ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the impact of social structure and technical change on the growth of agricultural production and the distribution of land and income between the World Wars. It reviews the evidence on agricultural production per person between the wars, and discusses the causes for that decline. The chapter also examines the distribution of cotton revenue between small holders and pashas and the fate of the rich peasants and the landless agricultural workers. The interwar era lacks the dramatic social changes which characterized the pre-British period, but the number of renters and especially sharecroppers declined in the 1920s. There were also some attempts to reform the credit structure. Both of these changes will receive attention in the discussion of income distribution. In general, it appears that the wealthy proprietors and rich peasants probably did better than the small holders, and that the situation of the landless class was desperate indeed.
