Following the exchange of an urgent memorandum and a detailed ministry response, lawmakers are preparing for a key intervention to protect small tenant farmers from financial strain.
The committee issued an urgent memorandum after receiving multiple complaints from smallholders across several governorates about unexpected increases in annual rent.
Many of these farmers, some cultivating only one or two feddans, have worked Endowments (waqf) land for decades using their own resources. The memorandum noted protests in several villages after fertilizer allocations were withheld unless farmers accepted the new rental rates.
According to the memorandum, rent rose from EGP 400 per feddan in 2014 to EGP 13,000 in 2024, while the Endowments Authority has proposed raising it to EGP 45,000 per feddan for 2025/2026.
The committee described this as “significantly inflated.” Lawmakers noted that these increases far exceed agricultural commodity price growth and risk undermining farmers’ livelihoods.
While acknowledging the authority’s role in protecting endowed assets, the committee recommended implementing any increases gradually over two or three years to give farmers time to adjust.
In its formal reply, the Ministry of Endowments defended its assessment process, saying the new valuations are part of a broader plan to improve the economic performance of endowments' assets.
The ministry noted in published statements that even the highest rental category remains below EGP 55,000 per feddan, which is still lower than many market rates in several governorates.
In Luxor, for example, rental values range from EGP 8,000 to EGP 18,000 depending on land type, location, and fertility.
Ministry spokesman Osama Raslan said the ministry is committed to a “compassionate approach” toward smallholders, especially those farming plots between one kirat (1/24 of a feddan) and three feddans, and considers their protection a priority due to their role in food production.
He added that the endowment minister has directed leniency toward small farmers and established a technical committee of agricultural experts to review the issue.
Raslan also outlined recent organizational measures by the ministry to improve asset management.
These include investments in irrigation networks, upgraded agricultural services, and modern systems to boost land productivity, which he said directly benefit tenants.
The ministry has adopted a four-tier land classification system that bases valuation on plot size, fertility, productive potential, and location, while ensuring endowment land rents remain below market averages.
Despite these measures, criticism from farming representatives has grown.
Sayed Khalifa, head of the Agricultural Syndicate, called the ministry’s new rates “unprecedented” and “unsustainably burdensome,” saying that in some areas rent jumped from EGP 18,000 to EGP 48,000 per feddan in one year.
He stated that land under the Agricultural Reform Authority rents for only EGP 10,000 to EGP 12,000 per feddan and argued that endowment pricing should not exceed these levels.
Khalifa advocated for a phased increase mechanism aligned with farmers’ economic capacity to maintain production.
The upcoming meeting is expected to address these concerns, with legislators advocating for a gradual, socially sensitive approach and the ministry focused on maintaining the financial sustainability of endowed assets.
In October, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with Minister of Endowments Osama El-Azhary to review plans to improve the use of the Egyptian Awqaf Authority’s assets.
El-Sisi was briefed on progress in identifying promising investment opportunities that could be offered for optimal use.
The presidency said the goal is to achieve higher returns by managing these assets more efficiently.
The Waqf system
Egypt possesses one of the largest and oldest waqf systems in the Islamic world.
Waqf assets, religious, charitable, and family endowments have historically played a central role in financing education, health care, social welfare, and religious institutions.
These assets include agricultural land, residential and commercial properties, investment portfolios, and historical buildings.
Their management is overseen by the Ministry of Endowments through the Egyptian Awqaf Authority, which is responsible for safeguarding endowed property, ensuring proper revenue collection, and allocating returns to the designated beneficiaries.
Waqf assets expanded significantly during the Ottoman and early modern periods, when large tracts of farmland, mosques, schools, hospitals, and public facilities were endowed for public benefit.
By the mid-20th century, endowments represented a major share of national wealth.
Today, the Egyptian Awqaf Authority manages hundreds of thousands of feddans of agricultural land, as well as extensive real estate portfolios across urban and rural governorates.
Rental income from these holdings supports mosque development and maintenance, salaries for imams and preachers, Quran memorization centres, religious outreach programmes, and a wide range of social-welfare initiatives.
The authority also oversees endowment-based investment portfolios and partners with private investors in long-term development projects, including residential compounds, commercial complexes, and mixed-use real estate.
The ministry has also expanded public-private partnerships to unlock underutilized plots for large-scale investment, while simultaneously upgrading irrigation systems and agricultural services on endowment lands to improve yields and enhance returns for both the state and tenants.
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