The Nexus Between Food Production and Socioeconomic Livelihoods of Female-headed Households: Evidence from Uganda

Abstract

This study was set out to examine the nexus between food production and socioeconomic livelihoods of female-headed households in Mbarara District, Southwestern Uganda. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design with a quantitative study approach to data collection and analysis. A sample size of 186 respondents was selected randomly from 360 households in Mbarara district. In the survey, respondents were subjected to a questionnaire survey method of data collection. Data from the questionnaires was coded, entered into SPSS, and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results show that there is a positive significant relationship between food production and socioeconomic livelihoods of female-headed households (r=.491, p<.01). The control variables of Age and level of education were found to contribute a statistically significant explanatory power of 3.4% in explaining socioeconomic livelihoods of female-headed households. The model results also show a significant relationship between food production and socioeconomic livelihoods of female-headed households (β= .378; p<05). The variables entered in the regression model explain an overall 28.4% (AdjR2 = .284) of the variance in socioeconomic livelihoods of female-headed households, implying that the remaining 71.6% is explained by factors not considered in this study. The study concluded that there is a significant positive relationship between food production and the socioeconomic livelihoods of female-headed households in the Mbarara district. Therefore, the study recommends that there is a need to advocate for women's empowerment to improve their status in decision-making at the family level.