dc.description.abstract | The present study was undertaken to establish the influence of sugar cane growing on food
production and nutrition in and around Kakira sugar cane plantation. Simple random sampling was
used in selecting farmers and 13 villages were selected from which 100 sugarcane famers were
selected.
The required data was collected using interviews, group discussions, measurements and
observation in order to determine the influence of sugar cane growing on the diversity of food
crops and comparing net income generated from sugarcane growing and other cash crops(maize).
Findings of the study indicated that sugarcane,maize,beans had an increased proportion of land
allocated to them currently as compared to that which was allocated to the crops 50years ago,with
sugar cane having the highest increase of 510% .On the other hand Coffee, cotton, cassava, millet,
sweet potatoes, ground nuts, yams, cow peas, banana, millet had a decrease in the propotion of
land allocated to them currently as compared with that which was allocated to them 50years ago
,with cotton having the highest decrease of -83 % .Also 83% of the people in the study area depend
on maize as the main source of food. Maize is a better cash crop than sugarcane by an amount of
12.475millions Uganda shillings per acre for a period of five years and this extra money can enable
farmers to buy more food at their home at the high prices unlike the sugar cane farmers who earn
less money and may not be able to afford food products at the market prices and this decrease food
availability and nutrition in farmers’ homes. To increase on food production and nutrtion in the
study area , farmers should resort to growing maize as a cash crop and spare more land to grow
more food crops as this diversification will ensure enough food and good nutrition status | en_US |