On September 9 every year, Egypt celebrates its Farmer’s Day to express gratitude to farmers and agriculture stakeholders for their dedicated service and their vital role in developing the nation’s economy.
However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the farmer’s day holds a special significance in light of the fact that the government and other NGOs are working round the clock to help the country fight the recent global issue.
The day also coincides with the release of the Agrarian Reform Law in 1952, which has had a significant impact on farmers.
At that time, the Egyptian government addressed key national goals including the promotion of equity and social justice, food security, and poverty alleviation in the countryside.
On this basis, people of the countryside commemorate this patriotic occasion by coming together and by thanking all national heroes for bringing them the prosperity and freedom they enjoy today.
In the same context, officials and representatives of the Agriculture Ministry took this occasion to confer words of praise upon the Egyptian farmers and express their gratitude to them for their dedicated services.
The government also remembers the suffering and struggle of Egypt’s farmers, who, despite their poverty, insisted on being productive in order to reverse their dismal conditions.
After January 25 Revolution in 2011, Egypt has become more aware of farmers’ worth.
A great portion of their debts to the Principal Bank for Agricultural Credit and Development has been dropped, staple crops are now purchased at near-world price levels and periodical meetings are regularly held with farmers’ representatives to discuss their problems.
But most importantly is that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attaches paramount importance to supporting farmers and utilising all potentials to provide them with decent life.
Moreover, thousands of farmers, who were engaged in the digging of the Suez Canal, staged a strike in January 1862 to protest against forced labour and bad living conditions.
During the 1919 Revolution, Zefta farmers and intellectuals banded together, declared independence and formed a national council to run the affairs of their province and to protect it against British troops. The revolt inspired other provinces nationwide.
Meanwhile, the Mohamed Farid National Party defended the rights of farmers to justice and to improved living conditions. The party paid special attention to co-operatives, trade unions and schools for farmers’ children.
In 1935, the party called for reclaiming agricultural lands and distributing them in small plots to farmers. In the few years of Wafd rule, several farmer-related achievements were attained particularly in the area of agricultural credit, free education and preventing foreigners from owning agricultural land.
In the years 1950 and 1951, the Socialist Party raised the slogan: “The land belongs to those who farm it.” The Party’s Senate member engineer Ibrahim Shokri submitted a draft law limiting agricultural land ownership to 50 feddans.
The farmers’ movement gathered momentum throughout the period from 1948 to 1952, with battles having been fought against injustices and forced labour in numerous villages in Lower and Upper Egypt and with many destitute farmers and intellectuals having sacrificed their lives to the cause.
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