Sustainability of Sheep and Goat Production Systems under United Arab Emirates’ Aridland Constraints

Abstract

Sheep and goat production systems in the UAE within scarce natural resource constraints represent an ideal setting for studying input-use economic efficiency (production and allocative). Despite the importance of this subsector in the UAE, no reliable cross-sectional data was ever disseminated. The research objectives are to: obtain the baseline information on the existing small-ruminant farms in UAE; identify the responsiveness of output to percentage changes in inputs, rank the prominent inputs with the greatest impact on output level; and determine the corresponding allocative efficiency for the most significant inputs. A cross-section field survey that covered 661 mixed farms, with major sheep and goat production activities, was conducted in three areas of Al-Ain, the Western Region, and Abu Dhabi during 2012. Cobb-Douglas double-logarithmic production function approach was applied to estimate the important economic derivatives. A multidisciplinary approach was implemented to better understand the integration of biological and economic perspectives of the issue. Results indicated inefficiency of the inputs utilized for sheep and goats separately; where all of the inputs used in sheep production were overutilized, whereas those used in goat production were two underutilized, one over-utilized, with only one input close to economic-use optimality. Study beneficiaries include strategic-decision makers and individual sheep and goats producers.