ECONOMICS OF MILK PRODUCTION IN THE ARID LAND

Despite of the fact that the Egyptian dairy animals and its production is huge but there is a gap between its production and the market needs. That gap can be estimated at 12.92 % on average for the period between 2000 and 2014, it is important therefore to reduce the gap between local production and required consumption.  This study aims to verify the element of milk production and the potentiality of each element to find the best way to reduce the gap in milk production. The study used some economic descriptive and quantitative statistical analysis to achieve its target. In this regard, general time trend models and analysis of regression depends on the kind of variables which were used in the study.   The results concluded that the average number of milking animals in Egypt during the period  (2000-2014) reached 4.08 million heads representing buffalos, cows and goats by 37%, 34% and 29%, respectively. Moreover, the study showed that the average annual milk production of cows represents 51% of the annual average of total milk production while productivity of head was 1.63 tons/head/year. The production of buffalo was 48% with productivity of 1.5 tons/head/year while production of goats represented 1% of the annual average of total milk production with a head productivity of 0.14 tons/head/year. It is there for importance to increase this production by building new dairy farms under aird conditions and available limited resources.  According to the feasibility study for dairy cow farm in arid or new land and after evaluating the farm economically and financially, The results shows that profit can be obtained but it need a large amount of investment which is around 12.19 million Egyptian pounds with operational cost of about 5.19 million Eg for the minimal economical capacity for dairy farm.