,233
50,907
281,202
190,907

percentage
66.00
5.00
29.00
100.00

1,158,249
f

•»

According to the unpublished figures available in the
Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the Egyptian Ministry of
Agriculture, the area of the lands rented in recent years was
as follows:
1946-47
Area under cultivation
5,714,365 Fed..
Area operated by owners 2,329,381
"
Area operated by tenants 3,384,984
"
If these

1947-48
5,942,978 Fed.
2,422,595 "
3,500,383 !I

figures are considered reliable, they show a

marked increase in the area operate.-, by tenants in recent years.
The area reported rented in 1946-47 is almost three times that
reported for 1939.

Also, the figures for 1947-48 were higher

than those of th.. year before.

This indicates that tenancy in

Egypt is becoming

more extensive.

^ • Some Economic Implications of Tenancy in Egypt
(A.) Tenancy and Efficiency of Production
Tenure cnarac^eristics affect the efficiency of farm production
in two principle ways:
(1.) The optimum intensity of production organization for
the farm varies according to the conditions under which people
hold their lands.

Efficiency of production depends on the organ- .

iz&tion of durable and non-durable imputs,
differs according to the tenure system.

the control of which

The owner-operator who

has full equity in the land, complete managerial control over it,
and is the sole recipient of the profit, is usually in the best
situation 'to proportion the different imputs in a way that max­
imizes his output.

On the other hand, the tenant of a certain

farm usually has control over the variable imputs only, while
that over the durables rests in the hands of the land owner.
This separation of control, over the two classes of imputs usually
results in a tendenc;^ toward less or more than optimum intensity
and less than
(2.) The

maximum efficiency on a farm.
second point is that of certainty of occupancy. The

owner-operator is secure and anticipates staying on the farm for
many years.

His economic purpose in farming is to maximize his

income over a life time, while that
the period of

of the tenant is limited to

the lease and in somecases he has no assurance

that

he can remain on the land for the full period of the lease. This
certainty of occupancy affects proportionality and tends to result

158
34/
in less than maximum efficiency.
Empirical work in measuring the effect of tenancy on production
efficiency, as well as on other subjects such as soil conservation
and so forth, has not been done in Egypt.

In fact very little con­

clusive research regarding land tenure problems has been reported.
Accordingly, it is necessary to rely on a theoretical approach to
the problem and general observations.
As to the security of occupancy, the
anything but secure.

Egyptian tenant is

The land owner can kick him out at any time

he chooses; even before the termination of the contract signed
between the two parties.

This strange situation results from

the fact that there Is usually only one copy of the contract and
that is kept by the land owner.

This, besides the shortness of

the period leases, usually between one to three years, and the
lack of any provision for the compensation for the unexhausted
improvements, prevents the tenant from using the practices that
lead to maximum efficiency of production.
Another point tnat has a nearing on the subject of effciiency of production concerns the land rented by tenants on an other
than cash basis.

In 1939 about 66 percent of the area operated by

tenants was rented on a cash basis while 34 percent of the area
was rented on other terms.

In comparison with cash rent conditions,

it is clear that the degree of intensity of farming operations
and hence the efficiency of the farm enterprise as a whole, tends
54/ For further information about the subject see Schickele, Eu
"Effect of Tenure Systems on Agricultural Efficiencies," Journal
of Farm Economics, February 1941, vol. ‘
23. pp 185-198.

to be materially lower under crop share tenancy.

Although

the extent of share rent in Egypt is not high, its existence
involves some inefficiency of production.
Another matter bearing on the subject is the not uncommon
practice of the land owners in raising rents whenever they find
that the tenant is getting a higher profit as a result of better
farming practices.

It will be shown later in the section on

Landowner-Tenant Relations that there is nothing to prevent the
landowner from raising the rent so long as he can find others
willing to rent the land.

This fear of higher rents prevents

tenants from improving the productivity of the land they rent
and thus contributes to inefficiency in production.
Despite all that has been stated, research on the subject
is needed

to give a clear and definite idea about the effect of

tenancy on efficiency of production.
(B.) Tenancy and Soil Conservation
The state underw hich people mold the land they operate
has

an important bearing on soil conservation.

The owner-oper­

ator who lias complete control over nis land, and whose occupancy
is secure is the one who can balance nis present and future profit
and utilise his land in a way that conserves it and maximuzes his
profits over his life time.

Tenancy is usually associated with

three main factors that work against soil conservation.

These are

(1.) The occupancy of the tenant is not secure and is limited
Of. Schickele, R. loc.cit. p. 194.

to what is usually a short period of time.
(2.) The tenant usually lacks much, control over the durable
imputs needed for soil conservation.
(5.) Tenancy is always associated with cash crops tn.at dimin­
ishes the fertility of the soil.
In Egypt, owning to the snortness of the periods of leases
and the tenants uncertain!ty of occupancy, they usually exploit
the land to the extent they can.

It is a common thing that tenants

neglect the cleaning of ditches and drains, especially in the last
year of their lease when they know that they are going to leave
the land, a practice that affects the fertility of the soil.
They also use as much chemical fertilisers as possible without
using manure, a practice that exhausts the soil.

These are the

practices that make most of the Wakf lands, usually operated by
tenants of short occupancy, less fertile and less productive.
Actual observations in Egypt highly support the Idea that tenancy
is a system which, usually works against soil conservation, however,
the matter depends to

a l^rge extent upon the kind of

existing between land

owners and tenants.

relations

(G .) Tenancy and Optimum Size of Unit
The effect of
important matter.

tenancy on the size of units Is

Land holdings

another

in Egypt are distributed in-a

way that results in a great number of very small holdings that can­
not provide enough employment for the owners* family or provide a
minimum subsistence, a small number of medium size holdings big
enough to keep the family labor busy and enable the family to
live a decent life, and still smaller number of large holdings which

161
are too large to be worked by the femHy labor and can provide a
decent life for more than one famHy.

Were it not for tenancy this

situation would have resulted in much waste.

Waste of human

energy of the families owning very small land holdings and waste
of land owned by owners of large holdings whose operation is be­
yond the abilities of the owners.

Tenancy is the way by which

owners of small holdings are able to increase the size of their
operating units and one of the ways in which the ownei’s of large
holdings are able to make productive use of the portion of their
holdings that is in excess of the area they can cultivate with
family labor.

Looking to the average size of land holdings, it

was found to be about 2.5 feddans in 1945, while the average size
of farm in the same year was six feddans.
inci’ease in the size of the operated unit?

What brought this
The answer is, no

doubt, tenancy.
(D.) Tenancy and Optimum Use of Labor Resources
One peculiarity about labor resources is that they can be
transported, but not stoi’ed.
forever.

Human labor if not employed is lost

There are many families in

S3gyp t who are striving to

get a living from farms that are incapable of providing a zjeasonable level of living because of their size limitations.

This pro­

blem is intensified by the lack of industrial rc-tivities tnat can
attract the surplus labor not needed on the farm.

This situation

results in waste of man power and less than optimum use of labor
resources.

In the absence of any industrial or agricultural employ

men that can take care of the surplus labor, the only other factor

162
which effects an optimum use of labor resources is tenancy,

a.

large family owning a small size farm can make efficient use of
their labor force by renting additional land and thus increasing
the size of their unit.

On the other hand, families owning large

farms that are beyond their managerial abilities, usually adjust
the size of their operated unit in a way that results in optimum
efficiency of labor resources by renting out some part of their
large farm.

Thus, regarding the efficient use of labor resources,

tenancy is an important factor that works toward the optimum use
of labor resources.
o . Landlord-Tenant delations in Egypt
The economic and social status of farm tenants are highly
affected by the kind of relations existing between landlord and
the tenant, as well as by the kind of agreement between them
regarding the rights and duties of each.

In Egypt the owners

and tenants have been guided chiefly by custom
the share of the income to be

in determining

received by each of the parties as

well as rights of and duties expected from each party.

This would

have been all right, were the bargaining power of the two parties
somewhat balanced.

But with the owners having all the power and

the tenants having none, the

situation calls for some kind of gov­

ernmental organization.

following are the most important points

The

as far as those relations are concerned:
(A.) Form of Rent Payment
In Egypt rent payments differ widely from one area to
another according to the customs, the fertility of the soil, and

163
the kind of crops raised.

In some cases rents are usually paid

in cash, while in others share rent is the common form of rent
payment.
kind.

In still other cases rents are paid in both cash and

The following are the most common ways of rent payment in

the country:
(1.) Cash rents
This is the most widely used rental arrangement found in
hgypt.

1939 about 66 percent of the total area rented was paid

for in cash.

It is the rental method usually used by the Bureau

of Public Domain, the Ministry of Wakfs, the Royal Wakfs, and on
large estates owned by individuals.

'Under this method some land

owners require the tenant to pay a certain amount of money as a
deposit before letting them the land.

This deposit varies accord­

ing to the amount of the annual rent which should be paid In full
by the end of the year.

As to the time of payment and the percen­

tage of the rent paid at the different Intervals three ways are
followed.

These are:
(a.) payment of the whole amount of rent once a year.

Under this type of agreement the whole amount must usually be paid
In October or early' Hovember in the areas producing cotton and rice
as cash crops.

In the areas producing sugar cane as the cash crop,

the time of payment is usually in January or February, the time
of giving the crop to trie sugar factories.
(b.) Payment of the amount of rent In two installments.
The first payment, which is one-third of the entire amount has to
be paid from the winter crops such as wheat, barley’’, beans and

164
others, while the remaining two-thirds of the rent is paid from
summer crops such as cotton and rice.

The tenant usually has to

pay the amount due before he harvests the crop, except in those
cases in which he pays a deposit.

This provision enables the

owner to take any legal action against the tenant who does not
pay in time, while the crop is still in the field.
(c.) payment of the rent in three installments.

under

this method rents are’paid in three ways:
) One-sixth of the rent is paid from Bar seam
(the Egyptian clover), one-sixth from wheat, barley and beans and
the remaining two-thirds from cotton.
(y.) One-third of the rent to be paid from Barseam,
one-third from wheat and beans, and one-third from c otton and
corn.

