الفهرس 
Importance of small ruminantsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The North Western Coastal zone, NWCz of Egypt, extends from Alexandria East to the Libyan border West for about 500 km. The climate ranges from Mediterranean in the North to arid in the South. It is a hot dry zone with low erratic rainfall. Winter is the main rainy season starting from mid October to mid March and occasionally in April and May.
The area has faced a long drought period for about fifteen years from 1995 to 2011, with low erratic rainfall of less than 150 mm. This long period of drought and scarcity of rainfall has affected farming and marketing systems. Barki sheep and goats are the main breeds in the area.
The majority of the citizens, in the NWCz, are Bedouins, who raise livestock to cover their requirements of meat and milk, as main source of income, of social prestige and their cash value for other needs. The Bedouins are raising sheep and goats beside rain-fed barley and some fruit trees as olives and figs. The prevailing production system in this area is the transhumant / extensive system. The system is characterized by long-distance movements searching for pasture for their animals.
The North Western Coast of Egypt is divided into two agro ecological zones. The first area is the rain-fed zone which extends from Saloum to Debaa, with communal grazing in the West and the second zone is the newly reclaimed lands in El-Hammam and Borg El-Arab with irrigated farming El-Hammam canal.
The main objectives of the study were to characterize the sheep and goats value chains in the region, describe sheep and goats marketing system, identify the market constraints and opportunities and provide intervention tools to overcome the constraints which hinder the performance of the chain.The study was undertaken in four locations i) Marsa Matrouh , ii) El-Negila , iii) Sidi-Barani located in the rain-fed zone and iv) El-Hamam located in the new reclaimed land area. A field survey was applied to gather information on the sheep and goats value chains in NWCz. Both primary and secondary data were used in the study. Key actors interviews were used to collect primary data, using structured and semi-structured questionnaire. Field survey was conducted to collect data from markets, traders and fatteners of sheep and goat were conducted during 2012 in Marsa Matrouh, El-Negila and Sidi-Barani, and in 2013 for El-Hammam. Surveys of butchers, slaughterhouses, agricultural associations and feedstuffs traders were conducted in 2014. The survey covered 65 traders of sheep and goats in the four locations, 10 butchers in Marsa Matrouh, El-Negila and Sidi-Barani and 10 traders of feedstuffs in Marsa Matrouh, El-Negila and Sidi-Barani. Four markets representing the studied locations (Marsa Matrouh, El-Negila, Sidi-Barani and El-Hammam) were surveyed. The data was analyzed using the R software version 3.3.1.
The study confirmed that breeders, traders, fatteners, butchers and consumers are the main actors in the marketing chain of sheep and goats in NWCz. Different categories of sheep and goats are being marketed in the studied markets e.g., young lambs and kids for fattening or slaughtering, mature ewes and does, fattened animals and older animals for slaughtering based on one to one bargaining between buyers (traders, fatteners or butchers) and sellers (mostly breeders) with or without a broker. The selling price is determined according to animal traits: gender, age, apparent weight and healthy condition and further the bargaining skills of the buyer and broker. The prices of animals are affecting by many factors such as demand and supply of animals, season (Ramadan and El-Eid) and prices of feedstuffs.
Traders are the main actors; they purchase animals from the breeders either at the markets or farm gates, and sell the animals to other actors; other traders, fatteners, butchers, breeders or consumers. The traders utilize their family members and part time workers for assistance during peak seasons. The majority of traders have an additional source of income beside their activity as traders; they have breeding activity or fattening activity or both of them besides their trading activity.
Young lambs and kids represent the main component of sheep and goats marketed. Breeders tend to sell most of these lambs and kids after weaning specially during the unfavorable climatic conditions and shortage of feedstuffs. The traders purchased the young lambs and kids mainly from breeder then from traders and they sell young lambs mainly to other traders then to fatteners and butchers and kids mainly to butchers then to other traders and fatteners and breeders.
The majority of traders, in their recent transactions, purchased and sold small number of animals on the same market day with no additional costs as feeding, transportation, market fees and the profit of this transaction is usually low. Most of the traders purchase and sell animals by credit depending on the “oral agreement” between them and buyers or sellers and the trust among them and they purchase and sell the animals form and to any actor in chain.
Most active periods for traders for buying and selling are the spring as the availability for weaning animals for sale, peak seasons as Ramadan and El-Eid and summer for tourism. On the other hand, least active periods are winter and after El-Eid period.
The traders may cooperate with other traders in many aspects such as trading animals, transporting animals, sharing information about available animals for sale and information about grains and fodder prices.
The traders follow different strategies as buying and selling animals in different markets, buying and selling animals in different seasons and buying poor conditional animals, to feed them and sell them in the same market or in other markets.
Small ruminant marketing is constrained by high prices of feedstuffs; animal diseases; variability in sales prices; lack of market infrastructure; absence of market information; lack of capital and purchasing power and unfavorable climatic conditions (drought).
The second actors are the fatteners, whom could be breeders or traders; they are fattening animals on concentrates and grains to add a value to the animals representing of more weight and better condition and better selling prices. The majority of traders are fatteners. The majority of traders in El-Negila, Sidi-Barani and El-Hammam practice fattening for animals while, in Matrouh most of traders do not practice fattening for their animals as they lack capital and place. The main criteria for purchasing animals for fattening are breed, health condition, age, gender, wool conditions and color, presence of horns and tail shape.
The third actors are butchers who responsible for slaughtering and converting live animals into entire carcasses and meat cuts. The butchers slaughter other types of animals such as camels and cattle but mainly lambs and kids as they have light carcass weight and had affordable prices for the buyers. The butchers purchase animals and sell meat by credit system depends on the “oral agreement” and trust. Ramadan and El-Eid also consider as the most important periods of year for butchers.
The fourth actors are feedstuffs traders whom provide other actors such as breeders and fatteners with the required feedstuffs to feed their animals. They may be breeders and fatteners themselves. The traders purchase mix concentrates from feedstuffs companies’ agents and wheat and corn from traders from El-Behira Governorate. The traders sell feedstuffs either by cash or credit.
The fifth actors are the Central Association in Marsa Matrouh (CAMM) with its branches in each location. The constraints that face the associations are the shrinking role in providing feedstuffs for the breeders and there no new members joining the association.
In conclusion, development of market infrastructure and increase the capacity of markets, accurate and timely information regarding price and demand, establishing marketing linkages between breeders and other actors, removing barriers to local and export markets, coordinating efforts of all actors, prohibiting slaughtering of females, optimum utilization of seasonal available feeds and subsidize of feedstuffs prices, increase role of cooperatives and low cost and readily available local veterinary service. This could help chain actors to overcome the current marketing constraints and poverty reduction to improve their income and increasing the livestock productivity and marketable surpluses.