Assessment of economic viability of sesame production in Agago district-Uganda
Abstract
The topic of study was assessment of economic variability of sesame production in Agago district in Uganda. the study assessed how different factors like age, gender, occupation, seasons, seed varieties, assistance from government, years sesame has been grown, and sesame diseases has affected the production of the crop in Agago district. the study population had 80 farmers but a sample of 44 respondents was taken and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Univariate analysis, cross tabulation and regression were performed on the data using STATA 15.
It was seen out of 44 respondents, more than half were female (52.27%) and about (47.73%) were males. Between ages 30-39 years. It was also noted that most of the respondents were absolutely peasant farmers (59.09%) followed by teachers (22.73%) and then businessmen (15.91%) and these mainly operated on huge farmlands, a small percentage comprised of doctors (2.27%). The dry root diseases (70.45%) attacked the crop the most and most farmers said they just hand-picked the affected crop and burnt it because spraying was an expensive method they could not afford. the local seed variety was most planted and that was done once a year in the season between July and October. even if the local seed variety was being planted the most, those farmers who used improved seed variety got a higher yield.
From the findings, it was recommended that farmers should establish SAACOs that helped to save money got from sale of produce hence improving on their saving culture. Farmers should also adopt planting the improved seed variety since its yield were higher and tolerant to most sesame diseases.
Research reports should be stored at the agricultural department at the district headquarters to provide future researchers with a foundation to dwell on when making future reports.