Farmers’ awareness about socio-economic effects of desertification phenomenon at Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt

Abstract EN

desertification is a global phenomenon.

It is defined by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as: "The degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas caused by climatic changes and human activities”.

Socio-economic studies about the phenomena could give the decision maker a clear vision about vulnerable communities in order to set accurate action plans to eliminate the severity of the problem and improve their lands productivity.

The study objectives were to: (1) Determine the degree of awareness of desertification phenomena (2) Identify the degree of awareness of the phenomena causes at the study area (3) Measure the degree of awareness of the economical and social effects of desertification in the study area (4) Recognize the wrong practices that causing desertification at the study area (5) Identify sources of information for better land productivity.

Descriptive techniques were utilized and the questionnaires were designed to achieve the objectives of the study, using 120 samples of farmers (35 females and 85 males) representing 15 villages.

The study revealed that about 65.8% of the samples know nothing about desertification.

The main results of the study were: more than two thirds of the sample (around 67%) reported an increase in their land productivity due to intensive care of their lands.

Also, 44.3% of the respondents reported an increase in their animal wealth.

Meanwhile, 41.8% of the respondents reported that there is a decrease in their animal wealth due to desertification phenomenon.