Agrarian Reforms by Nasser

By: Kabeer Qazi

Background
Prior to the 1952 coup that installed Naguib as President, less than six percent
of Egypt's population owned more than 65% of the land in the country, and
less than 0.5% of Egyptians owned more than one-third of all fertile land. They
charged very high rent which made the lives of peasants difficult as it took
almost 70% of their revenue. In addition to this, there was no set minimum
wage and labourers on farms suffered by getting insignificant wages for their
hard work. This created an environment of unrest in the country and an
Egyptian historian Anouar Abdel Malek to call the peasants “an exploited mass
surrounded by hunger, disease and death”. The Free Officers were aware of
this situation and passed a series of laws to correct it, starting from the first
Agrarian Reform Law passed by General Naguib in 1952.
First Agrarian Reform Law
It was passed on 9th September, 1952 by General Neguib and named Law
178. It limited land ownership to 200 feddans (207 acres) and the government
seized lands exceeding the maximum value. The seized lands were
redistributed in small plots, ranging from 2-5 feddans, to peasants who owned
less than 5 feddans of land. A minimum wage of 18 piasters a day(equivalent
to 52 cents at the time) was also established, which was to be paid to
labourers at any cost. Government-established cooperatives were put into
place to help farmers holding less than five feddans obtain supplies such as
fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds and transport their products to market.
Furthermore, it became a rule that the rent of a plot of land should not exceed
the value of seven times its tax.
Second and Third Agrarian Reform Law
The second law (Law 127) was passed in 1961 which was not aimed to bring
about many changes. It only reduced the maximum amount of land a family
could hold to 100 feddans (103 acres). The third and final law (Law 50) was
passed in 1969 in which the ceiling for land ownership was halved to 50
feddans per owner, while maintaining 100 feddans for a family.
Effect on Egyptians
Initially, the land reform laws essentially abolished the political influence of
major landowners and went a long way in reducing the grave inequalities
between peasants and feudal lords. However, it only resulted in the
redistribution of about 15% of Egypt's land under cultivation and later on, the
effects of land reform in Egypt drew to a halt as the population of Egypt
moved away from agriculture. Many scholars feel the reform never fully
realized its objectives, particularly because many large landowners managed
to maintain possession of estates vastly larger than the limits outlined by the
reform, and more than half of the rural population continued to work as
landless laborers. It is worth mentioning that the number of small landholders
did increase due to these laws and the poor farmers got more shares in the
land which helped them get out of poverty.
Bibliography
● https://landinrevolt.wordpress.com/nasser-and-land-refrom/
● https://www.revolvy.com/page/Land-reform-in-Egypt
● http://www.economywatch.com/agrarian/land/egyptian.html
● https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1536-7150.1957.tb00212
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