This method is used in the province of Giza which produces

much Barseam because of its nearness to Cairo, and in which' some
dairy farms are to be found.
(z.) One-fourth of the rent is to be paid from
wheat and winter crops, one-half from cotton and summer crops, and
one-fourth from corn and other Nily crops.

This is the method

followed between owners and tenants of small holdings.
(2.) Share rents
Share renting is not as common in Egypt as cash renting.
In 1939 only five percent of the total area operated by tenants
56/ Nily crop is any cx^'op 'sowed any time after June and usually
harvested before December of the same year.

165
on share basis, however, 29 percent of the area was reported to
be under other forms of rent payment.

Share renting which means

that the crop is distributed between the land owner and tenant,
usually occurs on small tracts of land and in the cases where the
period of lease is limited to one crop only.

The proportioning

of the crop between owner and tenant differs according to popul­
ation pressure in the different areas and the production costs
paid by the two parties.

The different arrangements followed

can be summarized as follows:
(a.) where the owner pays for the seed, fertilizer, the
working animals and half the cost of cotton picking and the tenant
provides all the Isbor and pays half the cost of cotton picking,
the owner gets five-sixths of the crop and the tenant gets onesixth.
(b.) Where the owner pays for seed and fertilizer and
the tenant provides the labor and the cost of cotton picking, the
owner gets four-fifths of the crop and the tenant gets one-fifth.
In this case, as well as the previous one, the owner is the one
who pays the land tax.
(c.) Where the owner pays nothing except the land tax
and the tenant pays all the other costs, the owner gets threefourths of the crop and the tenant gets one-fourth.
(d.) Where the owner pays only two-thirds of the land
tax while the tenant pays the costs plus one-third of the tax, the
owner gets two-thirds of the crop ana the tenant gets one-third.
(e.) Where the owner does not pay anything and the tenant

166
pays the cost and the entire amount of the tax, the owner gets
one-half of the crop and the tenant gets the other half.
These are the common arrangements followed in share
Tenting in Egypt.

However, one might find other arrangements

followed in some areas and based mostly on local custom and the
bargaining power of the parties.

The profitability of each type

of these arrangements, whether to the land owner or to the
tenant, depends on factors such as trie fertility of the soil,
the prices of the different products and so forth,
(5.) Rent in kind
Payment of rent in kind instead of cash is not uncommon
in Egypt.

The two common types of rent in kind are:
(a.) Instead of paying the rent in cash, the land owner

and the tenant agree that the tenant will pay the owner an amount
of cotton, wheat or whatever they agree upon, the value of which
is equivalent to the rent.

In computing the value the local

market price is used.
(b.) The tenant pays a certain amount of each crop to
the owner and takes whatever is left for himself.

This method is

used when the land is rented for a period of one crop only, and
in estimating the amount to be paid by the tenant, the fertility
of the soil an:., the demand for land in the area are usually con­
sidered.

It Is common in honofiah province, in which the owner

received from two to tiiree kantars of cotton, for each feddan
producing cotton and from five to six ardab of corn for each
feddan producing corn.

under such arrangements the tenant has to

167
pay the amount agreed, upon even If it is all that he is able to
get from the land.
(4.) Gash and kind rent
This method is a combination of the first and the third
methods.

under it the two parties agree that the tenant has to

pay a certain amount of cash and a certain anount of the crop.
This method usually enables the land owner to put his hand on
the entire crop, sell all or part of it by himself and get his
share and then give the tenant what remains.
These are the most

common forms of rent payment In hgypt.

Gash rent, which is most used, is simple and encourages efficiency
of production.

bnder_ It the tenant reaps all the fruits of his

work but he also bears the risk of crop failure and that of price
fluctuation.

'Under share rent, the owner and the tenant both carry

the risk of crop failure and of price fluctuation, but the tenant
lacks incentive to intensify production to the most efficient point,
since he does not reap t ;e whole fruits.

With rent in kind, the

farmer reaps all the fruits of his work and bears the risk of crop
failure, while the land owner shares with the tenant the risk of
price fluctuation.

The cash and kind method, as mentioned before,

is a combination of the first and the third.
The. fairness of any method, howevaj depends on the amount
of rent charged per feddan, whether in cash or In kind, in relation
to the fertilit;/ of soil, and the adaptability of land for the
production of different crops.

For instance, it will be more

profitable to a tenant to pap three kantars of cotton as rent for

168
one feddan that produces six kantars than to pay one kantar of
cotton as l’ent for one feddan that produces three kantars, since
he will be left with three kantars in the first case and only two
in the second while the production costs,

(other than rent) nearly

equal.
(B.) Length of Leases
The length of lease periods varies widely in Egypt.

Many

leases are only for one ci-op, that is five to six months in the
case of corn, six months in the case of wheat or Barseam, and
ten to twelve months in the c .se of cotton, others are for periods
of three years or even longer.
most common one in Egypt.

But the year to year lease is the

These kinds of leases do not give the

tenant any security of tenure and make it impossible for him to
plan his farming operations over a period of years.

On the other

hand, long leases are opposed by land owners since they involve
bearing the risk of price changes.

The use of provisions in

leases that either party must give the other notice a specified
•period in advance of the date of termination, if he plans to ter­
minate the contract, is confined to the contracts between land
owners only, and the tenants of large areas who are actually
intermediaries and

not real operating tenants.

Thus small tenants

do not profit by such provision.
(G .) Kinds of Leases and How They Are Negotiated
Most farm leases in Egypt are merely verbal agreements
or understandings between landlord and tenant.

These oral agree­

169
ments give rise to many misunderstandings that would be less
likely to occur with a written contract, and cause difficulties
or failure to renew leases at the end of the year.

In some in­

stances, written contracts are used with small tenants, out they
are made usually in one copy only and this is kept by the land
owner.

In some of the densely populated areas, small tenants

sign the contracts before tne terms are filled in and it Is usually
kept by the land owner who can add whatever terms he wishes and
even can raise the rent if the prices of agricultural products go
up.

Written contracts made In duplicate, with a copy kept by

each party, are usually made only In the case of tenants who rent
vast areas and who are actually intermediaries and not real oper­
ating tenants.

'In this respect, the Fellah Department suggested

that lease contracts should be made in three copies, one to be
kept by each party and the third to be kept in a governmental agency.
The usual -practice with regard to small leases is for the
tenant and landlord to deal directly with each other.

However,

in some cases, leases are concluded by way of auction, especially
If the land is held by an official agency.

Auctioneering is more

prevalent in large transactions, and it often happens that crowding
at the auction, coupled with ignorance and obstinacy on the part
of tenants, results in increasing the rents to exorbitant values.
(D.) Int ermedlarie s
A function, similar to that of the middleman in the process
of marketing farm -products, is performed by the intermediaries in
the matter of renting.

In other words, intermediaries in

Egypt

170
appear on the stage between the land owner and the real operator.
They are usually wealthy people who can rent vast areas and pay
deposits reaching sometimes to the entire amount of the annual
rent

of the area.

After concluding the lease and- signing the

contract, which is usually for three years in such cases, the
intermediary sub-leases the land to many small tenants at much
higher rates.

The existence of such persons constitutes one of

Qhf&

the import* factors that inflate rents in Egypt.

Ox course uhey

carry some risk but in return they charge the small tenants higher
rents, sometimes double the rent they pay to the land ovrner.

The

elimination of those intermediaries could bring reductions in the
rents paid by the small tenant without reducing the amount which
reaches the pockets of the land owners.
(E. ) Securtiy of Occupation, Compensation fox'* Improvements
and Penalties fox* Deterioration
Most small tenants do not have any securtiy of occupancy.
Without such security tenants are not likely to use farm practices
that look farther ahead than the present year.

Plans to effect

such security involves an over all ovoxdiauling of the landlordtenant relations, especially regarding the perios of leases and
the registration of contracts.

Another important point, that has

much bearing on the sxibject, is that of compensations and penalties.
In order to maintain the productivity of the land, tenants have
to make impi’overaents.

Insecurity of occupancy and the lack of any

provisions for the compensation of the tenant for the unexhausted
improvements, discourages him from making needed improvements.

171
Compensation provisions, however, Imply that the tenant keeps a
complete cost record so that the amount of nis compensation at the
termination of the lease can be equitably determined.

ihis is not

the case in Egypt where practically no small tenants or small land
owners keep records of any kind.
Although practically no lease contracts in Egypt contain
provisions concerning the compensation for improvements, most of
them specify that the tenant must treat the land in a good and
proper manner,

host of the contracts, also, specify that in case

of negligence and wasteful practices on the part of the tenant, the
land owner can terminate the contract at once.

khus the land

owner’s rights are very well taken care of, in the contracts while
the tenant’s rights are completely ignored.

If the evils of farm

tenancy in Egypt'are to be removed, lease contracts should be written
in at least two copies, one tr be kept by each party, and they must
contain provisions for compensation for improvements, as well as
provisions for penalties for deterioration.

172

CHAPTER 17
Measures for Improving the land Tenure System in Egypt
A - Introduction
The land tenure system in Egypt, discussed in the previous chapter,
apparently is not consistent with the welfare of the majority of the
Egyptian people.

It not only hinders technological progress in the field

of agriculture, but also blocks the way to industrialization.

As a

result, most of the farm people are left with very low annual incomes
which limit their capacity as consumers of industrial goods.

This is one

of the important points which have to be overcome if industry is to assume
a more important role in Egypt's economy.
not confined to its effect on farm incomes.

The evils of the system are
Besides keeping farm incomes

too low to permit acceptable levels of living, the tenure system denies
farm people the degree of security in the occupation of their land they
need to be effective members of their communities and denies them many of
the opportunities they need if they are to develop their best personal
talents and enjoy adequate social, and cultural facilities.
Surprisingly enough, the evils of the land tenure system have not
attracted much government attention.

Throughout the past half century the

government1s policy on tenure has been characterized by a lack of
regulations.
ation.

.The only field that encountered some action is that of tax­

Taxes on agricultural land have been changed twice since its first

standardization in the beginning of this century.

