Abstract
Using UNHS 2005/6 and 2009/10 data, we examined various cropping and land allocations patterns practiced by farming households in Uganda, and their implications on government plan of prioritizing some crops for expansion and zoning. On average, households were observed to cultivate 1.7 ha despite having ownership right to 1.58 ha. A decrease in total cultivated area across all the twelve sub-regions was observed between 2005 and 2009. Over time, only the proportions of land allocation to sweet potato and bean are increasing. Fractional multinomial logit model estimates showed that significant factors that influence share of land allocated to crops include household location within sub-regions, size of cultivated land, distance to output markets and education levels of household head. Efforts to commercialize agriculture through prioritized expansion and zoning of certain crops should also target breaking the current culture of diversified cropping patterns on small sizes of land.
Highlights
The Government of Uganda has developed a blue print of enhancing the role of agriculture in food and income security [Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF), 2010].One of the recommendations to improve agriculture is the promotion of some selected agricultural crop enterprise
It is important to have a thorough understanding of household land-size holdings, patterns of land allocation to different crops and trends in ownership and allocation, in order to reinforce government efforts of intervening in agricultural sector (MAAIF, 2010; Uganda Bureau of Statistic_UBoS, 2010) as well as transforming the economy [Government of Uganda (GoU), 2010]
The cropping pattern and land allocation could be considered as major constraints to agricultural commercialization in Uganda, as they discourage the scale of production and high yielding technology adoption
Summary
The Government of Uganda has developed a blue print of enhancing the role of agriculture in food and income security [Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF), 2010].One of the recommendations to improve agriculture is the promotion of some selected agricultural crop enterprise. Queries have been raised on the factors that would influence the success of the government interventions in agriculture. This is especially, with the changing macro and micro- environment, which affects agricultural production [Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), 2012]. It is important to have a thorough understanding of household land-size holdings, patterns of land allocation to different crops and trends in ownership and allocation, in order to reinforce government efforts of intervening in agricultural sector (MAAIF, 2010; Uganda Bureau of Statistic_UBoS, 2010) as well as transforming the economy [Government of Uganda (GoU), 2010]
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