Analysing the effect of sugarcane production on household food security using GIS and remote sensing: a case study of Iganga District

Abstract

Sugarcane production has been on the rise in Uganda in the past few years and the cultivated area has dramatically increased in Eastern Uganda. As the processors’ internal production capacity became insufficient to meet their processing needs, they enlisted smallholder farmers to serve as out-growers. This led to a tremendous increase in the number of out-growers that saw sugarcane production as a viable economic activity. However, there remains a death of information on how sugarcane production is influencing household food security in the iganga district. This study assessed the spatial pattern change in land use from food production to sugarcane production from 2000 to 2022 and assess its effect on food security using remote sensing and GIS in Iganga district. Specifically, the study; (i) assessed the spatial-temporal patterns of sugarcane production in Iganga district; (ii) determine the extent to which agricultural land have been converted to sugarcane production in Iganga district; (iii) determine the relationship between sugarcane production and household food security The study utilized a combination of remote sensing GIS and a cross-sectional survey to collect the required data. Geo-spatial analysis including the use of supervised and unsupervised classification, descriptive analysis, and multinomial logistic regression was utilized in the data analysis. Results showed that sugarcane growing areas have increased by 15 fold over the 20 year period of analysis because people see it as a viable business to remove them from poverty. This is because much of the land had been taken up by sugarcane growing leaving small plots for food crops. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that there is need to pass an ordinance to encourage people owning land less than five acres to practice mixed farming, crop diversification and using modern scientific methods of farming.