characterization of crop livestock production system in reclaimed areas of Egypt

الملخص EN

The current study used system approach to characterize the existing crop/livestock production system in the reclaimed areas to assess its economical efficiency in four governorates.

The four governorates were ; Behira, North Sinai, Fayoum and Menia.

A random sample of 151 farms were investigated.

A questionnaire was designed to cover available resources, farming activities, variable costs and revenues.

Least squares analysis of variance technique was performed to derive technical coefficients for livestock and major crops production performance.

Gross margin per animal unit and per feddan was estimated as a measure of economical efficiency.

The overall means of family size, farm size and herd size were estimated as 5.

2 person, 3.

9 feddan, 1.8 head, respectively.

Buffaloes and cows raised in Fayoum produced more total milk yield (2492 and 1688 kg, respectively) compared to those of the other governorates.

Results showed that wheat is the main winter cash crop and maize is considered the major summer cash crop in Behira, Fayoum and Menia.

In North Sinai farmers are interested in cultivating 50 % of the farm size with olive and 44 % with peach.

Behira beneficiaries utilized their limited production resources more efficient than the other studied governorates since they achieved the highest return per feddan and per animal unit (AU) among the studied areas (LE 7276 and 11520, respectively).