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64 died , 314 injured , 265 arrested during last six months of 1990 in Egypt rural areas due to farmland disputes
The year 99 has passed while hundreds of Egyptian farmers suffer various sorts of difficulties and agonies. Many of those farmers and their sons were either killed or arrested.
It was also a bleak year for many other farmers especially those who failed to pay exaggerated rents imposed on them or being unable to sustain harsh living conditions after their land have being taken from them. Still many others endure the trouble for being not able to resettle their differences with the agricultural and development bank. .
Within this gloomy atmosphere the seventh edition of Land and Farmer series has issued. The new issue entitle Farmers’ Disputes, Victims and Violations monitors violent incidents that taken place during last six months of 1999 between farmers and government institutions on one hand and among farmers themselves on the other. Such incidents as being noted were mostly related to conventional farmland disputes as tenancy rights, inheritance issues, land boundary disputes or failure in settling rent of land.
However, according to number of casualties or arrested people the report indicates that disputes over land possession rights have ranked the first. It followed by disputes on irrigation waters, inheritance, farmland boundaries and inability to pay land rents.
However, the most important in whole issue is that the collective trend of resistance for ‘92 Tenancy Law has totally limited during this period, the report noted. It describes what is happening of disputes nowadays between landlords and tenant farmers as an act of settlement of old accounts.
The new report also points out a number of law violations that staged at hands of officials of government’s institutions that banned houses construction in farming lands. Examples are abounding on such violations. The report pointed to minister of housing’ decree removing 140 feddans of crops plantation at Borg El-Arab district. And the sequent action taken by the authority of New Urban Communities that deprived the area of irrigation water to kill its growing crops and force farmers to leave it for good.
In addition, in Suze Province decrees were issued to remove farmlands belong to 200 families in El-Mahgereen area. Those decrees, according to the province officials have made to give space for increasing the city’s cordon. This act has infuriated tens of farmers and youths who gathered and staged a set-in before the province headquarters to force the governor hear their complaints.
The new report also monitors the deterioration happening to others aspects of services, as healthcare, at rural areas. In this regard, it asserted that health services currently present to farmers are very poor and may not available at some other areas. Supporting its findings the report said that 50 farmers have badly suffered from Typhoid infection at Abou Khalid village of Delta province of Dakahalya. Moreover due to lack of proper healthcare facilities and experienced stuff at most of the hospitals there, they have treated on their own cost at private clinics, the report clarified. An analysis conducted by Dr. R. AbdulWahab, on samples of the village’s drinking water shown that it was mixed with refuses of animals, which contain several disease agents.
The report also indicates that there was an increase in rate infection by bilharziasis in 32 village in the Upper Egyptian province of Menya. The disease high rate of infection attributed to lack of medicines and farmers’ use of irrigation waters for drinking, bathing and wishing of clothes. Also in neighboring Souhj province a number of reports published by labs of the province public utilities and housing authority indicated that drinking water at Souhj district is not suitable for use and could cause kidney disorders for users.
Further south at Luxor City and in Al-Awaedya village, sinks and scorpions were coincidentally discovered living in its water tanks. Not less than 40,000 citizens at this village are drown their needs of water from those tanks. The natives explaining such strange finding said that the tanks are not well protected.
Again from the Delta the report indicated that 55 of Al-Shakiya province’s villages receive polluted drinking water. It added that passing of Bahar El-Bager drainage canal through many of the province’s villages is the main reason behind polluting of these villages drinking water. It is known that sanitation waters of Greater Cairo are being discharged without any treatment into this canal.
The report also addresses the problem of irrigation water. In most cases the water let into those canals do not reach its ends which stop the growth of many crops at those areas. The main reasons behind this problem, as indicated by the report, was lack of proper cleaning of irrigation canals; suspending of a plan to cementing walls of those canals; and finally inadequacy of the water discharge for those areas.
The report went on to say that farmers asserted that this problem is there for many years and they have made many complaints for the ministry of irrigation to correct this situation but to no avail. All that happens at the time some new canals are being constructed to supply Nile water for the first time to some new areas. This work has been exacted without taken in consideration old lands’ needs of waters or the consequent effect on life of million of farmers survive on outputs of those lands.
Under this category of disputes the report points to protest staged by 150 farmers in front of Fayyum province headquarters so recently. The protestors who own 10,000 feddans and mainly from Quota district complained the lack of enough irrigation water in the canal feeding their farms, a matter that has lead to destroying of many crops. They have asked the authorities there to increase their share in irrigation water to cover their needs. In addition, in the Delta province of Kafr El-Shakh, farmers filed complaints to ministers of irrigation and agriculture asking them to find a solution for the problem of irrigation water at 150 feddans of their fields. In Demankia Village, Dosuq district, of Gharbya province, 3000 cultivated feddans could possibly perished after blocking of the main canal providing them with water. That happened after collapsing of a road paralleling this canal and blocking its main outlets. Farmers submitted many complaints to authorities to widen this road and increase number of the canal outlets, but nothing of that has been done until now .
The report other sections point to the recklessness and negligence on part of Ministry of Agriculture and its departments in controlling crop pests and diseases and providing farmers with healthy seeds and many other inputs at reasonable prices. this has lead to lowing of farmers income and dwindling of production per area especially of important crops like cotton.
Statement included in this report prove that. For instance in Bassyn rural district of Delta province of Gharbya, agriculture department to control cotton leaf worm has used invalid pesticides that destroyed large area of cotton plantations at Mit Shreif village. Also the ministry of agriculture has not used pheromones in controlling insects pests. Such pheromones are known to disturb male insects and kill them. Other farmers from Kafr El-Sheikh indicated that cotton plantations there badly infected with wilting disease even before the collection. The polls of cotton noted to get dry and gradually turn into wood.
