| dc.description.abstract | Small- scale tree nurseries contribute substantially to the development of a country’s economy.
They are an economic activity which can create viable employment for a number of families in a
country and due to high demand for tree planting by people in their farms, around their homes, a
great number of these have been established so as to raise tree seedlings and supply them so as
meet the available demand. But in carrying out this business, operators incur costs and expect to
obtain profits in the long run just like how other business ventures are operated. The study
therefore, aimed at the financial analysis of these small-scale private tree nurseries in Kiboga
Town Council Kiboga District for the March- June 2018 production season. Data on the tree
species mostly raised in the tree nurseries and the sources of their Germplasm, costs and returns
and challenges faced by nursery operators were collected The study was qualitative in nature and
data was collected using methods of observation, and interviewing using questionnaires. On
analysis the data was entered into SPSS and analyzed using cross tabulations and cost-benefit
analysis in which descriptive statistics like frequencies were developed. The study found out that
many nursery operators had small sized land on which they operated with many males than
females. The most raised species included eucalyptus and pinus caribaea species, and few raised
fruit trees. From the study, it was found out that all the nurseries investigated made profits for the
March-June 2018 production season. Challenges that the nursery operators faced included pest
and disease incidences, inadequate finances, high competition among roadside operating tree
nurseries; theft cases since they were located along the roads. The study concluded that
Entrepreneurs were the key players in most tree nurseries. Finally the study recommended that
nursery operators should practice records keeping for improvement on their production through
identifying where they made losses and work towards preventing them for profit maximization.
Also urban forest nurseries operators should be advised on water use efficiency and storage in
order to help for the proper utilization. | en_US |
