CAIRO, Egypt — Since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011, Egypt has been in a continuous state of political transition that has recently culminated in the election of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former Egyptian army chief, to the presidency in May 2014.
The election had a roughly a 45 percent voter turnout, and Sisi won it by a wide margin. Many in the rural areas of the country contributed to his victory in return for his campaign promises to address the currently ailing agricultural sector of the country.
So far, however, his campaign promises have not materialized into any concrete measures, and after his subsequent election all that currently remains are vague polices with no substantial steps taken towards implementing them.
In fact, one measure that he is pushing for, the cutting of both fuel and food subsidies, could contribute to further impoverishment of a significant section of the population. The World Bank estimated in 2013 that the removal of the high food subsides could derail food security in the nation for millions and result in the raising of the national poverty rate by almost 10 percent.
In May, prior to Sisi’s election as president, the then candidate spoke of a plan in which over four million new acres of land would be utilized for farmers. This would bolster the agricultural and economic sectors of the country as it would provide both crops and jobs for the nation. However, despite the campaign assurances no such plan, nor the four million acres, have yet materialized.
With a population estimated in 2013 of roughly 82 million individuals, the country has according to the most recent survey by the World Bank in 2011, an Egyptian poverty rate of 25 percent. The poverty rate is much higher in rural areas.
Upper Egypt, a region ironically located in the south of the nation, houses 40 percent of the nation’s population and 70 percent of the nation’s poor. In Upper Egypt, Sisi won the vote nearly unanimously with 97.2 percent of the vote.
Conditions in Upper Egypt are not favorable. Access to basic services are limited in the region, with both sanitation and safe water sources sparse. Residents in this area also suffer from high rates of illiteracy, malnutrition and infant mortality.
According to Egypt Network for Integrated Development, a project funded by the U.N. Development Programme and aimed at combating poverty in Egypt, only little more than 10 percent of people have access to clean running water and sanitation in Upper Egypt. The high prevalence of unsafe water in the region leads to both health problems such as kidney failure and cancer, as well as playing a factor in harvest failures.
It is further reported that in this region 74.3 percent of the households suffer from chronic food insecurity. This data is from Egypt’s own 2011 Household Income, Expenditure and Consumption Survey.
With most farmers in the region possessing small plots of lawn, cultivating few crops, their efforts and lives could be further marred as the government is currently in discussion for increasing fertilizer prices.
Health and Education also suffer in this area. This is shortage of essential medicines in many rural communities, and both educational and health facilities lack the capabilities to deal with the volume of those arriving at their doors. Classes of more than 70 are common.
Along with this are illiteracy rates that are significantly higher that those in urban parts of the nation. Illiteracy rates in urban areas are 17.7 percent, while it is almost double that for rural residents at 31 percent. This illiteracy rate is also gendered with 40.4 percent of female residents in rural areas being illiterate compared to only 21.4 percent of males in the same areas.
Despite the government’s current lack of response to these problems, thus rural plight is not ignored by all. Currently, the World Bank through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development has $4.6 billion investment in Egypt through 24 projects in Egypt, centering around such various topics as transport. Power, agriculture, and water and sanitation among others.
ENID which was started in 2012 and aims to run till the end of 2016 also runs a variety of small scale projects in the nation. These projects include: the distributing of 30 chickens to the 20 poorest households in two villages to encourage poultry production, the encouragement of small-scale manufacturing in various villages though the establishing of systems of apprenticeships to support local artisans, the establishing of two girls education and vocational training schools, the training of teachers on the importance of women’s literacy, giving a mobile health unit to be used for four villages and installing a preschool in another village.
However, while movement is being made to aid Upper Egypt and the Egyptian rural poor as a whole, the greatest source of help can only come from Egypt’s own government. Ultimately, is up to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to prove that his heartfelt promises made on the campaign trail weren’t simply empty words said in an effort to garner rural votes.
– Albert Cavallaro
Sources: IRIN News, Egypt Independent 1, Egypt Independent 2, Al-monitor, UNDP, The World Bank 1, The World Bank 2, BBC
Photo: Daily News Egypt,