Unfortunately, the

change has neither discouraged the development of large estates and
their maintenance generation after generation, nor encouraged the attain­
ment of desired conditions of tenure.

Rather it added to the economic

173
power of landowners without affecting the position of the agricultural
laborers or tenants.

In the absence of a balance between the bargaining

powers of the landowners on one side and agricultural laborers and tenants
on the other, such policy is injurious to the country's economy and in­
consistent with the national welfare.

It widens rather than reduces in­

equalities in wealth and income, which is dangerous and pernicious in any ,
society.
The prevailing land tenure system in Egypt does not provide for the
best and most efficient land utilization, does not permit the maximization
of the country's agricultural output, and is one of the outstanding factors
among those responsible for the low standard of living that prevails in the
country.
Improving the system is not an easy matter.

Two main reasons can be

cited:
(1) Although there is no doubt that the present system needs reforming,
yet there is no use of substituting one system for another unless there is some
assurance that the new system will be advantageous to the national welfare.
This assurance can come only through more intensive studies.

While under­

taking this study the author found that adequate data about the subject
are missing and that the reliability of the available data can be questioned.
To solve this situation, the whole procedure of collecting data must be
changed.
(2) Legislation regulating land ownership as well as landlord-tenant
relations is needed if the system is to be improved.

The political power of

the landowners in the country is such that the enactment of any law designed
to weaken their economic power seems almost impossible.
Assuming that these two difficulties could be solved, other measures for

171;
improving the land tenure system are of two categories:
(a) - Measures of primary effect on the relation of man to land.

These

could be called direct measures.
(b) - Measures of secondary effect on the relation of man to land, which
could be called indirect measures.
3 - Direct measures
These include the following:
(1) Increasing the area under cultivation.
The first step toward improving the land tenure system in Egypt is
to increase the area under cultivation.

This could be done by converting

the area under basin irrigation in Upper Egypt to perennial irrigation and
by land reclamation.

The total cultivable area of Egypt is 7.1 million

feddans of which about 5.8 feddans were under cultivation in 19l+7> so that
in addition to the present cultivable area there are another
feddans which could be brought into cultivation.

1.3 million

According to Doreen Warrineri/

it would be possible through present and future irrigation and drainage pro­
jects to increase the present cultivated area of Egypt to
a 17 percent increase.

6.8 million

feddans,

The increase in the crop area though will be more than

that because of the conversion of the basin irrigated land to perennial
irrigation.

Increasing the area, however, will not help if not supplemented

by other measures, such as birth control and arrangements to prevent the new
land from passing into the hands of the big landowners.
(2) More equitable distribution of land holdings.
Land holdings in Egypt are distributed in an inequitable way.
about

28 percent

1/ darriner, D.

of the cultivated area was owned by only
op. cit. p. IjS-

In 191+5

0.25 percent

of the

175
landowners while 34 percent of the area was owned by

9b

percent of the landowners

The effects of this concentration of landholdings in very few hands are discussed
in Chapter III.

They could be summed in the followings

(a) Coupled with the almost fixed supply of agricultural land this con­
centration inflates the prices of agricultural land and distorts the working
of the agricultural ladder.
(b) In the absence of any considerable industrial activities, this con­
dition results in a great number of agricultural laborers and tenants and keeps
the wages of the agricultural laborers low while it inflates rents.

This

lowers the standard of living and hinders technological progress both in
agriculture and industry.
(c) The agricultural land is not utilized efficiently.

A large part is

used for the production of farm-consumed pi'oducts.
(d) The national agricultural output is not maximized.

Costs of pro­

duction are higher, and net returns are lower on the very large, as well as
the very small farms, than they are on the medium sized farms which constitute
only 10 percent of the total number of farms.
(e) many crops which could be produced advantageously are not grown be­
cause they do not suit tenancy which is brought about by the concentration
of land holdings in few hands.
How might a more equitable distribution of land holdings be effected?
The following proposals are recommended:
First - all the reclaimed land which belongs to the government should be
divided into medium sized farms.of not less than five, and not more than
fifteen, feddans and sold on a long term payment basis to farm families who
do not now own land.

Financing this project and selection of families is an

important matter, but is outside the scope of this work.

The main thing to be

emphasized is that the method of selling governmental land to big land owners
should be stopped.
Second - All the cultivated governmental land now operated by the Bureau of
Public Domain, the Ministry of Agriculture, and other governmental agencies,
except that needed for experimental work, should be sold in this same way to
the farm families.

The Bureau of public Domain should confine its work to

reclamation only and not to operation of land.

Reclamation may be undertaken

by private corporations under the supervision of the government.
Third - All wakfs should be dissolved and sold to small farmers on the same
basis.
Fourth - No governmental land should be sola to anyone "who does not intend to
operate the land himself.

This prevents speculation which inflates the prices

of agricultural land.
If these four points could be put into action, the additional land that
could be brought under cultivation by irrigation and drainage projects 'would
not pass directly into the hands of the big landowners or of the speculators
who raise land prices to figures beyond the purchase ability of the small farm
people.
But what about the already existing state of concentration which would
not be affected by these measures?

This problem should be dealt with separately

and the solution is to be found in the adoption of a new taxation system.

The

development of large estates could be discouraged by graduating taxes on the
basis of holdings as has been done in some other countries such as New Zealand.
The maintenance of large estates generation after generation may be discouraged
by gift and inheritance taxes, as Great Britain has done since world War I.
Or inflation of land prices may be reduced by taxes on capital gains, as has
been suggested several times in recent years in the United States2/
2/ Marshall Harris and Joseph Ackerman. Family Farm Policy p. 11.
University of Chicago Press. Chicago, 19 h 7

The

Rich people in Egypt like to invest their money in agricultural land
rather than in industrial activities lor two reasons:
First - The Egyptian culture over-estimates the varies of landownership.
Changing people's ideas and values can take place through education but this
is a long and slow process.
Second - The profit motive guides people to invest in agricultural land which
is non-exhaustable and which promises lucrative returns.

Besides the risk

involved is less than that which accompanies investment in any other economic
goods.

If investment in agricultural land could be made less profitable by

the imposition of of taxes which could not be shifted, then many people would
prefer to invest in industry.

The industrial potentialities of Egypt will be

briefly discussed later in this chapter.

Thus to cure the existing state of

concentration of land holdings in few hands and to effect more equitable
distribution of land holdings in Egypt, there is need for a new taxation
system.
Farm credit of the right kind is another way by which more equitable
distribution of landholdings could be attained.

As was indicated earlier,

the prevailing credit system in Egypt does help neither the farm laborer
nor the tenant to climb the agricultural ladder.

There is an urgent need

for a new credit agency patterned after the Farmers Home Administration of
the United States Department of Agriculture.

Only such an agency can help

the agricultural laborers and tenants to become landowners.

It would be more

beneficial to the country's economy for the government to create and support
such an agency than to continue the time and money wasting practice of per­
suading the different banks not to foreclose on the vast mortgaged areas
owned by big landowners who, expecting governmental interference, defer as

long as possible the repayment of loans.

Most of those who benefited from

such agreements are large absentee» landowners who borrow money for the pur­
pose of living luxuriously rather than for the improvement of the productivity
of their lands.

Instead of continuing its support of a practice that fosters

the development of large estates generation after generation, the government
should let the banks foreclose, but compel them to promptly sell the land in
small amounts to eligible farm laborers and tenants on long term credit basis.
k/
(3) More efficient size of operated unit
As indicated in Chapter III, in 19U7 more than 80 percent of the Egyptian
farms were less than five feddans in size, about
and fifty feddans and about

1.5 percent

18 percent

were between five

were larger than fifty feddans.

However, the group of small farms occupied only about 18 percent of the total
cultivated area, while the group of medium size farms occupied about
of the total area, and the group of large farms occupied about
the total area.

bB

36 percent

percent of

It was found too that the medium sized group is the most

productive of all, while the large and the small farms were less productive.
This means that about 82 percent of the farms which occupied about twothirds of the total cultivated area were either smaller or larger than the
most efficient size of farms in Egypt.
Besides the inefficient size of farm, parcellation of the holding is
common in Egypt.

Thus if the productivity of the Egyptian farms is to be

raised and the country*s agricultural output is to be increased, the number
of the more efficient medium sized farms should be increased and the problem
of parcellation should be remedied.

As to increasing the number of medium

sized farms, it could be done by the following methods:
3/Issawi. Ch. on. cit. o. 129
^/Similar measures were taken in many other countries such as the Netherlands
and Czechoslovakia.

179

(a)
feddans.

Preventing the break down of holdings below a minimum area of five
It is indicated earlier that holdings which were between five

and ten feddans were the most productive units in the country.

Besides,

five feddans is the minimum siae of unit which permits a reasonable stand­
ard of living (allows reasonable food, clothing, shelter and educational
and medical facilities) for an Egyptian family.

Inheritance is the common

way through which land holdings are usually broken down.

Thus a law that

prohibits the division of any estate between heirs, if this division will
result in the creation of units smaller than five feddans, should be
passed.

This is no violation of the Islamic law of inheritance as some

writers are inclined to think, since each of the heirs will receive the value
of his share.

The process would be like this - suppose the whole estate

were twelve' feddans while the number of heirs was four.

In such a case, the

value of the property is to be estimated by a governme'ntal agency.

The

property is to be divided between two of the heirs with each one getting
six feddans.

Those who get the land would have to pay to the other two

heirs the price of the shares to which they are entitled.

This procedure

could be made possible by the aid of governmental farm credit.as will be dis­
cussed later in this chapter.

As to the priority in getting the land, it

should be based on such things as personal interest in farming, amount of
farming experience each of the heirs has and so forth.

Should all the heirs

be farmers, the additional heirs could be given governmental land in some
other place and they could- be induced to go to the new locations by offers
of special credit or transportation facilities or free land registration.
Legislation to this effect would help prevent the uneconomic parcellation of
farm holdings in the future.

j

(b) As to already existing small units, the solution is to be found in
consolidation.

Holders of small tracts of land should be asked to dispose

of them, either to others who want to increase the size of their units to the
minimum size permitted, or to the government.

