Class, State and Agricultural Productivity in Egypt: Study of the Inverse Relationship between Farm Size and Land Productivity

by Dyer; Graham

• ISBN13: 9780714647074
• ISBN10: 0714647071
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-04-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

For over a generation, demographic developments have had a crucial bearing on the economic, social and political situation in a number of Middle Eastern countries. Two societies in particular, the Palestinian and the Egyptian, have seen the weft and warp of their fabric significantly affected by natural increase and migration. This study provides a general outline of Palestinian population growth between 1948 and 1987 and then focuses on the town of Nablus for a detailed analysis of the main aspects of Palestinian migration and high rates of natural increase. The author shows how the recession that struck the Arab oil economies in the early 1980s, by slowing down the migratory movement, shut off the valve that had afforded the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza relief from economic pressures. He also analyses how Jordan, in coping with the resulting demographic and economic pressures, adopted an antinatalist policy despite powerful political and social forces working against such a programme.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	ix	(4)
Acknowledgements	xiii	(2)
Foreword	xv
INTRODUCTION The Present study: Nature and Rationale	1	(8)
I The Nature of the Inverse Relationship and its Apparent Policy Implications	9	(17)
Introduction	9	(1)
I.1 Some apparent policy implications	10	(4)
I.2 Conceptual, statistical and methodological problems	14	(5)
I.3 The inverse relationship vindicated and some conjoint relationships	19	(2)
Summary and conclusions	21	(2)
Notes to Chapter I	23	(3)
II Theoretical Approaches to the Inverse Relationship: Qualitative and Quantitative Factor Differences	26	(21)
Introduction	26	(1)
II.1 Management and labour quality hypotheses	27	(4)
II.2 Land fertility hypothesis	31	(4)
II.3 Labour intensity and labour market dualism: the Sen model	35	(5)
II.4 A critique of the marginalist approach	40	(2)
Summary and conclusions	42	(2)
Notes to Chapter II	44	(3)
III A Class-Based Approach and the Breakdown of the Inverse Relationship in the Dynamic Context.	47	(17)
Introduction	47	(1)
III.1 Beyond the marginalist approach	47	(3)
III.2 The inverse relationship in the context of backward agriculture	50	(3)
III.3 The static nature of the Sen approach and the breakdown of the inverse relationship in the dynamic context	53	(7)
Summary and conclusions	60	(1)
Notes to Chapter III	61	(3)
IV The Evidence for an Inverse Relationship between Farm Size and Productivity in Egypt: A Shadow Debate	64	(17)
Introduction	64	(1)
IV.1 Some evidence for an inverse relationship in Egypt: Shepley, Radwan, Wilson and Mabro	65	(4)
IV.2 Aggregation and land heterogeneity: Crouch et al.	69	(3)
IV.3 The inverse relationship denied in Egypt: Platt and Commander	72	(3)
Summary and conclusions	75	(1)
Notes to Chapter IV	76	(5)
V The Political Economy of the Contemporary Egyptian Countryside	81	(19)
Introduction	81	(1)
V.1 Agrarian reform and the consolidation of the rich peasantry	81	(4)
V.2 The agrarian elite and the co-operative system	85	(3)
V.3 Rich peasants and co-operative credit	88	(3)
V.4 Implications with respect to the diffusion of modern technology of rich peasant bias in credit	91	(2)
V.5 The dominance of the rich peasantry and the political sphere	93	(3)
Summary and conclusions	96	(1)
Notes to Chapter V	97	(3)
VI A Disaggregated Analysis of the ILO Data: Technical Change and the Inverse Relationship in Egypt	100	(13)
Introduction	100	(1)
VI.1 The ILO survey and its characteristics	101	(2)
VI.2 Analysis and results: (i) The Radwan regression and its questionable nature -- the need for a more disaggregated approach	103	(1)
VI.3 Analysis and results: (ii) A digression on technological change in Egyptian agriculture, uneven development and regional heterogeneity	104	(4)
VI.4 Analysis and results: (iii) A disaggregated analysis and evidence of transition	108	(3)
Summary and conclusions	111	(1)
Notes to Chapter VI	112	(1)
VII A Closer Look at the Inverse Relationship in the Context of Agrarian Transition: Evidence from Fieldwork in Rural Egypt	113	(20)
Introduction	113	(1)
VII. Fieldwork methodology and problems	113	(5)
VII.2 An inverse relationship village in Giza	118	(5)
VII.3 The roots of the inverse relationship in Shubak	123	(7)
Summary and conclusions	130	(1)
Notes to Chapter VII	130	(3)
VIII A Positive Relationship Village in Qena and the Emerging Comparative Picture in the Context of Egyptian Agrarian Transition	133	(15)
Introduction	133	(1)
VIII.1 A positive relationship village in Qena	133	(7)
VIII.2 The emerging comparative picture and a conclusion with regard to the inverse relationship	140	(5)
Summary and conclusions	145	(2)
Notes to Chapter VIII	147	(1)
APPENDIX A Statistical Tables	148	(49)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	197	(7)
AUTHOR INDEX	204	(2)
SUBJECT INDEX	206