In Fakqus rural district of Sharkya province farmers filed a complaint before agriculture ministry accusing its administration there of reluctance in controlling cotton leaf worms infestations in their fields and for its refusal to give them insecticides to control the worms themselves. The farmers attributed such negative response on part of the administration to a dispute between them and a landowner who claims the ownership of their land.
Other crops like sugar cane were also subjected for serious pest infestations. In Upper Egypt of Luxur, lager are of sugar cane plantations have been infested by scale insects. Such insect pest can put more than 1500 eggs per hour and its life cycle takes only six hours. The report also indicates that Qina’s agriculture department has directed all of its agricultural personnel to monitor the development of this pest's population throughout the province sugar cane plantations. The aim of this operations was for knowing the pest's real infestation rate and conducting of chemical control operations whenever necessary. However, the farmers there said that they the one pay cost of chemical control operations if being conducted. Such operations cost reach between LE 80 to 120 per acre. Unfortunately none of those monitoring operations has stopped the development of the pest as Land Center report indicated.
Other farmers’ disputes highlighted in this report was that between tenant farmers and authority of agrarian reform, agriculture ministry and its directorates. For instance the report points to the problem of accumulate debts on farmers for interest of the Agrarian Reform authority.
However, dispute the fact that ministry of agriculture has suspended procedures of administrative confiscation against stumbling farmers of the Agrarian Reform, still there is some provinces that have not yet adhered to such instructions . In Beni Suif for instance officials there said they would not carry out by the ministry’s orders. But the most serious act committed in this regard was that happened in El-Manya Province. The officials of Agrarian Reform in Malawi rural district expelled 1060 farmers from their land and sold 125 feddans of them out .
Some of the farmers’ reactions to unfair acts against their rights were also monitored by this report. For instance the report indicates that farmer have planted more area to rice than that designed by agricultural authorities especially after increasing of rice prices at local market. As a result government imposed heavy fines and imprisonment terms against four million farmers during 1999. All that happened while the government claims to successful applying the market economy policy that call for freeing of prices and increasing of production.
The report also shows that during the last period there were also some problems relating to disputes on inherited lands and tenancy rights. The majority of those disputes have ended in losing of many lives, injuring, and arresting of many others. The report attributes the happening of such disputes to unstable situations evolving the tenancy relations, which formulated after issuance of the new act.
The report states a number of land disputes relating to difference in farmland boundaries that claimed many lives. However, it indicates that such problem happened due to change in tenant farmers and handing over of the lands to its old owners.
Finally, the report concluding its finding in driving some of observations and recommendations which it believe it would be of great benefit to settle many of farmers disputes on land if they being considered.
The first of those observations is:
¨ Still there is a great threat available from letting landowners free in determining the values of their lands rent. The new-signed contract s under this system has for become a forcible tool for determining period and value of rent. This on one hand has lead to degrading of land quality and causing of many disputes among farmers and landowner due to farmers’ inability to pay such high values of rents. For this reason we see it very important that the relation between tenant and owner reconsidered to be more supportive for the weaken side and for protecting rights of land owners. We could also avoid the deteriorating of the farmland quality, which always damaged due to shortness of rent period.
¨ Improvement of the irrigation network to increase amount of water reaching lands currently suffering from water shortage. Priority should be also given for improving the soil conditions at old lands because such lands sustaining the living of small and poor categories of farmers and for being highly productive.
¨ It also noted that the policy that made t ministry of Agriculture responsible for researches and extension services, and liberated the prices of agriculture inputs, has ended the role of Agricultural Bank and Cooperative societies. Both institutions currently act like any trader as they sell such input without any consideration to the nature of the agricultural activity. In this regard we would to point to a fact that in absence of a role for those institutions some of the traders have managed to distribute unhealthy seeds to poor farmers whom attracted to it due to its low prices. Such act has resulted in damaging of large areas of cultivated lands. Therefore we do recommend a strict follow up for such operations and that the ministry should compensate the affected farmers.
¨ It also noted that healthcare in rural community has ranked second in the health ministry priorities after introducing of medical treatment privatization. Very few specialists are now available at rural areas’ main hospitals that in addition to lack of facilities and assisting staff. For these reasons, we ask the government to reconsider its policies concerned with providing of health care and services for its poor citizens.
¨ We also believe leaving millions of tenant farmers without any organizational sit-up could involve them in many violent, undesirable events. Such assumption looks possible amid the absence of a clear role for cooperatives, workers unions or farmers associations at rural areas. Therefore, we call upon the government to free the right to formation of farmers’ associations and unions and provide an ideal atmosphere to enable them successfully accomplished this goal.
¨ Finally, we would like to emphasize the fact that small holder farmers were the prime losers of the ‘92 tenancy law. Moreover, some of them lost everything, while others managed to re-rent land at higher rent value. Therefore it would not be of any justness that such poor people to be leaf to suffer more from many troubles at hands of the Principle Bank for Agriculture credits and Development. The bank officials still insist in forcing stumbling farmers to settle the old debts and their interests. Such farmers were not able to settle such debts during their high days, how they could do that in those hard days. Therefore we recommend that such policies should be reconsidered and farmer should only asked to pay the actual amounts they have borrowed, while the interest have to be considered as lost debts.
Finally, the report calls on senior officials of ministers of agriculture, irrigation, health and labor to work together in implementing those e recommendations. It also calls on members of people and local councils to hold meetings and issue recommendations that focus on farmers' rights and halt the violations, in accordance with the Constitution, Law and other human rights conventions.