Abstract On newly cultivated lands in deserts as in the majority of dryland areas, the sustainability of agricultural systems is often debated in terms of socioeconomic viability and agro-ecological longevity. In these contexts, livestock production systems have raised controversial debates regarding their roles and effects in terms of sustainable development. The objective of this paper is to assess the level (and types) of crop-livestock integration in the dryland systems and whether they result in different well-being and improved efficiency of these agroecosystems. Using an empirical study in the newly reclaimed desert lands of the west part of the Nile Delta (Egypt), we proposed an assessment of the sustainability of the family farming systems using two approaches: a) multiple factor analysis and b) multi-criteria assessment. The multi-criteria assessment highlighted how family farm sustainability depends highly on the integration of livestock into the system, with technical or economic efficiency effects. The multiple factor analysis allowed the distinction of two types of farm systems in which livestock activity could be a source in increasing labour productivity or ensuring the viability of the farm in both short and long terms. So, the two approaches brought out the critical role of livestock in the overall efficiency of the system. However, factor analysis highlighted different profiles of integration and diversification based on-farm assets, and the multi-criteria assessment provided a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing aggregated indicators for the development of sustainable farming systems for the end-users. So these two methods may be complementarity to develop and assess the causal processes of a sustainability assessment.

中文翻译：

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埃及开垦荒地农业系统可持续性的多标准评估

摘要 在沙漠中的新耕地和大多数旱地地区，农业系统的可持续性经常在社会经济可行性和农业生态寿命方面存在争议。在这些背景下，畜牧生产系统就其在可持续发展方面的作用和影响提出了有争议的辩论。本文的目的是评估旱地系统中作物-畜牧一体化的水平（和类型），以及它们是否会导致这些农业生态系统的不同福祉和效率提高。通过对尼罗河三角洲（埃及）西部新开垦的沙漠土地的实证研究，我们提出了使用两种方法评估家庭农业系统的可持续性：a) 多因素分析和 b) 多标准评估. 多标准评估强调了家庭农场的可持续性如何高度依赖于将牲畜纳入系统，从而产生技术或经济效率影响。多因素分析允许区分两种类型的农场系统，其中牲畜活动可以成为提高劳动生产率或确保农场短期和长期生存能力的来源。因此，这两种方法都体现了牲畜在系统整体效率中的关键作用。然而，因素分析强调了基于农场资产的整合和多样化的不同概况，多标准评估为最终用户开发可持续农业系统的综合指标概念化提供了一个综合框架。