They should also be given

priority in getting governmental land and receiving the facilities mentioned
above.

On the other hand, small pieces of land taken over by the government

should be consolidated into economic units and. distributed to farmers accord­
ing to the procedure recommended above.

This measure, coupled with legislation

discouraging parcellation, should lead to the'eventual disappearance of the
small uneconomical landholdings which are now abundant in Egypt.
As to the parcellation problem, one remedy is re-allotment.
measure which is tried by some countries and works successfully.

It is a
Under the

act of 192a a simple majority of the landowners in the Netherlands can force
a re-allotment scheme, provided these landowners also control more than half

5/ A scheme patterned after the

of the acreage in the particular area.—

"ruilverkaveling" of the Netherlands, with the supervision and aid of the
government and the modification which suits the situation in Egypt can certainly
solve the.parcellation problem and make an end to the troubles resulting from
A
io»
-t

(c) The number of the medium sized farmsalso could be increased if more
large estates were broken down into medium sized ones.

This could be done in

two ways:
First - By limiting the area of land which could be owned by a single owner.
A law may be passed limiting the size ox landholdings

and asking all those

owning areas larger than the maximum limit tosell thedifference between the
limit and what they actually own either to others willing to buy farms under
the supervision of the government, or directly to the government.
3>/ Marshall, H. 1 Ackerman, J., op. cit. p. 211

In the second

case the government can in turn divide the land into medium size units and sell
it to farmers.

Because of the concentration of political power in the hands of

the landowners, this direct measure is unlikely to take place in Egypt at the
present time.

Any measure which challenges their power is usually bitterly

opposed and defeated.
Second- The power to tax is another effective weapon which could be used by
governments to attain desirable land tenure situations.

Land taxes on holdings

larger than fifty feddans should be graduated on the basis of size.

This would

make landownership of large holdings less profitable and would encourage
capitalists to invest in industry rather than in land.
under the existing taxation system.
161| P.T. per acre.

Landowners are favored

They pay a flat rate which does not exceed

In 19^5 the tax was supposed to be 16 percent of the annual

rental value of feddan.

The amount of taxes imposed in that year on the

5,7l5.>2U5 privately owned feddans was 5*U2l|.,752 Egyptian pounds.
that the average tax was 0.95 Egyptian, pounds per feddan.
the average rent was found to be 19 Egyptian pounds.
was only five percent of the rental value.

This means

In the same year

Thus the actual tax rate

Another kind of tax which should be

used in Egypt is the gift and inheritance tax.
of large estates generation after generation.

They discourage the maintenance
A capital gain tax also could be

used in Egypt to check inflation of land values.

On the whole, improvement of

the land tenure system calls for extensive reforms in the entire taxation system.
(d)

The farm credit system is another thing which needs reform if the land

tenure system is to be improved.

As was indicated earlier, farm credit facilitie

in Egypt do not help tenants or agricultural laborers climb the agricultural
ladder.

But they can be used to increase the number of the more efficient medium

size farms in the country.

They can help in correcting the continuous break­

down of estates to very small uneconomical units tnrough inheritance by making

182

it possible for one of the heirs to buy out the shares that the other heirs
would normally receive under the law of inheritance.

Farm credit agencies

also could help the owners of small parcels of land to buy the additional'
tracts they need to bring their farm unit up to the more economical size.

It

should be emphasized here that only governmental farm credit agencies which
are concerned with helping the people rather than exploiting them could per­
form such functions.
(4) More equitable landowner-tenant relations
The tenancy problem in Egypt is analyzed in Chapter III.

Here it is

indicated that the landowners have practically all the bargaining power
while the tenants have practically none.

Insecurity of the tenure tenant

mobility and the shortness of the tenancy occupancy period have an adverse
effect on the productivity of the leased land.

If the tenancy situation is

to be improved in Egypt, the government should step in and supervise and
regulate the leasing process as it has in some other countries.

An act

should be passed that provides for the following points:
(a) All leases should be registered and approved by a local leasing
board which consists of a government official, a representative of landowners
and a representative of tenants.
by this board.

All tenancy disputes should behandled

Any disputes that can not be solved should be transferred to

a tenancy court composed of the local judge and two agricultural experts as
members.

The decisions of this court should be final.

(b) Leases should be written with three copies, one to be kept by each
party and the third by the local board.
should be considered invalid .

Verbal contracts for renting land

183

(c) Leases should not be conducted through auction.
(d) Intermediaries or middle men should be eliminated by law.

Only

those who intend to operate the land should lease it.
(e) The minimum lease period should be made three years during which
the landowner could not terminate the lease so long as the tenant is meeting
all his obligations.
(f) Leases should be terminable by either party, after the three years and
after due notice given at least six months in advance.
(g) All improvements made by the tenant and capable of removal should
be removed by him at the termination of the lease.
(h) The landowner should compensate the tenant for specified unexhausted
improvements which he does not remove at the time ox quitting the holding,
provided that for certain type of improvements the prior consent of the
landowner be obtained.
(i) The tenant should compensate the landowner for any deterioration or
damage due to factors over which the tenant has control, and the landlord
should be empowered to prevent continuance of serious'wastage.
(j) Adequate records should be kept of outlays for which either party
would claim compensation.
(k) The lease should not automatically expire with the death of the
lessor or leesee.

Heirs of the tenant should have priority to continue until

the expiration of the period.
These provisions protect both the landowner and the tenant.

They give

the tenant the security, the protection and the time in which he can organize
his enterprise over a longer period and be more efficient in his work.

On

the other hand, they protect the rights of the landowner and enable him to
stop any wastage, claim compensations and terminate the lease at the end of
the period, after due notice.

181+

C. Indirect Measures
Measures which have a secondary effect on the land tenure system include
the following:
(l) Education
Education is the name applied to the process whereby the socially
approved part of the cultural heritage is transmitted from one generation to
the next, and the process whereby newly acquired‘
knowledge is diffused among

6/ It ranks among the major tasks, educational progress

the members of society.—

among the chief hopes of society.
In spite of the vast expansion which took place as far as education in
Egypt is concerned,

the majority of the people are still illiterate.

Educational facilities especially in rural

a re a s

are short.

Competent and

well prepared teachers are lacking generally and completely missing in
rural areas.

A well planned program of general education for all children

and youth, and also suitable preparation for particular vocations in accordance
with the needs of children and youth in Egypt has not as yet been provided,
v/orst of all is the fact that the educational system is a dual one:

primary,

secondary and higher schools for the minority well-to-do, and free elementary
education only for the masses, especially in rural areas-.

Elementary educa­

tion, which in most of the cases is all that is available for rural children
is concerned with the three P.*s. Pupils who finish this course are seldom
able to enter the secondary, technical or vocational schools.

Elementary

education provides only a means of stamping out illiteracy, and a nonefficient means at that it should be emphasized.

The trouble with the

Egyptian rural education is that the rural school is the only available
6 / 'Smith,

T. L., op. cit. p. 385

135

institution which can be used.

No other institutions share the task.

Even the Egyptian rural family cannot be considered an important educational
agency as is the case in more advanced countries.
Criticizing the educational process in Egypt and designing a more
efficient program is not within the scope of this work.

It should be

emphasized, however, that efficient education would help improve the land
tenure system in the following ways:
(a) There is an urgent need for more educated -workers, technicians,
administrators and so forth to work in securing a better and more efficient
utilization of the national resources.

Without adequate educational pro­

grams, skill and intelligence will remain at the present low level.
(b) Education is needed in Egypt to relieve agriculture of the surplus
labor force which depresses the wages of the agricultural workers and in­
flates rents on one hand and decreases per capita agricultural output on the
other hand.

Through education more rural youth could be directed to leave

agriculture and engage in industrial production.
(c) Education provides one means through which the rapid increase in
population might be checked.

Without slowing down this increase, population

pressure on land will continue and little can be done to improve the standard
of living of the masses.

As yet no studies have been made of the effect of

education on the birth rate in Egypt.

But several studies in theUnited

States and Canada show a close relationship between educational and fertility
attainments.

In summarizing the results of various field studies of the

hilbank Liemorial Fund conducted since 1930, Notestein found that there is a
close and consistent inverse relationship between schooling and fertility,—^
7/ Landis, P. H. Population Problems, p 116. American Book Comoany, New York, 19UJL

i

135

institution which can be vised. Ko other institutions share the task.
Even the Egyptian rural family cannot be considered an important educational
agency as is the case in more advanced countries.
Criticizing the educational process in Egypt and designing a more
efficient program is not within the scope of this work.

It should be

emphasized, however, that efficient education would help improve the land
tenure system in the following ways:
(a) There is an urgent need for more educated workers, technicians,
administrators and so forth to work in securing a better and more efficient
utilization of the national resources.

Without adequate educational pro­

grams, skill and intelligence will remain at the present low level.
(b) Education is needed in Egypt to relieve agriculture of the surplus
labor force which depresses the wages of the agricultural workers and in­
flates rents on one hand and decreases per capita agricultural output on the
other hand.

Through education more rural youth could be directed to leave

agriculture and engage in. industrial production.
(c) Education provides one means through which the rapid increase in
population might be checked. Without slowing down this increase, population
pressure on land will continue and little can be done to improve the standard
of living of

the masses.

As yet no studies

education on

the birth rate in Egypt.

have been made of the

But several studies in the

effectof
United

States and Canada show a close relationship between educational and fertility
attainments.

In summarizing the results of

Milbank Memorial

Fund conducted since 1930,

various field studies

of the

hotestein found that there is a

close and consistent inverse relationship between schooling and fertility.—^
7/ Landis, P. H. Population Problems, p H6. American Book Company, New York, 1953

136

There is no reason why the relationship should be any different in Egypt.
(2) Industrialization
It is indicated in Chapter I that in spite of the industrial progress
that has been taking place in Egypt since World War I, the role played by
industry in the country's economy is still a minor one compared with that
played by agriculture.

If industrial developments could be accelerated,

land tenure conditions would consequently be ameliorated.

