The new policy was to close the gap between the rents paid and the market
prices for landed property. This hit the small landholders, who were already
struggling to make a living, hard. They are not able to pay the LE1,500–2,300
rent required per feddan yearly. This is why today agricultural land is gradu-
ally reverting into the hands of richer people, who usually gain their main
income from other sources. Müller-Mahn (2001c) speaks of ‘the return of
the Pashas’ in this context. This is, of course, only meant to be figurative,
because most of the ‘returning’ landowners own less than 5 acres. However,
it is estimated that after the application of the new land law in 1997 about
one million tenants lost the land that their fathers and grandfathers used to
rent for cultivation before them. Landowners took it away, sometimes with
the support of the police, under the pretext that they wanted to farm them-
selves. In most cases, however, they let it to other tenants, not only because
in this way they could get a higher rent but also because they wanted to
prevent the old tenants from acquiring customary occupancy rights. For the
same reason, they made the new renting contracts valid only for one year.