Farming in Ancient Egypt

Farming in ancient Egypt was one of the important activities. There were many numbers of the farmers who were specializing in the cultivation of the crops such as the wheat, vegetables and many other kinds of the fruits. There was very good irrigation system at that point of the time and the main source of the water to make the ground fertile is the annual floods which usually occurs at the time of the mid august and the water from the river Nile.

Farmers also use to grow crops such as the flax, parley and three different types of the wheat were available for the farming. Flax was the important source for the textile fiber. The farmers were continually involved in the activity of the farming throughout the year, and their work was very hectic. The only time they can have some rest is during the periods of the floods, sometime even during the period of the floods farmers in ancient Egypt will be called in for the army duty or any kind of the public works which was pending at that point of the time. Some farmers who work throughout the year will work in the land of the wealthy people and will get some food, clothes and shelter for return; other farmers will be renting the land from the owners and will give some percentage of the output to the owners.

Farming in ancient Egypt consists of primarily three types of the irrigation for the fields which existed during that period. They were the catch basins, dykes and the shaduf type of the irrigation. The shaduf was very useful for irrigation in the high lying area since it uses a counter weight to pull the water from the Nile and feed it into the farming fields. Farming in ancient Egypt was a flourishing activity and they used very good methods of the irrigation to increase the quality and also the output of the crops.