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Microfinance should be considered and planned as a major means of economic development at the national level and as a means of reducing poverty, bringing about real development, and raising the standard of living of the rural population, which is the main hypothesis that pointed to the need to monitor what is happening in the microfinance sector, in particular the role of the Local Development Fund, since it is mainly located within the countryside through local units in the provinces. This leads us to a question: What is the real impact of the microfinance services provided by the Local Development Fund in alleviating poverty and economic opportunities for clients? This paper aims to identify the role of microenterprises in alleviating rural poverty and to study the economic and social impacts of micro-enterprises on borrowers. The results show that the total volume of microfinance lending is 29.5 million L.E for 8,471 projects in 2009/10, but real prices show that there is a significant decline in the value of financing directed against current prices. The real funding volume was 9.7 million L.E in 2020/21. It turns out that there are moral differences between the sample members of the borrowers who own. It was found that there were significant differences between the sample members of micro- enterprises and non-borrower sample members of economic variables, with the calculated value of (T) estimated at 10.9, 8, 4.6, 5.8, and 1.8 per monthly income, savings, asset ownership, increased employment opportunities, and development of productive behavior respectively. This compares with the T-rated values where the T values calculated were greater than their scheduling counterparts, and those differences are in favor of borrowers from local development fund clients. About 69% of the sample of micro-entrepreneurs explained that there has been an improvement in their standard of living, as evidenced by the improved level of the food they receive and their interest in educating children and following up on the state's health care initiatives to maintain their health. The research recommends reviewing the distribution of funding to the provinces to target the poorest provinces, in addition to not repeating the same projects in the same places and diversifying activities, focusing on agricultural, rural, and environmental productive activities and moving away from consumer, and service activities that are not fully sustainable and do not increase real employment opportunities. Increasing the value of the loan where it is contrary to the value of microfinance described by the definition of the micro-project with the micro-financing strategy prepared by the state, and the financing rules announced by the Financial Supervisory Authority and funding provided by other official bodies in the country such as the SME Development Authority and micro, which contributes to the movement of customers from projects that meet their basic need to the level of effective microprojects, and thus the final impact of microfinance becomes useful, which It allows borrowers to break out of poverty and contribute significantly to sustainable economic and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egypt's agricultural land is limited to about 3.8% of its total area, However, it faces a problem of encroachment and conversion to non-agricultural uses, in particular, construction, The study aims to assess the negative /positive impacts of agricultural land conversion via construction on the social and personal levels, However, the results reveal the following:- The main negative impact for agricultural land lies in its area loss that amounted to about 10.517 feddan in Menoufia governorate compared to about a total loss of about 145.213 feddan during the period from 1983 to January 2018, In addition, the costs required for Menoufia governorate to reclaim new land to compensate for this loss is estimated at 2.3 billion pounds compared to about 32.5 billion pounds for grand total construction conversion. For irrigation water, the negative impact in Menoufia governorate is estimated at 161.8 million cubic meters of water that needed to new lands reclamation to compensate for the loss in old agricultural lands compared to about 2.9 billion cubic meters of water for grand total construction conversion allover Egypt. For agricultural crops, the negative effect embodies the loss of about 287,63 thousand tons from various crops in Menofuia governorate compared to about 3.475.7 thousand tons all over Egypt, In other words, there is an annual forgone income in Menofuia governorate estimated by LE 387,5 million compared to about 4.9 billion all over Egypt. For agricultural employment, the negative effect embodies the loss in agricultural employment opportunities in encroached land area, That is estimated by about 0.86 million men/working days in Menoufia governorate compared to about 11.73 million men / working days all over Egypt. On the other hand, the positive impact is confined to: (1) About the cultivated land area will be increased by the equivalent area size which converted to construction activity (2) The notable increase in average market value per feddan due to its construction activity transformation that reaches about 33 fold of its value in villages (rural area) compared to about 100 fold to its value in cities (urban area), (3) Cultivating in new virgin lands free of polluted chemical residuals compared to polluted old lands (due to over use of fertilizers and chemical pesticides) (4) Reducing the population density in countryside, thus reducing agricultural land demand for construction activities. For irrigation water, the positive effects are: (1) saving the amount of water that was used to irrigate the agricultural before construction conversion, In which is estimated at about 84.94 million cubic meters for Menoufia compared to 1.434 billion cubic meters for grand total construction conversion allover Egypt, (2) Reducing and rationing irrigation water consumption via employing modern irrigation methods developed by sprinkling and drip, saving about 40% of conventional irrigation water consumption. While, the positive effect constitutes the increasing of agricultural production from different crops by about 984.6 thousand tons compared to about 8.098 thousand tons all over Egypt as due to the increase in reclaimed than the encroached land by its equivalence area, In addition, the possibility of using agricultural mechanization and extension technological packages, Thus, the estimated annual increase in revenues for Menoufia governorate could reach about LE 984.3 million compared to about LE 11.4 billion all over Egypt, Moreover, producing of healthy crops free of chemical residuals due to employing bio agricultural technologies in reclaimed land, Thus, maintaining of the citizens health and increasing farmer’s income due to high bio products prices. On the other hand, the positive effect constitutes the increase in employment opportunities in newly reclaimed areas by about 2.2 million men/working days in Menoufia governorate compared to 27.33 million men/working days all over Egypt. The paper also addressed the most important reasons that encourage encroachment on agricultural land via construction, Moreover, it suggested some proposals for overcoming encroachments on agricultural land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]