Adoption of agricultural tractors by farmers in Nyimbo, Wobulenzi and Bamunanika Sub Counties in Luwero District, Uganda

Abstract

Tractor adoption is a crucial consideration in Uganda, a country that highly prioritizes mechanization and believes it will be a way to commercializing agriculture and elevating agriculture production. The country basically produces more of crop products than animal products thus, tractor use is key for mechanizing agriculture. The study looked at evaluating the discrepancy between expected tractor adoption by the many tractors unleashed by the government to farmers’ localities and the reality that, there still remains low tractor adoption. Why there exists the gap, and what needs to be done to address that? The research anchored on different objectives which included; characterizing farmers who used tractors and those who didn’t; evaluating factors that affected the level of adoption and; perception of farmers towards tractor use. There were several surprising outcomes which expounded that tractors are not limited by availability of tractors but more and more factors. The research indicated policy interventions and implications to address other factors that included; land fragmentation, feeder road construction and maintenance, monitoring of tractors released to subcounty and providing maintenance services, stability of agricultural prices and agricultural value addition, strengthening agricultural advisory and extension services and more as indicated in the report. Improvement in tractor adoption will range from addressing the following; tractor availability, tractor accessibility, tractor use and utilization and tractor maintenance.