After a long period of stability, Egypt’s agricultural sector experienced sudden change due to the 1973 oil price increases and Anwar Sadat’s Open Door economic policies. Workers left rural Egypt for the cities and high-wage jobs in the oil-exporting countries. The resulting “labor shortage†and rising real wages in agriculture coincided with a

The basic objective of agricultural research at ICARDA is to enhance pro ducer and consumer welfare through increasing the productivity, stability, and profitability of agriculture. Improved practices must be technically, ec onomically, and socially suitable to farmer conditions. The rainfed areas of West Asia and North Africa have highly variable environmental conditions as well as complex social and economic structures. In recent years, the region has been experiencing major changes in the relative availabilities and costs of the classical factors of production: land, labor, and capital. These changes have important implications for the design of new agricultural technology. On the one hand, the availability of labor may be an important factor determining the acceptability of new technology. On the other, it is important to consider the impact that technology can have on rural employment. To develop a better awareness of these issues and their relevance to technology development, ICARD A initiated a project on Agricultural Labor and Tech nological Change. The first stage of the project is published here; it is a review of available literature on selected issues of regional importance, com bined with more detailed analyses of the situations of eight countries with important rainfed agricultural sectors. ICARDA greatly appreciates the financial assistance of the Ford Foun dation, which allowed us to support the execution of the study and publi cation of its findings. We also appreciate the great efforts of the authors in the face of often limited data and facilities.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book reflects the argument on agrarian transformation in Egypt. It focuses on the role of agricultural mechanization in the labor process in rural Egypt. The book emphasizes the changing role of the household and the relations between households, particularly the role of women and children. .