Kaeo Soldier Tells Of Egyptian Farming

Northern Advocate, 26 August 1943, Page 5

Kaeo Soldier Tells Of Egyptian Farming

“Though Egyptians farm under the most primitive conditions on a type of soil that is as good as anywhere in the world, they obtain the maximum amount of produce from their land and the minimum amount of profit for their labour,” said Private L. S. McKeown, of Kaeo, who is home on furlough after three years' service in the Middle East. Private McKeown was discussing agricultural conditions in Egypt with the “Northern Advocate." “Felaheen”—the Egyptian peasant—was the hardest working man in the Middle East, said Pte. McKecwn. and received for his labour a very small amount contrasted with the farmers of New Zealand. The “felaheen” did much of the agricultural work and in many of their tasks used water buffalo for hauling and heavy work. Buffalo were also used fcr milking and beef. The milk of the buffalo had a very low fat content, was fairly tasteless compared with New Zealand milk and was coloured practically a pure white. Butter from buffalo’s milk had a similar taste and colour. In normal times, butter was imported from foreign countries but, owing to the present shipping difficulty, it was now produced by the Egyptians. “Before the war European residents in Egypt found it very hard to procure good butter,” said Private McKeown. Imported butter pre-war retailed at about 2 6 per lb. The bulk of the beef used in Egypt was imported from Sudan and Erilrea and it. was a very common sight to sec native boats sailing up the Nile, decks

awash with live cattle destined for Egyptian stomachs. On the tussocky country bordering on the irrigated sections of the Nile, sheep and goat farming were predominant. The main type of sheep run on the fields was the Arab fat tail.

“'Pigs are conspicuous by their absence,” said Private McKeown. He explained that their rarity was due to the fact that the large proportion of Jews and Moslems In Egypt were restricted, by religion, from, eating pork. Instead of pigs, the Egyptians had fowls, he said. Every small Egyptian settlement had a flock of fowls around it. An interesting fact was that the egg was approximately half the size of that of the New Zealand fowl. Primitive Dairying-

Dairying in Egypt was as primitive as the farming conditions. declared Private McKecwn. Egyptian butter was made by hand and co-operative dairy factories apparently did not exist. Dairying would be quite successful if done on a larger scale but, owing to the high rental of land, it was more profitable to go in for cropping. In the lower Delta area there were a few experimental Government farms on which pedigree Jersey stock was being raised. Soil in the Delta area had a very high fertility and produced big crops, but owing to the present great shortage cf fertiliser in Egypt and the forced growing conditions, with an excess of water and sunshine, vegetables and oilier crops lacked the distinctive taste of those grown in New Zealand. The great aggregation of fertile land in the region of the Delta was possessed by a few families. Rentals were very high and, in some areas, over £4O an acre was charged. Fertiliser Shortage Farming methods and implements were still of the type used in the days of the Pharaohs. “They seem to have satisfactory results, though a great deal of unnecessary labour is expended,” said Private McKeown. The Egyptian Government did not encorrage the use of modern machinery because of the economic condition of the country. Every available space of land near the Nile was made full use of except for large areas on the lower delta, where Governmental schemes, which would bring in thousands more acres of land fcr agricultural purposes when completed, were in progress. Through lack of suitable manure, present crops in Egypt were not as good as those produced before the war, when sufficient fertiliser was available. Phosphates were mainly used in Egypt before the war. “Now fertilisers are unprocurable in Egypt and each year, as the same depth of land is turned up by the primitive Egyptian wooden plough, no fresh soil is brought up to the top and consequently the yield of crops is not as good as it might, be,” said Private McKeown. Corn and maize were the biggest crops produced in Egypt. Before the war and up to the second year a great part of the fertile area of the Nile was under cotton, but: those areas were transplanted with grain crons to fulfil the needs of the great armies within Egypt. Sugar cane was also grown to a fairly large extent. A common sight, in Egyptian streets was the large number of sugar-cane vendors. Egyptians regarded sugar cane as a delicacy and used it much because of the high sweet content and the energy-giving properties. “In a field near Cairo I once saw rose bushes planted in long lines.” said Private McKeown. “Afterwards, when the roses were in bloom, I saw that corn had been planted among the bushes, and the jumble of corn and roses was an amusing sight to any New Zealander. The Egyptians were certainly using every available inch of ground for cropping.” In winter, most of the pastures were sown with alfalfa, used mainly for stock food and hay, to freshen up the soil.