The greatest

opportunity to help people whose labor is not needed in agriculture con­
sists in providing industrial employment for persons desiring to work.
A report issued by the United States Department of Agriculture in

19b?

Q /

states,—

"What peace can mean to American farmers depends more upon the

level of business activity.and non-farm employment that can be maintained
after the War than upon anything else, . . . "

If the surplus farm labor
%

in Egypt could be transferred to industry, many of the evils of the land
tenure system would disappear.
The development of industries to support a large urban population is
considered by most population scientists as one of the changes required if
a nation is to have a rapid decline in fertility.

In this connection

F. W. Notestein—9 / states, "Such a development takes people out of their
former context, breaks the cake of custom, and permits the growth of new
individualistic aspirations.

Moreover, it is essential to draw a surplus

and ineffective agricultural population into effective production.

The

development of light industries, such as textiles, in which women can be
employed away from the home, is especially important as a means of giving
women new independence and a milieu for the dissemination of new ideas."
3/ U. S. Department of Agriculture, What Peace Can Mean to American Farmers.
Misc. Pub. 570, Washington, D. C., 1 9 b 5 - P. 1
9 j Notestein, F. W. Demographic Studies of Selected Areas of Rapid Growth.
Milbank Memorial Fund, New York 19UU- pp 153-15U.
*

Although industrialization is always mentioned whenever the advancement
and progress of the economically backward countries are discussed, it is not
as easy an objective to achieve as many writers are inclined to think.

In

order to succeed, industrialization must be based on a sound economic basis
and many prerequisite conditions must be present.
Many of the prerequisites of industrialization are present in Egypt.
It enjoys a remarkable geographical location which gives it accessibility
to most of the markets of Europe, Asia and Africa.

It has quite a number

of minerals, notably cement, manganese, phosphate and titanium ore.

In
10/
1938, Egypt was the seventh largest producer of phosphate in the world.—
Large deposits of very high grade iron ore have been discovered near Aswan.
Other minerals which are to be found in Egypt are mentioned in Chapter I.
Besides the mineral resources, agricultural raw materials are abundant,
such as cotton, leather, sugar cane, fruits and vegetables, etc.

Cheap

power can be obtained from electrifying the Nile dams, or from the oil
wells which are continually expanding to the extent that they more than
cover the present needs of the country.
Labor is abundant and cheap, but lacks the skill and know-how which
could be acquired through the extension of education and the aid of advanced
foreign countries that are willing to offer aid to backward countries with­
out imperialistic motives.

Capital is now available in reasonable amounts

since profits were considerable during the War years.

Those factors aided

by some kind of tariff protection and agrarian reform are apt to accelerate
the industrialization of the country.
The following are some of the industries which may flourish in Egypt:
(a) Industries that depend on drilling, mining and quarrying.
Promising industries of this type are oil drilling and refining,
10/ Szekiel, M. Towards World Prosperity. Harper & Brothers, New York

188

phosphate extraction and manufacturing of superphosphates, production of
salt, cement production, iron ore and steel manufacturing.
(b) Industries that depend on the agricultural raw materials such as
the following:

textile industry, grinding and pressing, cottonseed oil

industry, soap industry, sugar manufacturing and refining, dairying, pre­
served fruits and vegetables, tanning and leather work.
(c) Other industries as construction, chemical industry, fertilizers,
paper, furniture, cigarette, brewing, glass and transport industries.
(3) Migration
Migration is one of the factors that affect population density and manland ratios in any country.

It adds to population pressure in the receiving

country while it temporarily relieves the pressure in the sending country.
In very recent times, Egypt was a receiver country and not a sender one.
Many of the Mediterranean countries have been sending migrants to Egypt,
either through the migration office or illegal border crossings.

The

majority of those migrants are unskilled laborers of Arab stock who come
looking for work.

This aggravates the population problem and calls for

more restrictive regulations on immigration.
Whether emigration can reduce population pressure in Egypt depends on
the magnitude of the migration and the duration of the movement.
lasting emigration to large regions would be of some help.

Heavy and

But where can

the Egyptian people, who are by nature sedentary and loath to emigrate, go?
The only places where the Egyptians can find conditions similar to those
in Egypt, such as climate, soil, language, customs and religion are in the
neighboring uncongested Arab countries such as Iraq and Syria.

There is much

doubt, however, that the governments of these countries would agree to take in
large migrations.

189

The Sudan, with a land area equivalent to about one-fourth the area of
Europe and its population of only six and one-half million people, might
serve as an important outlet for the surplus Egyptian population.

Un­

settled issues and differences of opinion between the Egyptians and the British
concerning this area provide an obstacle to this solution.

But even after

the settling of the Sudan problem, not much emigration could be expected
without the aid and the inducement of the government.
Internal migration is another matter which can help in improving the
tenure system in Egypt.

As mentioned earlier population density varies

widely in the different provinces of Egypt.
are less populated.

Thus the northern provinces

This situation results in the existence of surplus

agricultural workers in some provinces and lack of laborers in others.
Wage differentials do not help correct the situation because of the ignorance
and inertia of the laborers.

Governmental programs to induce the people tp

move from the congested areas to less congested ones, coupled with the
extension of education would certainly help in correcting this situation.
(U) Birth Control
Birth control, if accepted by the people and practiced correctly,
would provide a most effective means of checking population pressure.

It

is needed in Egypt as badly as it could be needed anywhere else, but un­
fortunately it is not practiced by those who need birth control.

Although

it has become quite respectable in many civilized countries, it is still
looked upon in Egypt as something immoral.

It is also bitterly opposed by

some of the religious leaders although it was approved some years ago by the
11/
Grand Mufti of Egypt and the Rector of Al-Azhar,—
and by some political
leaders who tend to regard the quantity of the people, regardless of their
ll/ Cl'eland/w.wV A Population Plan for Egypt. Demographic studies of selected
studies of selected areas of rapid growth, Pillbank Memorial Fund, New York
1 9 h k . P- 135-

190
quality, as a prerequisite to the strength of any nation. hfith the spread •
of education, the people of Egypt are becoming more and more conscious of
the population problems and some of them are becoming birth control minded.
The evidence of this is shovra by the organization of a social society called
"The Happy Family", which has for its aim the opening of birth control clinics.
Birth control in Egypt should be considered as a long term measure for
the improvement of the population situation and the land tenure system,
because it requires a long time to change the ideas of the masses about the
subject and to get birth control methods diffused among them.
One thing that needs to be emphasized before closing this chapter, is
tliat all the measures mentioned, whether direct or indirect, are complementary.
Each of them complements the other and cannot by itself solve the problem.
is only through a well planned program of action composed of many approaches
that the tenure system in Egypt can be improved.

(12) Ibid.

It

191

. CHAPTER 7
Summary and Conclusion

Egypt is predominantly an agricultural country with 75 percent of its
population depending for their livelihood on agriculture.

Although the total

area of Egypt is about 586,000 square miles or more than three times that of
the British Isles, only about 15,500 square miles are cultivable.

This prod­

uctive area involves around 8 million feddans of which only about 5*8 million
feddans were under cultivation in
the country exceeded

19 million

19i+7«

In the same year the population of

people and 99 percent of this population

lived in the cultivable area of the Delta and the Ilile Valley which represents
about 5 percent of the total area of the country.
Egypt i's one of the most highly congested population areas in the whole
world.

In 19U7 it had an average of 1,210 persons dependent upon agriculture

for every square mile of agricultural land.

Probably nowhere else in the

world is there so large a population per square mile that is dependent solely
upon agriculture and so free from the risk of drought as in Egypt.

This last

condition is made possible by the Nile, on whose regular supply of water the
fertility and prosperity of the country are entirely dependent.
Thanks to the perennial irrigation system 'which makes possible the prod­
uction of two or even three crops per year from the same piece of land, the
crop area of the country far exceeds the cultivable area.

In 19lf-S the crop

area was about 9»1 million feddans while the cultivable area was only 5*8
million feddans.

Many factors, such as rainfall, irrigation, drainage, tech­

nological achievements, urban land use and so forth make the economic supply
of agricultural land almost fixed.

The supply of land could be increased only

192

by huge irrigation and drainage projects but the increase would by no means
be large.
Although the death rate is very high in Egypt, especially among infants,
it vrill certainly decline with the spread of the medical services to the
rural areas that are only now securing the benefits of medical science.

The

birth rate, on the other hand, is also very high and for cultural reasons is
not likely to drop as fast as the death rate.
increase of the country's population.

The result will be a rapid

In the absence of rapid industrializ­

ation, this means more population pressure on land.

The man-land ratio is

high, reaching three persons per one feddan in some of the provinces of Egypt.
Under the present tenure system this means a very low standard of living for
the majority of the people.
The present concept of private property rights was not developed in
Egypt until' the second half of the nineteenth century.

The inequality of

opportunity for getting land, which prevailed under Turkish rule, and contin­
ued to prevail with some modifications during more recent history, is respon­
sible for the present concentration of land ownership in few hands.
In 1890 the total number of holdings was 7^7.000.
had increased to 2,606,000*

By 191+5 this number

This increase in the number of landed properties

is accounted for by the increase in the number of very small holdings which
are often too small to provide their operators with even a minimum subsistence
level of living.
in 1890 and

Holdings -which are less than five feddans numbered 611,000

2,141+7.000 in 191+5» while

the holdings of

5“1+9*5

feddans increased

slightly from lLjl+,000 to ll).7»000 in 191+5• The number of holdings of fifty
feddans and up was 12,000 in both I896 and

191+5*

The average size of holdings in the country steadily decreased from
feddans in I896 to 2.3 in

191+5*

6.5

In this year the average size of holdings

193

owned by Egyptian nationals was 1.9 feddans, that ovmed by wakfs v,ras

feddans

3k

and that owned by foreigners was 83 feddans.
In 19U5 holdings of less than one feddan accounted for were 71 percent
the total, those of 1-1.9 feddans for

13 percent

percent of the total number of holdings.

and those of

of

10

2 -k » 9

This means that holdings of less than

five feddans accounted for 9U percent of the total number of holdings.

