Data and selected socio-economic features of the study area

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Approaches and methods of the study

As noted above, this study has two main objectives. First was to establish the determinants of SFM and conservation technologies. Secondly, to provide an understanding of the causal relationships between social capital and household poverty in Uganda. Different analytical tools were therefore used. First, considering the interdependent and joint nature of adoption decisions, a multinomial logit model (MNL) was used to estimate the effect of poverty, social capital and property rights on adoption of certain SFM and conservation practices. In this framework, farmers were expected to choose a mix of options that maximise their Utility. To correct for possible endogeneity effects, associated with the poverty-SFM and conservation relationships, a two-stage probit least squares 2SPLS was used.
Secondly, a linear regression model is used, to understand the determinants of poverty in Uganda while a probit model was used to establish the determinants of group participation. In order to correct for the endogeneity problem associated with poverty and social capital (involving discrete endogenous dependent variables), a two stage non-recursive procedure is used. The 2SPLS and two stage conditional maximum likelihood (2SCML) approaches were used to correct for possible endogeneity effects associated with social capital-poverty relationship.

Organisation of the thesis

The first chapter covered the introduction and motivation for the study. The second chapter gives a brief background on the Ugandan Economy, highlighting important issues in agriculture, poverty, and land degradation. The third chapter provides detailed description of the data and other selected socio-economic features of the study area. The fourth and fifth chapters are stand-alone papers, providing theoretical, methodological and empirical relationships being investigated. The fourth chapter for instance, discusses the role of poverty, land tenure and social capital on adoption of SFM and conservation technologies while chapter five discusses the determinants of poverty and determinants of social capital (group participation). The sixth chapter provides conclusions and policy implications based on the poverty, and the MNL models.

Importance and characteristics of the agricultural sector in Uganda

As already highlighted in the previous chapter, agriculture is the mainstay of the Ugandan economy, contributing about 40 percent of the GDP (see figure 2.1), 85 percent of export earnings, and 80 percent of employment (GOU, 2000a; NEMA 1999). The agricultural sector provides most of the raw materials to the mainly agro-industrial sector comprising of coffee hauling, cotton ginning, tea processing, sugar production, soap industries, edible oil, textile mills, cigarette manufacturing, grain milling, meat processing, and leather manufacturing (GOU, 2000a; NEMA 1999). It is a source of food security and remains the principal livelihood option for the poor people in the country (GOU, 2000a; Ellis and Bahigwa, 2003). Recent estimates show that about two thirds of the earned incomes of the poorest decile come from agriculture (Deininger and Okidi, 2001).
While about 80 percent of the county’s labour force is concentrated in agriculture, they receive less than half of the total incomes generated by the sector. Poor smallholder farmers producing for subsistence on less than one acre of land and using traditional production techniques dominate the sector.
Nearly all the agriculture is rain-fed and uses almost no modern inputs. The agricultural sector is labour intensive depending primarily on household labour, largely comprising of women and children. For example, women form close to 80 percent of the agricultural labour force and contribute over 80 percent of all food production in Uganda (GOU, 2000a). The sector uses only a few rudimentary tools such as a hand hoe, with low mechanisation.
In the early 1980’s, the agricultural sector performance was very poor, recording an average growth rate of negative two percent per annum. However, following the introduction of the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) in 1987 and the Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) of the early 1990s, economic growth in the country as a whole and agriculture in particular improved significantly. For instance, the agricultural sector grew at an average rate of six percent per annum for the period 1992 –1996. Relevant policies introduced among others include, focus on rehabilitation of the infrastructure for traditional exports (coffee, cotton, tea and tobacco); development of non-traditional exports; removal of physical, technical and institutional constraints for agricultural development; agricultural pricing, trade and marketing liberalisation and strengthening agricultural research and extension.
Despite the above achievements, however, the welfare of the majority of subsistence farmers has not improved. Household incomes are still low and food security is not guaranteed. A study by the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC, 1998) shows that by 1998, about 40 percent of the population were considered to be food insecure. Extension services are not adequate and reach few farmers, while the rates of technology adoption for most soil conservation soil fertility management are below 30 percent. Only one third of the total food production is marketed, up to 60 percent of household expenditure is spent on food, and 56 percent of total agricultural GDP is subsistence production for own household consumption (EPRC, 1998). To make matters worse, recent estimates suggest that the declining agricultural productivity explains worsening poverty in rural Uganda (Deininger and Okidi, 2001). The next section discusses the extent and causes of land degradation in Uganda.

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Objectives of the study
1.3 Approaches and methods of the study
1.4 Organisation of the thesis
CHAPTER II AGRICULTURE, LAND DEGRADATION AND POVERTY INTERACTIONS IN UGANDA
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Importance and characteristics of the agricultural sector in Uganda
2.3. Extent and causes of land degradation in Uganda
2.4 Underlying causes of land degradation in Uganda
2.5 On-site and Off-site effects of soil erosion
2.6 Poverty and land degradation in Uganda
2.7 Poverty in Uganda
2.8. Social capital and the poverty-land degradation interaction in Uganda
2.9 Policy framework for poverty reduction, agricultural extension and environmental management in Uganda
2.10 Summary
CHAPTER III DATA AND SELECTED SOCIO-ECONOMIC FEATURES OF THE STUDY AREA
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Study area and sources of the data
3.3. Selected socio-economic characteristics of households in study Districts
3.4 Social capital and associational life in the study area
3.5 Social capital dimensions by district and income quintiles
3.6 Relationship between social capital and other socio-economic characteristics
3.7 …Relationship between social capital and adoption of land management technologies
3.8 Summary
CHAPTER IV POVERTY, PROPERTY RIGHTS AND LAND MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA
4.1. Introduction
4.2. The linkages between poverty, tenure security, social capital and land degradation
4.3. The analytical framework for modelling farmers decisions to adopt SFM and conservation practices
4.4. Empirical Methods
4.5. Results of the multinomial analyses of determinants of adoption of land improvement and conservation practices
4.6 Conclusions and policy implications
CHAPTER V SOCIAL CAPITAL AND POVERTY IN UGANDA
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Conceptualising the link between social capital and poverty
5.3 Analytical framework
5.4 Empirical model to analyse the determinants of poverty and group participation
5.5 Definitions and measurement of Variables
5.6. Results of the econometric analyses
5.7 Conclusions and policy recommendations
CHAPTER VI SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND RESEARCH
References
Appendices

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