The untold story of urban and peri-urban farming: a case of Wakiso District

Abstract

The study was conducted in Wakiso district with the aim of exploring the untold story about urban and peri urban farming. A structured questionnaire was administered through one-on-one interview with the farmers and 73 farmers from the four divisions of Busukuma ,Nabweru, Nansana and Gombe responded to the questionnaire. To analyze the data, the researcher employed the multinomial logistic regression to predict factors that influenced the selection of farming systems among urban and peri urban farmers and data about major farming systems used and the challenges faced by farmers was subjected to descriptive analysis using SPSS. The findings revealed that the backyard system is the most prevalent reported by 43.1% of respondents. Factors influencing farming system selection included water access and gender of the farmers. Challenges faced by peri-urban farmers included water scarcity, pest management, and climate impacts. Based on these findings, recommendations included; promoting backyard farming through training and incentives that can utilize residential space for agricultural productivity, diversifying farming systems including mixed farming. The study recommends that, there is an opportunity to further promote and support backyard farming initiatives among urban residents through providing training, resources, and incentives for establishing and maintaining productive gardens within residential properties. Efforts should be made by government to encourage farmers to incorporate a variety of crops and livestock into their farming systems, thereby enhancing resilience and sustainability.