Holdings

of 5-U9.9 feddans were 5*5 percent of the total and only 0.5 percent of the
holdings were above

50 feddans

in size.

In terms of area the picture was different.
than five feddans occupied

3k

The group of holdings of less

percent of the total area and averaged 0.8

feddans per holding, the group of 5“59»9 feddans occupied

29*9 percent

of the

total area and averaged 12 feddans per holding, and the group of holdings of
more than

50 feddans

in size.

The top 0.25 percent of the landowners ovmed 28.2 percent ..of the

land while the lower

occupied 36.1 percent of the area and averaged

9k

percent owned only

3k

179 feddans

percent of the land.

The average size of farm in Egypt in 19U7 was six feddans.
ity of the farms were far smaller than the average.

But the major­

Parras of less than one

feddan represented 37 percent of the total, those of between 1-1.9 feddans 20
percent while those of less than five feddans represented more than 80 percent
of the total number of farms.
18 percent and those of above

Those of between 5“U9*9 feddans accounted for

50 feddans

for about one percent of the farms.

Besides the very small size of the Egyptian farms, most of them are made
up of numerous tracts, sometimes of very impractical size and sometimes at
great distance from each other and from the farmer’s house.
involves considerable and much unnecessary waste.
Egypt, the following figures give the answer

This situation

As to who owns the land in

Land in private ownership
Yfakfs
Land owned "by the government
total

63 percent
8 percent
29 percent

of the total
of the total
of the total

Too

Inheritance is the principal way by which land is acquired.
The available data on tenure groups in Egypt are probably not completely
reliable but do indicate that landless agricultural laborers outnumber the
owner operators and the renters combined.
has increased rapidly (between

The number of landless laborers

1927 and 1937 the

increase was

121 percent).

The three main tenure groups in Egypt, the owners, renters and labor­
ers namely, may be divided into subgroups as follows:
A.

Owners
1. Owners
2. Owners
3» Owners
Owners
5. Owners
6. Owners

of a whole debt free farm
of part ofa debt free farm
of a whole mortgaged farm
of a partly mortgaged farm
of a small debt free farm who rent some land
of a smallmortgaged farm who rent some land

B. Renters
1. Cash renters
2. Cash and share renters
3. Share renters whopay the owner a fixed amount of the product
!(.. Share renters whopay the owner a percentage of the product
C.

Laborers
1. Tamallia
2. Family laborers
3. Hired laborers
!(.. I.Iigratory laborers
This classification of groups and subgroups implies both higher financial

standings and greater independence of control for the first listed groups than
the later listed ones.

Data concerning the age distribution of the farmers in

the various tenure groups and their tenure experiences are not available.
Comparison of average wage rates and land values in Egypt and the United
States for 19U5 shows that an average acre of farm land in the United States
was worth the equivalent of less than
wages.

10 days

of the average farm worker’s

In Egypt an equivalent farm land area claimed a price equal to about

195

20 years of the average Egyptian worker*s wages.
27 years.

In 1939 this period was

This shows the almost insurmountable difficulties associated

with the climbing of the agricultural ladder in Egypt.

The investigations of the Fellah Department of the Egyptian ministry of
Social Affairs have revealed that on the big estates where records are kept
and where some of the land is operated by the owner and sorae of it is rented
out, the rents charged were in some cases higher than the net output obtained
from the land operated by the owner.

This shows that tenants in Egypt freq­

uently are little better off than the agricultural laborers. Actually, their
rental payments in many cases absorb part of their income as laborers and
operators as well as the full economic rent due to land.
Farm credit facilities available in Egypt do not help either the agric­
ultural laborers or the tenants in climbing the agricultural ladder.
As to costs, returns and efficiency on different sizes of farms, in
I9 JL4.7 about

81 percent of the Egyptian farms were of small size with an aver­

age of 1.1|. feddans and average gross output of 55
feddan,
of

Egyptian pounds per

18 percent were of medium size (5 “ 5 0 feddans) with an average size

12.i|. feddans and an average gross output of 39*9 Egyptian pounds per

feddan, and only one percent of the farms was of the large size (over
feddans) with an average size of

173

of 36.9 Egyptian pounds per feddan.

»b

5

0

feddans and an average gross output

The medium sized group, farms in the

5 to 10 feddan size group had the highest average gross income - an average
of Ul-U Egyptian pounds per feddan.

According to a survey undertaken in 1938* the most productive and the
most efficient size of farm unit -was found to be around 5 feddans.

This

means that the breakdown of the large estates into medium sized farms and
the elimination of the very small farms could lead to an increase in total

productivity and in the national agricultural output.
The tenure system in Egypt affects land use in the following ways;
(1) A Sizable area is devoted to the production of farm consumed products
and in the growing of these products the farmer is not guided by economic
factors.
(2) It hinders the use of the intensive farming methods neoded to take
care of the problem of the surplus agricultural laborers and also hinders
the production of some crops that could be produced with advantage while
the country’s need of these products is filled through importation.
(3) It leads to the unsound economic practice of growing crops in the
production of which the country has a comparative disadvantage while dis­
couraging the production of some other crops that could be produced with
advantage.
The land tenure system affects the national agricultural production
in two ways:
(1) The system favors production of particular crops which suit either
the owners of small parcels of land or the absentee landowners. YJhile the
value of the national agricultural output could be increased through a shift
in crop production, the land tenure system does not permit such shifts.
(2) The number of medium sized farms, the most efficient size in Egypt,
is very small compared with that of the very small and the large farms.
Reform of the tenure system insofar as it leads to move efficient production
and farm sizes can lead to increases in total agricultural output.
The land tenure system in Egypt results in the followings
(l)

The existence of a very large group of landless agricultural labor­

ers -who, because of limited industrial activities, are forced to rely

197

on agriculture for their livelihood.

Because of their large number and the

concentration of land in few hands, they are forced to accept very low wages
which do not permit an acceptable standard of living.
(2) The large tenant class and their weak bargaining position as comp­
ared with that of the landlords leads to rack renting.

Instead of making

something out of their work, most tenants live miserable lives and deprive
themselves in order to be able to pay their high rents.
(3) The standard of living for the majority of the farm people is very
low; anything below is death.

I.'ore than 8I4
.percent of all the landowners

have an annual income that is less than the necessities of life. According
to the figures available in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the
Egyptian ministry of Agriculture, out of the 5*9 million feddans of total
area

3

feddans

million feddans were operated
were operated by*owners.

by tenantswhile only2 ,b r

This indicatesthattenancy

million

is becoming

more extensive in Egypt.
Conditions contributing to tenancy in Egypt:

1.
2.
3.
J4.
5*
6.
7.

Concentration of land holdings and parcellation.
Small average size of farm holdings and large farmfamilies.
Lack of
any restrictions 011 land ownership.
Lack of industrialization.
High land values.
lack of efficient farm credit system.
The Walcf system

While the tenancy system may not foster high efficiency in production
and soil conservation it helps to adjust the size of the operated unit and
to provide optimum use of labor resources.
Forms of rent payments in Egypt include the following:
1.2 3 I4. -

Cash rent
Share rent
Rent in
Rent in

kind
kind and cash at the sametime.

Time of payment and the amount paid at different tines varies accord­
ing to custom and the kind of crops produced.

The fairness of any method

depends on the amount of rent charged per feddan whether in cash or in kind,
in relation to the fertility of the soil and the adaptability of land for
the production of different crops.
Length of leases in Egypt varies from one crop only to three years or
even more.

But the year to year lease is the most common.

This kind of

lease does not give the tenant any security of tenure and makes it impossible
for him to plan his operations over a period of years.
Host of the leases are verbal agreements. Vfritten contracts are some­
times used but usually between landowners and the intermediaries who are not
actually renters.

In some cases written contracts are used with small

tenants, but these usually consist of one copy only and that is kept by the
landowners.

In some areas, small tenants sign blank contracts.

rates are sometimes established at public auctions.
inflation of rents.

Land rentals

The common result is..an

Intermediaries often appear on the stage between the

landowners and tenants.

They often collect more than double the rent from

the tenant that they pay to the landlord.

Renters have little security and

they cannot claim compensation for unexhaustable improvements. But they
usually are held responsible for any deterioration that affects the land.
Thus the landowner’s rights and the tenant's responsibilities are very well
taken care of in the usual contract while the tenant’s rights are generally
disregarded.
Besides the very low income -which the majority of the farm people get as
a result of the system, they neither enjoy the degree of security in the
occupation of their land which enables them to be effective members of their
communities, nor have such opportunities as are necessary to enable them to

199

develop their best personal talents and enjoy adequate social and cultural
facilities.

Throughout the past half century the government has nade little

or no attempt to regulate the tenure system.
non-regulation.

Its policy has been one of

Two main factors hinder the improvement of the system.

These are:
1. Lack of reliable data and information on the subject.
Correcting this situation calls for a change in the
entire procedure of collecting data in Egypt.
2. The political power of the landowners in Egypt is such
that it is difficult, if not impossible, to enact any
legislation that has an adverse effect on their tradit- .
ional rights.
If these two obstacles could be overcome, other measures for
improving the tenure system fall in two categories:
A - Direct measures which include steps to secure:
(1) Increases in the area under cultivation.
(2) I,lore equitable distribution of holdings.
(5) ilore efficient size of operated units.
(1|.) liore equitable lanaovmer-tenant relations.
B - Indirect measures -which include (1)
(2)
(5)
(U)

Education
Industrialization
migration
Birth control

All these measures are complementary and no one can solve the problem
by itself.

It is only through a well planned, carefully integrated program

of action involving these proposed measures that the tenure system in Egypt
can be improved.

a p p e n d i x

200

Table 1 LAND ACREAGE, EGYPT 1929*

Classification

Feddans

Percent of ..
Total Egypt

Total area of the Kingdom
of Egypt (approx.)

