The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 200)

غرض

عنوان

The Dispossession of the Peasantry (ص 200)

المحتوى

184
In spite of the relatively small size of the majority of the groves, the
planting of citrus, assuming the availability of the required sandy soil that was
mostly in the coastal areas, required substantial sums of investment, especially if
considered in light of the income of the majority of Arab peasants.
Citrus cultivation represented the most developed form of “capitalist”
agriculture in Palestine, which relied, almost exclusively, on wage labor, and
whose output was primarily geared for export. Besides the availability of land, it
required funds for the digging of wells, and the purchase of water pumps and
chemical fertilizers. It also required the availability of sufficient alternative
resources for livelihood until the trees bore fruit, a process that lasted about six
years and involved continuous maintenance. This clearly meant that they were
beyond the means of most Palestine peasants.
It has been estimated that the “capital cost” of a dunum of citrus through its
bearing sixth year to be, on average, £P 75.*’ By the season of 1936-1937, this
translated into a total investment of about £P 22.5 million. In addition, annual
maintenance costs were estimated at £P 10 per dunum.”*
In spite of the sums required, citrus was so profitable in the early 1930s
that it attracted investment from hundreds of foreign nationals living abroad (i.e.,
European and American Jews), absentee owners who saw it as primarily an
“interest-bearing investment.” This phenomenon developed to such an extent that
27Brown in Himadeh, ed., Ibid., 143.
Ibid.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

هو جزء من

The Dispossession of the Peasantry

تاريخ

٢٠٠٦

المنشئ

Riyad Mousa

مجموعات العناصر

Generated Pages Set

Theses رسائل ماجستير ودكتوراه