Factors affecting the productivity of small-scale cassava producers in the West Nile Region of Uganda

Abstract

This study analyzed the factors affecting the productivity of smallholder cassava farmers in West nile region of Uganda. The study utilized four specific objectives namely; to investigate the effect of demographic factors (age, gender, education level, and household size) on the productivity of smallholder cassava farmers, to determine the effect of farming experience on the productivity of smallholder cassava farmers, to determine the effect of land size owned by the smallholder cassava farmers on their productivity, and to assess the effect of agricultural extension support on the productivity of smallholder cassava farmers. Simple random technique and convenient sampling were employed to select targeted 96 smallholder cassava farmers to participate in the study and a structured questionnaire was used to collect the required data and STATA 15.0 software was used in data analysis. The result of the analysis revealed that the registered a response rate of 100 percent. Slightly more than a half (56.2 percent) of the respondents were female. The study established that, smallholder cassava farmers who did not benefit from extension services were significantly associated with a lower cassava yield of 49.3 kilograms compared to their counterparts who benefited from extension services. Also, smallholder cassava farmers who benefited from extension services in the periods of 2015 – 2018 and 2009 – 2014 were significantly associated with a lower cassava yield of 53.8 kilograms and 68.6 kilograms, respectively as compared to their colleagues who had just benefited from the extension services with the period of 2019 – 2021. The study also established that, a unit increase in the number of household members participating in cassava farming would lead to an increase in cassava yield by 17.8 kilograms per harvest. Furthermore, the result of the study also revealed that, an increase in the cassava farm size by 1 acre would lead to an increase in cassava yield by 221.4 kilograms per harvest. Based on the findings of the study, the researcher recommends that extension services should be made accessible to the smallholder farmers through government programs such as; operation wealth creation, parish model, and so forth. Low cost credit facilities should be advanced to the smallholder farmers to avail them with the capital needed to access the extension services as well as purchasing other farm equipment. Therefore, further study should seek on analyzing the factors affecting productivity of smallholder cassava farmers using other factors such as; the farming method adopted, type of cassava seed cultivated, membership in a cooperative society.