252,000,000

100.00

Total area of uncultivable
desert land

21+5,000,000

96.30

8,955,000

5.70

8,1+27,000

5.U0

525,827

0.30

Total area in farms

7,725,856

5.09

Area in farms not including
land for public utilities
temporarily/ leased

7,707,725

3.08

16,131

.01

703,ii55

.51

Total area covered by the
Agricultural Census 1929

y ■

Total area of Nilotic Egypt
Total agricultural land of
Desertic Egypt

Area reserved for public
utilities but temporarily
leased for cultivation
Public utility land unculti­
vated

l/ Includes the Valley and the Delta of the Nile.
* Sources E L-Zalaky, H.M. An Analysis of the Organization of
Egyptian Agriculture and Its Influence on National Economic and
Social Institutions. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Cal­
ifornia, Berkley 19^1*

201

Table 2 liean Temperature in Egypt in Centigrades

Uonth

Region
Hediterranean 'Middle of
(Alexandria)
Delta

19b5

Cairo

Assyut

Aswan

January

13 .U

10.U

12.1*

11.7

16.0

February

13.1*

10.1*

1 2 .b

11.5

11*.8

March

Hi..5

11.1

U*.o

13.8

18.6

April

17.3

16.1

19.0

20.1*

2 b *b

Hay

22.1

. 21.9

25.9

27.6

31.0

June

23.5

2l*.2

26.1

2 7 .b

33*6

July

25.6

26.2

28.1*

29.2

33.8

August

27.U

26.9

29.2

30.0

3I4-.5

September

26.0

2l*.2

26.1

26.9

31.3

October

23.0

20.6

2 2 .b

23.0

27.6

November

19.9

17.7

18 .9

18.3

23.2

December

l1*.6

12.0

13.2

1 2 .b

16.6

Average

20.1

18.6

20.7

25.3

250

Average 11aximum 21*.7

27*b

28.1

29.5

33.2

Average Minimum 17.3

11.7

15.1

il*.l*

18.1*

*Source:

Annuaire Statistique. Egyptian Government 19l|l*-l*5.

202

Table 3 Relative Humidity in Egypt 191+5♦

Month

Region
Mediterranean Middle of
(Alexandria)
Delta

Cairo

Assyut

Aswan

January

67

88

68

68

bh

February

62

88

70

6b

36

March

60

86

6b

60

28

April

66

78

58

if-0

May

lb

68

bQ

36

20

June

76

12

56

57

20

July

76

11

60

b2

22

August

lb

80

59

U2.

23

September

68

81

65

b9

2U

October

60

82

66

58

' 31

November

68

86

70

62

36

December'

57

Qb

66

6U

1)2

Average

67

81

62

52

29

♦Sources

"

Annuaire Statistique. Egyptian Government

'

20

l$>bb~b5

Table I). Millimetres of Rainfall in Egypt 19U-5*

28.1

8.0

February

5k*h

March

Aswan

Drops

Drops

Drops

7.5

U-2

0.0

0.0

18.0

9.5

U.3

0.0

Drops

April

0.6

Drops

Drops

0.0

0.0

May

5*b

7.0

10.1

15.0

8J+

June

0 .0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

July

0 .0

0.0

0
0

January

Cairo Assyut

.

Mediterranean
(Alexandria)

Region
Middle of
Delta

0.0

0.0

August

8 .0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

Drops

0.0

0.0

0.0

■ 0.0

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

ITovember

6 5 .6

5<>o

1.8

0.0

0.0

December

25.7

2+.0

Drops

0.0

0.0

198.0

lilj.,0

20.9

15.0

8.U

Month

September
October

Total

♦Sourcej

Annuaire Statistique.

Egyptian Government

19bJ.\.-l\5

i

Table 5

$

Mean Hours of Sunshine per Day in Egypt

Region

Month

Mediterranean Coast

Delta and Middle Egypt

January

7.0

7.1

February

7.8

8.2

March

8.8

8.8

April

10.0

10.3

May

11.3

11.3

June

12.4

12.6

July

12.4

12.3

August

12.0

11.6

September

10.8

10.8

October

9.6

9.6

November

8.5

8.5

December

7.0 .

7.5

Average

9.8

9.9

Source:

Atlas of Egypt.

Egyptian Government 1921

*
Table 6

Nile Discharges and Their Rain Equivalents

Before Operation of Aswan Dam
Month

1912

1899
Discharge

Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
Aor.
May
Jun.
Jul.
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.

After Operation of Dam

it,260
2,710
2,H|0
1,325
1,176
1,555
5,892
21,165.
23,828

Rain Equiv.

7.10 inches
it.16
3.36

2.00
1.80

2.1+0

«
"
"
»
"

2,990
2,990
2,6it0
l,8it0
2,130

2,650
it,590

16,900
20,300
lit,600

16,050
9,6it2
5,839

Discharge

10.20

»

7,260
3,950

Rain Equiv.
it.Uit in.
it.Ult "
it.00 "
3.60 "
it.08 »
5.io «
8.8I1 »
33.00 »
39.60 "
28.UO »
lit.16 "
7.68 "

■KSource: Selim, Hussien K., Twenty Years of Agricultural Develop­
ment in Egypt - Egyptian Government press, Cairo, 19it0.

1

Table 7. Department of Mines and Quarries Revenue

1932- 191*6

Year

1932-33
1933-31*
193l*-35
1935-36
1936-37
1937-38
1938-39
1939-1)0
191*0-1*1
191*1-1*2
191*2-1*3
191*3-1*1*
19l*l*—1*5
191*5-1*6
Sources

Mines
and
Petroleum

-Quarries

L.E.

L.E.

1*3,291
1*1,080
1*8,581*
1*1*,171*
1*3,356
73,203
82, 750
11*7,389
116,986
337,033
381*, 863
327,727
l*3l*,6ol*
1*36,619
EL-Al£y, E.M.,

20,1*32
33,01*3
22,112
26,916
27,803
26,61*8
25,279
36,71*0
2l*.003
28,636
31,772
39,750
1*5,928
60,185

Suez
Refinery

L.E.

75,51*7
80, 1*68
121*, 960
173,218
217,596
275,981
213,079
1*61,110
308,033
21*8,753
329,608
215,781
308,766

Aba Zoabal
Basalt
Quarries

L.E.

Sukari
Gold
Mines

L.E.

_

mm

—

—

-

—

850
1,661
9,216
36,503
1*2,121
28,283
23,617
31*, 853
73,613
76,767
85,730

Mineral Resources of Egypt, Cairo, Egypt, 19U7

—
-

11,816
15,882
21*,382
22,21*8
18,617
27,356
7,380
6,131
51,392

Total

L.E.

63,723
11*9,670
151,161*
196,900
21*6,038
338,1*79
1*36,395
1*63,711
652,600
715,936
727,597
778,088
779,211
91*2,692

Table 8. The Normal Monthly Mean Discharges of the Nile and its Principal
Tributaries in Cubic Metres per Second 1912-37*

Site

Ian.

Feb. Mar.

Apr.

May

June July Aug.

Sept. Oct.

Nov.

Dec. Mgjn
Year

Main Nile at Aswan
D.S. Reservdr
1140

960

780

730

830

1080 1810 6470

8010

5470

2650

1450 2620

Main Nile at Wadi
Haifa

1 0 30 750

590

560

73 0

I960 7300

8640

5720

2970

1880 2800

-

-

640

2100

1400

290

70

River Atbra at
Mouth
Main Nile at
Khartoum

1420

I
-

1260

-

-

40

20

380

610

690

1110 2710 6390

6850

4430

2390

1660 2480

150

100

170

490 2200 5880

5690

3020

1180

580 1680

1400

1200

1080

820

1 2 30

1110

880

760

770

630

430

910 700
220

■

Blue Nile "

340

White Nile M

910

690 560

520

540

620

570

590

1140

White Nile at Malakal

810

640 570

530

590

750

910

1050

1160 3230

River Sobat at
Hillet Doleib

310

170 110

90

160

340

490

610

Swamps

490

480 470

450

430

430

430

460

480

490

470

480

460

Bahr El Jebel at
Mongalla

740

690 670

710

870

840

910

1030

1040

1010

930

820

860

*Source: Almanac 1939, Egyptian Government Press.

690

208

Table 9 Population d<snsity in the different divisions of Egypt1

Administra­
tive Div.

Area in
191+7 Census Pre­
sq. miles
lim. Figures
Female s
(approx.) Males
Total

1066852
Cairo
70
1033631+ 21001+86
928237
Alexandria
1+68889
h59555
35
129227
l+o
21+6770
Canal
H751+3
108250
8
56903
Suez
5131+7
26560
53620
27060
Damietta
1.5
Western Desert)
331
+
01
+
68519
35115
16766
Southern
32291
)
15525
Sinia
u
20231
) 180
17023
3725U
Red Sea Coasts)
11+020 . .80l&._
22065
Total for
Governorates1
35971+92
1763675
1853817
53k»5
Beheira
61+51+96
1,719
121+21+87
596991
Ghabia
2338896
2,818
120I+573
H3U323
622
Hinufia
570l)ii.6
598331
1168777
692051
Dakahlia
1,025
11+11+281+
722233
681+027
1355362
Sharkia
671335
1,933
I'ulubia
368
31+5178 687169
31+1991
Total for
Lower Egypt
8,1+83.. 1+007137 1+199838 8206975
Giza
8221)21+
1+11200
1+11221+
1+09
Fayoum
670
3272U6
671885
314+639
3161+1+2
Beni Suef
613365
296923
1*23
I.Iinya
538213
782
523201+
106li+17
812
690986
Asyut
688889
1379875
Girga
61)2120
12881)25
609
61+6305
Kena
5521)22
705
553371+ 1106296
Aswan
152607
1329bh
365
285551
Total for
Upper Egypt
3571+914-8 3651)290 7229238
l+,773
Grand
Total
13,590.5 91+15902 9617803 19033705

Pop. per
sq. mi.

30,007
26,521

6,169
13,532
35,71+6
890

10.755
715
830

1,975
.

1,380
700
1,870

1,003
2,020
1,000

1,1+80
1,360

1,680
2,100

1,570
790
1,515
1,1422

♦Source: Egyptian Ministry of Education, Information Sheet No. 1
Washington Bureau, Washington, D. C., 191+9•

Table 10. Population by Nationality in Egypt"*1

►

Nationality

Egyptians
Foreigners
Total

No.

