The bread crisis and its management in the first era of the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt (358-487 A.H)

One of the basic crises faced by the Fatimid government since their arrival in Egypt is the bread crisis and its shortage. They applied several strategies to control and manage the consequences of the bread crisis. This article wants to answer this question: What economic policy did the Fatimids adopt to control the shortage or high cost of bread or the resulting crises? The findings of the research show that the bread crisis management measures in the Fatimid government were focused on "supply control" as the control of human factors disrupting the bread market instead of "demand control". In addition, in the management of the bread crisis, depending on the causes of its occurrence, measures such as: Reducing or temporarily stopping grain exports, planning to increase grain imports, allocating cash subsidies to flour and bread and its direct distribution, reforming the distribution network and reducing the share of middlemen in the production and distribution cycle, direct involvement in determining the price of bread, controlling monopoly and hoarding in Bread supply and distribution network and dealing with disruptive and profit-seeking human factors, credit purchase of grain from production and distribution, activation of economic institutions regulating the market and cancellation of all types of grain purchase and sale taxes. The research method in this article is the description and analysis of data collected from historical sources.