Farm Income as an Incentive for Agricultural Graduate Farmers in the Reclaimed Land of Egypt

In 1977 the government has started to distribute the reclaimed land among agricultural graduates. Only during first year of settlement , the graduates received support form the government in terms of grants and credit and some facilities. The survey was conducted in south-Tahrir area during 1984 with a proportional stratified random sample of 100 graduated farmers. The purpose of such study is to evaluate the farm income as an incentive for the graduates settled in the reclaimed land area . Farm size is 30f .(traditional crops) or 15f (citrus or fruits) for a university graduate, and 20f or 10f . for a high school graduate . several farms have changed the original cropping pattern leading to a wide range of citrus yield among farmers and excess demand for water. The normal profit per feddan ranged between L.E-85.6(barley) and L.E 973.4 (strawberry). Wages of hired labor represent more than 50% of the variable costs (62% for wheat, 79% for barley). the graduates asked for mechanization and other incentives to solve the problem of labor and costs . the major constraints in production are the supply shortage of irrigation water machinery seeds and fertilizers in addition to the land of desert development know –how and the problems in livestock production from different cropping patterns with and only the crops that showed a normal profit above the poverty line (L.E 2193 per year ). The proposed crops are citrus. Straw berry, Alfalfa, lupines and peas, and no traditional corps