Determinants of sorghum productivity by smallholder farmers in Uganda

Abstract

Using secondary data collected from a sample of 272 households during the impact evaluation of the second Community agriculture infrastructure improvement Program, this study investigated determinants of sorghum productivity by smallholder farmers in Uganda. This study discovered that keeping other factors constant, sorghum productivity: increased with increase in age, was higher in households with married couples, was lower in female headed households, was less for household heads with UACE certificate compared with all the other levels of education, increased with increase in household size, land size and household incomes. In addition, sorghum productivity was found to be higher in households: that practiced crop rotation, used scare craws, that accessed agricultural credit, that visited by extension workers and those that that used Ox ploughs to prepare land. A number of recommendation have been proposed following the analysis and findings of the study, these include: Undertaking efforts to promote and encourage sorghum production among older farmers; promoting marriage among farmers that are single/never married; designing and implementing initiatives to promote sorghum productivity targeting male headed households as well as adopting agricultural productivity improvement campaigns targeting farmers with low levels of education (No formal education, primary and Uganda advanced certificate of education). The study further recommends household size enlargement–by encouraging households to produce more children (source of cheap labour) to improve not only sorghum but the entire agricultural productivity; the encouragement of household heads to engage themselves in activities that can increase household incomes as well as encouraging farmers to allocate more land to Sorghum production. The study finally recommends farmers to adopt and practice crop rotation together with the use of scare craws, Strengthening and fully supporting extension visits among sorghum farmers by the extension workers, undertaking initiatives to reduce the cost of borrowing for sorghum farmers, as well as advocating for tax reduction on agricultural equipment like Ox ploughs.