الفهرس 
Acknowledgement
Definition of farm systemOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The objectives of this study were to characterize the mixed crop-livestock production systems of small farms in New valley (part of western desert), located inthe south western part of Egypt, and shares the international borders of Libya to the west and Sudan to the south. As for its internal boundaries, it shares the borders with the governorates of Mania , Giza and Matrooh in the north and Assiut, Suhag, Qena and Aswan in the east . The governorate is away from the capital Cairo by 602 km and Assiut governorate by 226 km and located between 25 ; 42o& 30 ; 47oE longitude, 22 30o& 29; 30oN latitude . It is considered the largest governorate in the country in terms of area, which amounts to approximately 440098 km2 , representing approximately 43.6% of the total area of Egypt (EEAA- & EMU, 2008 ).The new valley is characterized by dry climate in summer warm winter and rain rare and the province is characterized by the highest brightness of the sun in the world throughout the year, which can be exploited as a source of renewable energy. ItsClimate as hot desert. The temperature here averages 23.9 °C. About 0 mm of precipitation falls annually.
This study includedfour districts, Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat . Three villages were randomly selected within each district and ten farmers within each village were randomly selected. Data of 120 farmers were collected during 12 months from September 2015 to August 2016. Information were collected through out a field survey using certainquestionnaires.
Farmers in Elkharga kept an average of 11.3 cattle, 15.92 sheep and 16.86 goat. While farmers in Eldakhla kept an average of 6.5 cattle, 6.1 sheep and 7.8 goat. Farmers in Baris kept an average 7.4 cattle, 21.9 sheep and 17.2 goat. Also, farmers in Balat kept an average 5.88 cattle, 5.4 sheep and 5.9 goat. Average land (farm size) was 7.17 feddan, 8.62 feddan, 4.45 feddan and 10.72 feddan in Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat, respectively. Resultsrevealedthat, the average age of household is 40 years old. 55% of breeds have medium age between 27 to 60 years old. The proportions of households who have basic education, high school, graduation or without education were 5.8, 21.8, 69.2 and 3.2 % of farmers, respectively.
Concerning livestock production, under the current mixed farming system, in the studied governorates, three types of animal breeds were identified according to the composition of herds: cow, sheep and goat. Daily milk yield per cow was estimated as 3.29 kg, 2.45 kg, 1.78 kg and 1.99 kg in Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat, respectively. The total milk yield of cow was estimated as 773, 515, 338 and 398 kg in Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat.
Common crops in the study area are summarized as follows: Winter crops (Alfalfa, wheat, bean and barley), summer crops (Elephant grass,darawa, white corn, cowpeas, fume and cash crops).
The whole farm budget analysis of the four studied districts,Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat arerevealed that (58.3 cattle –9.2 sheep - 6.2 goat)%, (39.7 cattle –10.1 sheep –7.9 goat)%, (33.6 cattle - 22.1 sheep - 15.3 goat)% and (44.3 cattle –10.4 sheep –10.4 goat)% of the annual variable costs are going to the animal production activities, while 26.2, 42.1, 29and 34.8% are going to the crop activities, in the four studied areas, respectively.On the other hand, animal production outputgenerated (43.1 - 8.3 - 11.4)%, (28.2–8.6–6.9)%, (28.8–13.5 - 11.2)% and (34.1 – 9.2 – 9.8)% of the annual output, respectively.The breakdown of livestock products showed that milk production output constituted 13.8–7.2 – 5.5and6.7% for cattle of the whole farm gross outputin Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat districts, respectively.
The breakdown of crop products’ results also showed that alfalfa crop is considered the major source of income in Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat districts and achieved 9.1%, 24.4%, 19.3% and 19.8% of the whole farm output, respectively.The obtained values of the return per feddan and per AU revealed that Baris farmer’s beneficiaries utilized their limited production resources more efficient than the other studied governorates since they achieved the highest return per feddan (L.E. 6768).However, Eldakhla farmers achieved the highest return/AU (L.E. 2745).
A linear programming (LP) model was developed to improve livestock and crops productivity of small farms in the newly reclaimed land in Egypt.The model considered livestock, cropping pattern, land, labor and available cash resources as factors affecting agricultural production. A LP model with four scenarios was tested:
(1) Assuming free choice of crop/livestock system to maximize gross margin (GM) < base run ”LP1” >.
(2) GM the second scenario (LP2) assumed free choice of cropping pattern in winter and summer and had a constraint each on number of cattle, sheep and goat to maximize GM.
(3) The third scenario (LP3) had constraint on cropping pattern to meet farmer’s needs of basic food crop and assuming free choice of livestock to maximize.
(4) The fourth scenario (LP4) had the cultivated are distributed equally on different crops to avoid the output solution of LP1, and had a constraint each on number of cattle, sheep and goat to maximize GM.
Solutions of LP suggested that, as compared to actual situation, GM was improved by about 149%, 308%, 163% and 451% in LP1 in Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat, respectively; 150%, 240%, 153% and 241%in LP2 in Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat, respectively and 35%in LP3 only in Elkharga.No solutions were showedin the fourth scenario (LP4). GM in LP2 decrease then LP1 by about 44%, 68%, 10% and 210% in Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat, respectively.Also, GM in LP3 decreased by 159% as compared to LP1 in Elkharga. The return per feddan was improved from LE 7099, LE 6018, LE 7481 and LE 2341 in actual situation to LE 20872, LE 24535, LE 19669 and LE 12903 as suggested by the LP1 and LE 17778, LE 20501, LE 18892 and LE 7991 in LP2 in Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat, respectively but in LP3 return per feddan improved only in Elkharga by 20872.
The fourth scenario (LP4) does not show a result in Elkharga, Eldakhla, Baris and Balat. The present linear programming model with the four scenarios showed that land, livestock and available cash resources are limiting constrains but not labor.
The present linear programming model with the four scenarios showed that land, livestock and available cash resources are limiting constrains but not labor.
It is of great interest to conclude that the response of different scenarios had not the same effects on the farm gross margin in the studied districts. The different response could be attributed to the differences of the major characteristics, production resources, management practices in each district (e.g. farm size, herd size, herd structure and composition, technical coefficients, cropping pattern and different constrains pertained in each site).