Assessment of land fragmentation in Kisoro district.

Abstract

Kisoro District is part of Kigezi highlands in Kigezi region of southwestern Uganda, gifted with fertile soils that produce food for its natives and the neighbouring districts of Kabale, Kanungu and the whole nation also including outside countries of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. The town of Kisoro, where the district headquarters are located, lies approximately 500 kilometers by road, southwest of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The coordinates of the district are 1.2209ᵒ S and 29.6499ᵒ E. It considers assessment of land fragmentation as the major objective of the study; assessing the status, causes, effects, and possible mitigation measures/ways/programs/policies/strategies of land fragmentation. The study also investigates the effects of land fragmentation on land and agricultural productivity in Kisoro District. It also shows the relationship between land fragmentation and land productivity. It shows the different methods of data collection employed to obtain the results that are analyzed and summarized in form of pie charts, graphs and tables. People own small pieces of land that are located in different places, at walking distances on average of about 500 meters which has made crop supervision and monitoring difficult. According to the research done, it shows that there is a high extent of land fragmentation in Kisoro District and this has led to a decline agriculture produce due to lack of modernized agriculture and commercial farming. The use of family planning methods to control the growing population, government policies and programs, land use programs, modification of existing land tenure systems and providing farmers with agricultural support services and technical advice are one of the ways that should be emphasized to deal with the causes and the negative effects of land fragmentation on land productivity.