The most decisive change concerning land tenure was brought about by
the Land Reform Laws of 1952, 1961 and 1969 under President Nasser. Land
ownership was successively limited to 200 feddans, 100 feddans and finally to
50 feddans (1 feddan = 1.038 acre) per individual and to 100 feddans per nuclear
family. Tables 8.1 and 8.2 show the effects of this redistribution of feudal
land. The reforms meant that between 1952 and 1970 about 817,500 feddans
(848,600 acres) of agricultural land, i.e. 12.5 per cent of total arable land,
were sold cheaply to about 342,000 landless fellaheen, which then constituted
about 9 per cent of all rural families (Abdel-Fadil 1975: 10).
The structure of land ownership before the First Land Reform in 1952,
and in 1995 before implementation of the new land rent law in 1997, was as
shown in Tables 8.2 and 8.3 and in Figures 8.1 and 8.2.