Helwan, Egypt; traditional ploughing with cattle. A small farmer using a wooden plough pulled by cattle. Although agricultural mechanisation accelerated during the 1980s, it remained limited. The main tasks undergoing mechanisation were ploughing, threshing, and water-pumping. Most tractors were privately owned, usually by large landowners. By 1990, however, there was a widespread private rental market and mechanical ploughing was becoming the norm. It was fairly unusual to see a field this size being hand ploughed. Photographed January 1990.

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Helwan, Egypt; traditional ploughing with cattle. A small farmer using a wooden plough pulled by cattle. Although agricultural mechanisation accelerated during the 1980s, it remained limited. The main tasks undergoing mechanisation were ploughing, threshing, and water-pumping. Most tractors were privately owned, usually by large landowners. By 1990, however, there was a widespread private rental market and mechanical ploughing was becoming the norm. It was fairly unusual to see a field this size being hand ploughed. Photographed January 1990. Carole Reeves. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.