10
COLLAPSING OF THE INCOME OF PEASANTRY
AND VIOLATING THEIR OWN RIGHTS
This paper is one of a group of similar papers predetermined to be issued in a sequence to monitor the changes that occurred because the implementation of the law No. 96 of 1992. Those changes that happened to the farmers life in the Egyptian Rural Areas particularly in concerning the economic and social aspects.
The paper come as mainly concentrated on one of the most important factors tat affected the income of the farmers in general and the tenant farmers in particular. Where the study on which this paper predicated has shown the facts about the size of damages that affected the income of those people during the period from 1991 to 1999.
Thus it has been manifested that the fiscal damages of them reached about £E 6.584.400.000, while the lost in 1997 alone reached £E 2.083.200.000. This indicates the collapsing of the income after the implementation of the law in discussion. The fact is each of tenants in the Egyptian countryside has lost about £E 2.400 from his annual income.
The paper, then, manifests some models of those landowners and tenants for supporting the figures and arguments that mentioned in the study, by real models on ground and from the various villages in Egypt’s countryside. By these means we aim to show the facts that reflect the ambiguous reality in which those farmers live and the sever conditions under which they try to survive. In this context, you find that the paper is mainly concerned to manifest the reasons behind those situation and try to ask the question whether the main reason is that those groups are excluded from the process of making decision? Only?
The paper in this concern emphasizes the impact of Land Law on the rental value and the income of farmers rather than the other aspects of returns the farmers get from the land and so because these matters are discussed in other paper.
On this base, the paper is confined only to discussing the deficiency occurred to the income of farmers because of the raise of rental value that folded by more than 200% than it was before October 1997.
We approach this aim from five main pivots:
The first pivot manifests the categories of farmers that are prescribed to implement the law on their plots. This pivot also discusses the categories of farmers who have land possessions (Hiaza) both before the implementation as well as after the implementation passed by the transitional period with what accompanied of changes happened to the rental value.
Through the second pivot we try to correlate between the change in the rental value and those damages from which the farmers do suffer. Thus the costs reached about £E 6.584.400.000 the matter that led to a crucial deficiency of their income while the income of land owners have been raised equally to the size of farmers’ mentioned damage.
Under the third pivot, we discuss the other factors that led to decreasing of the tenant farmers’ income. In this respect, the paper assigns a space for discussing the ways are followed in distributing the wealth in Egypt; how this wealth are created and generated because of some laws without adding any value to the national income.
And under the fourth pivot, we concluded some findings from the field study run in the three villages mentioned above. In addition, we present some of case studies on the farmers and land- owners.
Finally, through the fifth pivot the paper ends with some recommendations that are necessary, in the Center’s view, as a remedy for the disturbance that resulted from the implementation of land law.
In the end, we would like to mention that the paper and the other in the same sort would be issued late represent the production of arduous work and persistent effort exerted by the workers of Land Center throughout three year. Where they dedicated themselves for this issue since it the issuing of the draft law of this now- implemented law. Those workers, reinforced by a team of specialist lawyers and researchers did not waste a moment in searching the development of the agricultural situation in Egypt’s countryside. Now, what we hope for is that this paper and the coming ones would be useful and enticing deliberation about those crucial situation as well as to be helpful for putting real solution for these deteriorated situations from which the farmers are suffering in Egypt’s countryside.