ECONOMICS OF USING AVAILABLE WATER RESOURCES FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT FIELD CROPS IN NEW VALLY GOVERNORATE UNDER ALTERNATIVE CROP STRUCTURES

The current study aims at identifying water requirements for field crops and water-consuming crops under the current cropping pattern in New Valley Governorate. The results revealed that costs of water used in the cultivation of rice were the highest reaching about 14.6% of the total costs of production per feddan whereas, the costs of water used in the cultivation of beans were the lowest reaching about 5.4% of the total costs of production per feddan in the studied season. Besides, as a result of no water cost paid by farmers, the costs of one unit of water were the lowest for the heavy water-consuming crops whereas, these costs were the highest for the low water-consuming crops even though there were small differences in the total costs of irrigation for these two groups of crops as compared to their water requirements. The results revealed that crop rotation consisting of wheat and maize ranked first in terms of gaining the highest net revenue of water including the irrigation costs of about LE 0.975 per unit of water m 3 whereas, the net revenue excluding the irrigation costs for this crop rotation reached about LE 0.828 per unit of water. Nevertheless, the marginal value of water was higher than the costs of irrigation per one feddan cultivated by such crops ranging between about LE 3 thousand per feddan of maize and about LE 354 per feddan cultivated by sesame. On the other hand, the ratio of irrigation costs to the value of marginal product ranged between 94.5 % for Alfafa clover and 9% for peanuts. The research was carried out with some recommendations, which would improve the efficiency of the use of the water resource.