Effect of the NAADS program on urban farming: A case study of the beneficiaries in Central division, Kampala District.

Abstract

Agriculture continues to be a big contributor to the global economy despite the recent decline due to the development of other sectors like manufacturing and tourism. Urban farming involves the growing of crops and rearing of animals in cities. In Kampala, it is being practiced under NAADS which was one of the 7 pillars of PMA. The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of the NAADS program under KCCA on the profitability of urban farming enterprises. Specifically, the focus was to describe the NAADS beneficiaries in terms of their socio demographics, income and enterprises, evaluate the profitability of NAADS supported enterprises and determine factors affecting the profitability levels amongst the beneficiaries. The study involved 50 respondents (26 males and 24 females) who were selected through purposive and stratified sampling from which data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Results showed that the mean age of the beneficiaries was 40.4 years, all had at least primary level education and the males had a significantly higher mean gross profit margin (84.0%) than their female counterparts (76.1%). A comparison of the enterprises showed significant differences between the time they were under NAADS and before joining the programme in terms of the gross profit margin. Comparison also showed a significant difference between the different enterprises in terms of output gained, sales and gross profit margin. Therefore, the study showed that there were positive effects of the NAADS on the beneficiaries in terms of extension visits, period of support and inputs provided to the beneficiaries. These resulted into an increase in the amounts of harvested output or number of birds reared and sales especially for the poultry beneficiaries. However, there was no significant difference between those beneficiaries who intended to continue with the enterprise and those who did not. Nevertheless, the enterprises faced a number of challenges such as market instability, high maintenance cost, insufficient training amongst others. The researcher recommends the NAADS officer should allocate more time to visit different beneficiaries so as to enable them improve on their overall productivity, thus profits.