Abstract:
The research study was primarily aimed at assessing the impact of OWC in improving the socioeconomic welfare of the farming households through increased productivity, a case study of Amone Parish, Mella Subcounty, Tororo District. The research study was based on various objectives that included establishing the role of OWC towards improving livelihoods, establishing the different challenges met by OWC program in extending services to farmers and finding out the extent to which OWC program is improving the productivity of agriculture in Amone Parish, Mella Subcounty, Tororo District. The study further sought to establish relationship between OWC program and the level of food and nutrition security in rural areas.
Questionnaires and interviews were used in collecting primary data which was later presented in a tabular form. Chi-square analysis was used in finding out the relationship between the study variables and the decisions were based on the chi square values obtained from SPSS. Qualitative analysis was used in explaining the different study findings and conclusions were later drawn based on the findings.
The researcher recommended that farmers need to take on the advice from different technical teams if the OWC program is to perform to their expectations. Local leaders in Amone Parish, Mella Subcounty, Tororo District should always try to involve everybody in the programme because many complaints have been raised that some were left outside OWC programme. The researcher also recommended that policy makers especially parliament representatives should try to follow up the OWC program in conjunction with the evaluation teams to know how the program is being implemented.
Key words: OWC, Food Security, Welfare.
