Assessment of the traditional goat production systems in rural areas of the Nile Delta in Egypt

Abstract

Most of farmers indicated that crop farming and livestock keeping as the main system in their livelihoods (69%). Irrespective of the village, a large percentage of farmers (89%) indicated that cash income from the sale of goats was one of the important reasons for keeping the goat. Daily milk yields were not estimated by farmers and not taken into account. Most of the farmers (90%) indicated that lack of access to improved goats is the main constraint specified. Parasites (both internal and external) and pneumonia were recorded as important disease categories, but internal parasites were given high importance by all farmers (31%). Goats did not sell through any formal market channel in villages under study and goat meat is not found in any butchery or shelves of the villages’ supermarkets.