The impact of operation wealth creation on household welfare in Masaka District: A case study of Kyanamukaaka Sub-County

Abstract

This study was conducted in Kyanamukaaka sub-county, Masaka district in Central Uganda to assess the impact of the OWC on household welfare. Specifically the focus was on establishing the contribution of OWC on household food production and the factors that influence that contribution. The study involved respondents from 76 households (39 OWC and 37 non-OWC households) selected through cluster random sampling from which data was collected using face-to-face interviews. Results showed that young people were less involved in agriculture. In addition, OWC had positively affected both OWC and non-OWC households with more OWC households reporting positive changes in all the thematic areas under investigation. OWC was reported to have positively affected agricultural income, food production, volume of agricultural produce sold, access to agricultural information, access to financial services and number of animals reared. A comparison of the OWC and non-OWC households in terms of production of selected enterprises specifically; Bananas, beans, maize and milk further indicated that the OWC households generally had significantly higher yields for bananas and milk. The positive effect of OWC was largely attributed to introduction of better varieties, improved farming methods and emphasis on farmers‘groups.The researcher recommends that OWC should continue to sensitize farmers to ensure that all households join groups, enterprise selection criteria should be generated through a bottom-up approach and that reasons for the limited involvement of youth in farming be carefully investigated and addressed.