An Agricultural Strategy without Farmers: Egypt’s Countryside in the New Millennium

Abstract

This article argues that Egypt's countryside is at a turning point. The economic reforms have not delivered the intended improvements in production and yet there is little indication that the Government of Egypt (GoE) will manage to work with the IFIs to promote an alternative economic adjustment. The reforms began in Egypt's agricultural sector in the mid‐1980s and were eventually matched in 1991 by an economic reform and structural adjustment programme (ERSAP) and a renewed programme with the IFIs in 1996. Macro‐economic targets set by the IFIs have helped stabilise the economy, reduce government expenditure, inflation and budget deficits although large scale privatisation of state assets have failed to emerge and so too has significant economic growth (Pfeifer, 1999; Mitchell, 1999). Attention has particularly focused on price and marketing reforms in agriculture, on the slashing of subsidies and on the promotion of cash crops for export. Land reform, favouring landowners and marginalising tenant interests, has also been central to agricultural transformation. Sustained and diverse economic growth has eluded Egypt's economy. Unemployment remains a central problem exacerbated by the economic reforms as levels of rural and urban poverty have also risen.