Egyptian ministry faces backlash over steep rent rises on agricultural land

Authorities in Egypt are facing a backlash from farmers and rural communities over steep increases in rent charged on state-administered charitable lands, at times as much as double or even triple the previous rates, across all provinces.

The move by the Ministry of Religious Endowments (Awqaf) has stoked debate over the government’s new, profit-driven approach to management of public assets once viewed as charitable trusts.

Until a decade ago, farmers leasing Awqaf land paid modest fees, with the most expensive plot reaching about 1,800 Egyptian pounds ($38) per feddan (about 0.42 hectares) annually.

However, rental rates varied widely based on location, soil quality and real estate laws, and sometimes on the conditions laid out in the donor's contract with the ministry.

The low rates underpinned thousands of long-standing tenancies. The fees rose slowly after 2013 following multiple lawsuits by the Awqaf Ministry, which wanted the rents to reflect inflation and repeated currency devaluations, to reach about 18,000 pounds ($378) per feddan for the most valuable holdings by last season.

Under the new valuations for the current agricultural year, which began in September, rates for top-tier plots have soared to as much as 55,000 pounds annually, with rates nationwide at least doubling.

The ministry has defended its decision, calling it an overdue effort to “make better use of our holdings”.

“We are often called the wealthiest ministry because people assume we own all this wealth that citizens have given over to charity. That isn’t true. We are merely administrators of that wealth and under obligation to invest it in the most profitable way,” ministry spokesman Osama Raslan said on a TV talk show on Monday.

A farmworker cuts wheat by hand during the harvest in Sharqiya province, Egypt. Until a decade ago, farmers leasing Awqaf land paid modest rent. Bloomberg

Mr Raslan has been on a media charm offensive, aimed at calming a wave of public anger that culminated in the head of the f