Egyptian cotton is renowned the world over for its quality. It is transformed into sumptuous bed sheets or into made to measure, button-down shirts and that are worn by the worlds rich and famous are sold in glittering high-end stores for small fortunes.

The cotton starts much more humbly though and this time of year the fluffy white balls are dotted all over the plants that grow in the fertile soil of the Egyptian countryside. Scores of women swarm over the fields, picking the cotton, one little ball at a time.