Department of Agro-business and Extension Agriculture
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12283/372
2024-03-29T06:18:42ZAssessment of the profitability of groundnut production among smallholder farmers in Bukanga sub-county, Luuka district
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12283/4157
Assessment of the profitability of groundnut production among smallholder farmers in Bukanga sub-county, Luuka district
Jagenda, Moses
In Uganda, agriculture is a country’s backbone and main source of income for rural people. The agriculture sector contributes to 23% of the country’s GDP and employs over 70% of Uganda’s population and feeds the raising population. Bukanga Sub County is rural state Sub County located in Luuka district Busoga region. The area is made up of farmers who cover the biggest percentage of the population growing various crops like groundnuts, potatoes, sugarcane, soya bean, Maize, coffee and many other crops. The farmers take agriculture as their major economic activity and depend on it for their livelihood but majority of these farmers are poor, food insecure and are of a low income status which signifies that the agriculture they are doing is not profitable. The aim of the study was to assess the profitability of groundnut production in Bukanga sub county Luuka district because groundnut is one of the commonly grown crops and has a ready market with higher prices. With guidance from the technical people and the population size not known the researcher was able to employ the formula by Easterby-Smith (2013) and used a sample size of 73 respondents who were basically groundnuts farmers and all accepted to participate in the survey. Data was analyzed using descriptive statics, multiple regression analysis and gross margin analysis. The results showed that mostly females participate in groundnuts production than males; most of the respondents have attained education, the other shows that groundnut production is profitable in Bukanga Sub County Luuka District because it has a positive gross margin of UGX 32,180, a net farm income of -UGX8,904.50 and a return on every UGX invested of -0.02. The negative returns were reported to result from some major factors like much rainfall, much drought, low soil fertility, pest and diseases and high prices of seed. Groundnuts production can be a profitable business in Bukanga Sub County if the farmers are taught better agronomic practices, subsidies are given to farmers on the inputs used in production and improving the extension network which improves the information flow to and from farmers to the agricultural officials.
Dissertation
2024-01-01T00:00:00ZEconomic analysis of fresh cow milk vending microbusinesses in Goma sub-county, Mukono district
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12283/4156
Economic analysis of fresh cow milk vending microbusinesses in Goma sub-county, Mukono district
Odong, Moses Joel
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of economic analysis of fresh cow milk vending microbusinesses in Goma sub-county, Mukono district. 80 respondents were randomly selected from five parishes in the sub-county. Despite the improvements and investments in the dairy sector by both the government and NGOs, Uganda's milk production is still lower than its production potential. The objectives of this study were, to characterize the main determinants of fresh cow milk venders in selected markets in Goma sub-county, to estimate the price spread along fresh cow milk marketing in the selected markets and to determine benefits of fresh cow milk vending micro businesses in the markets selected in Goma sub-county. Primary data was used for analysis and the researcher used descriptive statistics using mainly quantitative methods of data collection to capture data. Data was collected using research questionnaires where the researcher was asking the questions on the questionnaire and noting down the respondents’ answers. The findings revealed that, the milk vending businesses are dominated by majority male gender to females, the mean age was 33 years, majority attained UCE level of education and the milk vendors have been able to generate income from fresh cow milk microbusiness due to affordable milk price spread along the marketing channels. The researcher recommended that the additional research is required to conduct a qualitative review and ascertain vendors' actual perceptions of the variables impacting their choice of marketing channel. This will offer hard data to help the government and policy makers create better laws and guidelines for the many players in the milk value chain. The commencing researches should focus the study about the introduction of milk drying machines so that the milk demand could be more.
Dissertation
2024-01-01T00:00:00ZPost-harvest losses during marketing of tomatoes and technologies used to mitigate them in Mbale city, eastern Uganda.
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12283/4155
Post-harvest losses during marketing of tomatoes and technologies used to mitigate them in Mbale city, eastern Uganda.