1927

1917

1907

percent No •

percent

11,054, 220

98.1

12 ,544,969

98.4

221, 139

1.9

205,949

1.6

11,287, 359 100.0

12 ,750,918

100.0

No.
13,992,264

1937
percent

No.

Percent

98.4

15 ,746,179

98.9

1.6

186,515

1.2

14,217,864 100.0

15 ,932,694

100.0

225,600

Greeks

62, 973

28.0

56,731

28.0

76,264

34.0

68,559

37.0

Italians

34, 926

16.0

40,198

19.0

52,462

23.0

47,706

25.0

British

20, 653

9.0

24,354

12.0

34,469

15 .0

31,523

17.0

French

14, 591

7.0

21,270

10.0

24,332

11.0

18,821

10.0

Turks

'69, 725

32.0

8,471

4.0

9,284

4.0

3,201

2.0

Others

18, 271

8.0

54,925

27.0

29,084

13.0

16,705

9.0

221, 139 100.0

205,949

100.0

225,600 100.0

186,515

100.0

To tal

* Source: Computed from figures taken from Annuaire Statistique de Poche. 1945* op.cit.
PO'.
Figures for 1947 are not available.

Table II

llarital Status in Egypt 1937*

Male
Status

ITumber

Single
1,21+9,21+3
Harried
3,l05,ii+7
Divorced
60,231).
Yfidow (1 rridovrers 129,612
10,686
Others
Total
l+,55l+,9i6
^Source:

Female

Per­
cent

Humber

27 .1+

1+97,297
3,179,371
97,13U
932,321
6,561+
1+,712,687

68.3
1.3
2.8
0.2
100.0

Per­
cent

10.6
67.1+
2.1
19.3
0.1
100.0

Annuaire Statistique de Poche, op. cit. p.7

211
/•

Table 12. Birth Rate in Egypt 1901 - 1945*

Year
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1955
1936
1957
1938
1930
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
*Source:

Population in 1000
10,334
10,492
10,652
10,814
10,979
11,147
11,312
11,453
11,596
11,740
11,387
12,053
12,186
12,338
12,492
12,648
12,795
12,936 _
15,078
13,222
13,368
15,515
13,663
13,813
13,965
14,119
14,276
14,438
14,602
14,767
14,935
15,104
15,275
15,449
15,624
15,801
15,968
16,253
16,515
16,773
17,030
17,227
17,423
17,626
17,923
Annuaire Statistique, 1945.

Births in 1000
402
426
434
472
457
482
484
509
483
505
507
508
507
522
520
506
514
503
493
559
559
583
589
605
607
624
627
629
645
671
665
642
668
652
646
698
694
704
697
698
695
658
690
722
788

Rate per 1000
39.0
40.4
40.7
43.6
41.6
43.2
42.7
44.4
41. 6
45.0
42.6
42.2
41.6
42.3
41.6
40 .0
40.1
38 •8
37.6
42.2
41.8
43.1
43.1
43.7
43.5
44. 2
44.0
43.6
44.2
45.4
44.5
42.5
43.8
42.2
41.3
44.2
4*^>.5
43.5
43.3
41.6
40.8
38.2
39.6
41.0
43.9

212

Table 13. Death Date in Some Selected Countries
1935 - 1939-JS-

Country

Rate

lie-Maurice
Egypt
Chili
Mexico
Non Federated Malay States
Ceylan
Palestine Moslens
Rumania
Puerto-Rico
Costa-Rica
Palestine
England & Wales
United States
Union of South Africa
Canada
Netherlands
Hawai

23.6
27.6
23.7
25.4
21. 6 /
21.6^/
20.9
19.6
19.1
19.0
16.5
12.0
11.0
9.8
9.7
8.7
8;3

Source: League of Nations, Statistical Yearbook. Geneva,
1940-41. Table 6, p. 38.
1/ 1936-39.

213

Table 14. Death Rate In hgypt 1901 - 1941-::-

Year

Fopulation In 1000

1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1957
1938
1939
1940
1941

10,334
10,492
10,652
10,814
10,979
11,147
11,312
11,453
11,596
11,740
11,887
12.035
12,186
12,338
12,492
12,648
12,795
12,936
13,078
13,222
13,363
13,515
15,663
13,813
13,965
14,119
14.276
14,438
14,602
14,767
14,935
15,104
15,275
15,449
j
15,624
15,801
15,968
16,253
16,515
16,773
17,030

K-Source:

Deaths in 1000

Annuaire Statistique, 1945.

218
272 ■
236
278
263
263
301
283
305
305
325
295
309
o3o
350
376
376
512
384
370
334339
552
344
369
377
359.
380
40o
367
398
431
421
430
412
456
434
434
429
444
441
r? ty ry

Rate per 1000
21.1
26.0
22.1
25.7
24.0
23.6
26.6
24.7
26.3
25.9
27.3
24.5
25.3
27.0
28.0
29.7
29.4
39.5
29.3
27.9
25.0
25.1
25.8
24.8
26.4
26.7
25.2
26 .3
27.6
24.9
26 .6
28.5
27.5
27.8
26.4
28 .8
27.2
27.2
26.4
26 .5
25.9

Table 15

Infant Death Rates in Selected Countries *

Country

Year

Rate

Country

Year

Malta
Burma
Chile
Cyprus
Egypt ..
India
Costa Rica
Colombia
Ecuador
Palestine
(Moslems)
Philippine
Islands

19UZ
1939
1942
19U2
19h2
±9k2
19k2
19k2
19h2

345
20k
195
185
168
163
157
15U
11a

Finland
Canada
United Kingdom
United States
Netherlands
Hawaii
Australia
Switzerland
Norway

19U2
1942
19h2
19k2
19k2
19h2
19h2 ■
19h2
1939

67
5U
8it
itO
itO
39
39
38
37

19h2

1 I4O

19h2

29

19h2

139

Sweden
New
Zealand (whites)

19l|2

29

^Source:

Smith, T. L. Op. cit. pp. 266-267

Rate

Table 16. Expectation of Life in
.Some Selected Countries*

Age
Country
India
Egypt

Years

Sex

1951
1917'-1927

Brazil Cities

1920

Costa Rica

1931

U.S. Negroes

1959-41

U.S. Vi/hites

1939-41

prance

1928-38

Germany

1932-34

Denmark

1936-40

Netherlands

1931-40

0

20

50

70

M
P

26.9
26.6

29.6
27.1

14.3
14.7

6.4
6.7

M
P
M
P
M
P
ivl
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P
M
P

51.0
36.0
35. 6
39.7
46.7
40.7
52.3
55.6
62.8
67.3
54.3
59.0
59.9
62.8
S3. 5
65.8
65.7
67.2

32.9
35.8
34.1
39.2
37.9
57.9
39.5
42.0
47.8
51.4
43.3
47 .4
48.2
49.4
30 .3
51.1
51.0
51.5

18.1
19.4
16.4
20.9
17.5
17.5
19.1
21.0
22.0
24.7
20.3
23.4
22.5
23.9
23.7
24.5
24.1
24.7

9.6
10.3
7.6
9.2
7.0
7.0
10.1
11 •8
9.4
10. 5
8.3
9.6
9.1
9.6
9.6
10.0
9.8
10.2

* League of Na tions, Statistical Yearbook. Geneva, 1945.
Table 15 •

Table 17. Causes of Death m

Cause of Death

ng^p

No. of
Deaths

Ratioi/

1. Diarrhea and enteritis

55,000

1,060.5

2. Senility, old age

15,979

516.9

3. Congenital malformation and debility,
premature births and deseases peculiar
to the first year of life.

13,552

363.7

4. Bronchitis

12,272

239.1

5. Pneumonia .and bronchopneumonia

10,700

208.2

6. Nephritis

4,816

93.7

7. Avitaminosis and blood disease

4,465

86.9

8. Violent and accidental deaths

4,278

83.2

9. Diseases of the heart

4,011

78.0

.0. Intracranial lesions of vascular origin

2,919

56.8

* Source: U.S. Public Health Service, Summary of International
Vital Statistics, 1937-1944. U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, 1947.
1/Phe Ratio is the number of deaths per 100,000 population.

Tr.kle

18. Kinds, Amount & Value of the Agricultural Products
Imported By Egypt in 1937 and in 1947

1937
Kinds

Amount
in ton

Vineat and its products
Vegetables, Seeds...
Fruits and its
Products
Sugar and its
Products
Coffee, Tea, Cocoa
and Products
Spices
Oi^s and Waxes
Livestock, Meats
and Products
Milk and its
Products
Fish
Fertilizers
Agr. Equipment s
Total
Source:

1947
Value
in L.E.

Amount
in ton

Value
in L.E.

11,994
44,622

164,884
576,113

26,241
20,838

925,283
1,088,055

36,840

635,830

19,811

1,616,239

36,212

224,717

1,672

193,764

16, 068
1,423
27,123

1,210,992
45,207
708,312

24,427
1,680
7,640

5,697,500
237,573
523,401

26,683

655,006

13,968

953,129

4, 630
7,878
641,828
781

284,968
189,188
3,389,974
37,920

2,456
5,598
' 459,409
733

475,789
574,537
5,749,791
98,890

856,082

8,123,111

534,473

18,113,951

Egyptian Ministry of Agricultural, Economic & Agricultural
Statistics, Cairo, 1949.

Table 19. The principal units of Egyptian measure

L.E. = One Egyptian pound
P.T. - One Egyptian Paistre
L.E. - 100 P.T. = 1,000 Li H i ernes
= ::;2.87 (1949)
One feddan = 1.038 acres
One Kantar = 100 rotls
= 99.04 Lbs. (pounds)
=■ 44. S3 kilograms
One Kantar of unginned cotton =315 rotls
One Kantar of ginned
cotton = 100rotls
One Ardab r 5.44 bushels
One Ardab of wheat = 150 Kgs.
One Ardab of iiaize = 140 Kgs.
One Ardab of Earley = 120 Kgs.
One Lietrie ten = 2204 Lbs. (pounds)

219

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