Contributions of coffee production to the standards of living of farmers: a case study of Bungokho-Mutoto sub-county, Mbale District.

Abstract

This study is about the contributions of coffee production to the standards of living of the farmers, a case study of Bungokho-Mutoto Sub County Mbale district. Expenditure on health, education, food and assets were used as a measure of standards of living of the farmers. The study was based on a research study which was on the impact of coffee growing on economic welfare and development.” (Komugisha, 2019) The unit of analysis was an individual household coffee farmer. The Cochran sample size formula was used, assuming the margin of error is 0.07, 5% type 1 error and a sample size of 119 was obtained. Descriptive statistics was done for the univariate analysis, correlation analysis was used to establish the relationship between the incomes from coffee production and each of the factors such as household size, age, expenditure on indicators of standards of living was done for bivariate analysis and multivariate analysis was done by running a series of cross-sectional regressions considering different types of expenditures. Results from the selected sample indicated that majority of the respondents were males and most of the farmers were married. Furthermore, the results showed that incomes from coffee had a positive correlation with expenditure on education and expenditure on food. However, results further showed that there was a negative weak relationship between expenditure on assets and health with income from coffee. Based on the regression analysis, more males were likely to spend much of their income on investing in assets than females. Single farmers are less likely to invest in assets than married farmers. The study investigated the challenges faced by farmers in Mbale district and it concluded that farmers were faced by fluctuating coffee prices. The study findings concluded that the income of coffee farmers contributed more to household expenditures especially education and food. The recommendations of the study were; Coffee production should be further improved to meet farmer’s expenditure levels so as incomes from coffee can be significantly related to household expenditures, the problem of fluctuating coffee prices should be addressed so as to ensure stable incomes for coffee farmers to meet their needs as well as their standards of living. Further research should be done to investigate the contribution of coffee production to the growth and development of SAACOs in Mbale district.