Kimwera, Ivan Masaba
Tomato is a major vegetable crop that is used widely throughout the different strata of the population over the last century in Mbale city. It is one of the most important „protective foods‟ because of its special nutritive value and also an important source of antioxidants in the human diet.it has lycopene (an antioxidant) which removes cancer causing free radicals. This study therefore examined the postharvest losses in tomatoes and determine the relative interventions to mitigate them It involved data collection using simple random sampling technique where three divisions northern, wanale and industrial division were chosen and respondents were randomly selected from every division. Questionnaires were employed during data collection and data was analyzed using Excel and SPSS version 20. The results showed that males dominated females 39(53%) and 34(46%) respectively. Most farmers who were engaged were having between 20 – 30 years (47.9%). The farmers experience losses during harvest (15.5%) and after harvest (25.5%) however farmers and traders have technologies to minimize the losses which included use chemicals this has a negative impact on the health of consumers, use wooden boxes, basins with banana leaves, spread their tomatoes on the floor covered with grass, keeping them in holes to prolong the shelf life, dusting them with ash and keeping them in woven baskets. The study also revealed that tomato ansal f1 was the most grown variety. This study therefore concludes that despite the interventions used by the farmers, traders and significant research investment, there are still high loses of tomatoes during postharvest and this has resulted into negative effects on farmer’s income and household food security in Mbale city. Therefore the study concludes by recommending Coating tomatoes with alvera gel as its proven organic and effective by researchers(“Strategies to Reduce Post-Harvest Losses for Fruits and Vegetables,” 2019) Construction of feeder roads to the market areas to avoid scratches and damages, constructing large rooms in market areas for storage, creating more market for tomatoes to avoid over pilling by establishing more processing plants and empowering tomatoes farmers skills of adding value to tomatoes, sensitizing farmers on proper postharvest handling practices, value addition in tomatoes, constructing cold rooms and improving varieties that can stay longer, harvest tomatoes when they are ready, proper harvesting and storage, sensitization on planned production, training farmers on post-harvest techniques, breeding tomatoes with long shelf life.
Dissertation
2024-01-01T00:00:00ZThe socio-economic factors affecting bean productivity among smallholder farmers in Itirikwa sub county, Adjumani district.
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12283/4152
The socio-economic factors affecting bean productivity among smallholder farmers in Itirikwa sub county, Adjumani district.
Vuchiri, Thomas
Bean is an important source of proteins and income for poor resource households. However, the yield of beans has remained very low in comparison to yields obtained under ideal management conditions. This necessitated the examination of socio-economic factors influencing bean yields among smallholder farmers in Itirikwa sub-county, Adjumani district northern Uganda. A total of 80 farmers were randomly selected from the study area and the data was subjected to descriptive statistics and regression analysis using IBM SPSS (version 20). The descriptive study revealed that majority of the respondents (82.7%) were practicing farming and had no other off farm jobs, most of them were 31-40 years of age (31%). Also, 82.5% and 53.8% of the respondents had bean gardens ranging from 1 to 2 acres and sourced seeds for planting from local market respectively. While 65.0% of the farmers didn't have access to credit, 90.7% actually had access to market information. From the study, majority of the farmers (20.4%) attained yields of either 70 - 137kgs or above 200kgs per acre. The results further show that bean production per acre could cost about 525,000/=, total revenue was 616,500/= and the profit was 915,000/= per acre on average, the price for beans on average was found to be 4500/= per kilogram sale showing a positive margin at 22.9%. The results indicated in regression analysis of bean yield and several socio-economic factors stood out. Notably, age shows a positive statistically significant relationship with the variation in bean yield, Education level, Family size and fertilizer usage and farming experience shows negative coefficients but statistically significant in influencing the variations in the bean yield, whereas gender and land ownership are statistically not significant.
It is therefore recommended that the government’s effort to support agricultural mechanization for increased acreage and productivity be strengthened through private public partnership to quickly reach the smallholder farmers.
Dissertation
2024-01-01T00:00:00Z