Factors Influencing the Use of Food Storage Structures by Agrarian Communities in Northern Uganda

Charles Owach,Gabriel Elepu,Godfrey Bahiigwa

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2017.072.003

Abstract

Food storage at the national or global level is important due to its multifunctional roles of enhancing food access, nutrition, and income security at the national, community and household levels. This study assesses the importance of food storage structures and their utilization by farmers cultivating finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in Apac and Arua districts, Northern Uganda. The study encompassed a total sample of 782 households producing finger millet and/or beans (388 of which were below and 394 above the poverty line). A binary probit regression analysis was used to identify the factors influencing the household use of improved storage structures. The findings indicated that only 22% of households used improved storage structures and that usage depended on the age of the household head, education level of the household head, membership in a farmer group or association, family size, and distance to market. The findings also indicate that the postharvest policies of the past did not have any significant effect on household access to improved storage technologies in the study areas. It is generally agreed that usage of improved storage structures leads such benefits as postharvest losses reduction, product quality conservation and increased duration of storage (World Food Programme [WFP], 2015). Thus we suggest that strategies to improve the usage of improved storage structures may be organizing agrarian communities and reaching them with carefully developed postharvest programs. This action could lead to higher usage rates of these technologies in this region.

Highlights

Introduction and Literature ReviewGlobally, about one-third of total food products, valued at almost US$1 trillion, is lost or wasted annually, almost one-half of which is from developing countries (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO], 2011)
The findings indicated that only 22% of households used improved storage structures and that usage depended on the age of the household
The present findings indicate that the probability of using improved storage structure is correlated with the level of education of the household head; an increase by one year increased the probability of using improved storage technology by 16% for Apac district, 11% in both study districts, as well as for households growing finger millet and beans (Table 5)

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and Literature ReviewGlobally, about one-third (or 1.3 billion tons) of total food products, valued at almost US$1 trillion, is lost or wasted annually, almost one-half of which is from developing countries (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO], 2011). In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), food loss accounts for 30% of total crop production and amounts to about US$4 billion a year (World Bank, 2011). This value exceeded the value of total food aid received by SSA for the decade 1998–2008 and equals the value of all cereal imports to SSA in the period 2000–2007 (The World Bank, 2011). Since expenditures on food uses up much of household income in SSA and most residents depend on agriculture and allied activities as their source of income, the impact on food security and poverty of reducing food losses could be immense (Chauvin, Mulangu, & Porto, 2012). The objective of this paper was to assess the use of food storage systems for households cultivating Eleusine coracana and Phaseolus vulgaris in Apac and Arua districts of Northern Uganda as a strategy for reducing food loss

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion