The contribution of coffee production to the standards of living of coffee farmers in Bungokho-Mutoto subcounty Mbale district

Abstract

This study aimed at finding out the contributions of coffee production to the standards of living of coffee farmers in Mbale District. The specific objectives of this study included finding out the relationship between earnings from coffee and expenditure on health, education, food, leisure and assets and also finding out the relationship between earnings from coffee and other variables such as sex of the farmer, level of education, land size, household size and marital status. Simple random sampling was used to find the sample size that was considered during this study where a total of 119 farmers were interviewed. Also, ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were used to find out the association between earnings from coffee and expenditure on health, education, food, leisure and assets. Data analysis was done using STATA. The results from this study showed that there were more males (78%) than women (41%) and most of the farmers were married (83%). The results further revealed that earnings from coffee had a positive weak relationship with expenditure on education (r= 0.0431, p=0.6419) and food (r=0.1394, p=0.1306) and a negative relationship with expenditure on health (r=-0.1206, p=0.1913), leisure (r=-0.1316, p=0.1537) and assets (r=-0.0099, p=0.9147). In addition, a higher average expenditure on education was also recorded (861,747) and lower expenditure on leisure (126,505). The study also revealed that the relationship between earning from other sources and expenditure on health and education was significant with r and p values; (r=0.2528, p=0.0055) and (r=0.3345, p=0.002) respectively. I recommended however, that more efforts are still needed in coffee production so that farmers can meet their expenditures. Furthermore. Research should be done on the contributions of coffee production to the growth and development of SACCOS in Mbale district.