Effects of climbing bean production on smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in Budwale sub county, Mbale district

Abstract

Climbing bean has been a key source of dietary proteins to smallholder farmers and their families in Budwale subcounty for more than 20 years. This study therefore examined its relative effects to farmers’ livelihoods and the objectives were determining the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, their different perceptions on climbing bean production and consumption, as well as determining climbing bean profitability. It involved data collection using simple random sampling technique where four parishes Budwale, Buwanangadi, Bunamahe and Bukingala in Budwale subcounty were chosen and respondents were randomly selected from every parish. Questionnaires were employed during data collection and data was analysed using Excel and SPSS version 20. The results showed that male dominated females by a percentage of 87.5% to 12.5% respectively, most farmers who were engaged were having between 36-45 years of age (33. 3%).The farmers’ perceptions show that climbing beans were easy to grow, grown for both subsistence and sale, easy to prepare and had a nice taste. Furthermore, the results on gross margins show that climbing beans were profitable where farmers got an average gross margin of 1,148,331Ushs/acre. This study also revealed that NABE 12C was the most grown variety. This study therefore concludes that climbing beans are highly profitable and can increase incomes of smallholder farmers and as well as improve the food security amongst households. Therefore, the study recommends that smallholder farmers should consolidate their land to grow more climbing beans, more subsidies on agro inputs to support farmers and extension services enhanced to train farmers.