Peasant response to economic crisis in Uganda: rice farmers in Busoga

Abstract

This study examines the response of a section of the peasantry in Uganda to economic crisis over the last decade. In Nabweyo, a peasant village in Busiki county, Busoga, farmers have changed from growing cotton for export to producing rice for the domestic market. The switch has been the consequence of changing price structures which have in turn resulted from disruption of the marketing and processing infrastructure of traditional cash crops. The experience of Busiki reflects a more general reaction to political and economic crisis which has transformed peasant processes of production. Rural populations along the whole stretch of the Lake Kyoga basin in both Busoga and Tororo Districts responded to the crisis by increasing small scale commercial farming of rice as a survival strategy. It is argued that in the process rural hierarchies are being reshaped in a manner which may alter the balance of social forces within Uganda as a whole.