LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEMS UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN NORTH WESTERN COASTAL ZONE OF EGYPT, CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract

Climatic changes, especially changes in rainfall, has profound effects on pasture production. The relationships between the variation in pasture on one hand and livestock production and farm economic on the other are not clearly quantified in Egypt. The northwestern coastal zone of Egypt (NWCZ) is characterized by the availability of different water sources with varied distributions among regions. This study is undertaken to generate baseline information on sheep and goat production systems ; to asses' small ruminant reproductive and economic performance; to determine the influence of socio-economic factors on sheep and goats profitability ; and to identify small ruminants’ production constraints under different management systems using a structured questionnaire. The studied areas include the following regions: (i) the irrigated region which is located 40-60 km east to Alexandria, (ii) the rain fed regions (RR) in the west, Dabaa ( DA) , Matrouh (MT) and Sidi - Barani (SB) (140–430 km to Alexandria) . The average annual rainfall was 209 mm for SB, 150 mm for MT and 108 mm for DA, during the years 2005-2014. Between March 2014 to February 2015, the study collected primary data from one hundred households. Descriptive statistics such as the mean, relative frequencies and percentages were calculated. The General linear model was used for analyzing factors affecting small ruminants profitability. The fixed effects in the model included location of herd size, farm size, family size, education level, age of household head, household experience, employment and all possible two-way