Doctoraatsproefschrift nr. 1095 aan de faculteit Bio-ingenieurswetenschappen van de KU Leuven ...

217 Pages·2013·5.47 MB·English

Doctoraatsproefschrift nr. 1095 aan de faculteit Bio-ingenieurswetenschappen van de
KU Leuven

OPTIMAL MANAGEMENT OF FARM-LEVEL RESOURCES IN
THE LAKE VICTORIA CATCHMENTS: A CASE OF UPPER
RWIZI AND IGULUIBI MICRO-CATCHMENTS, UGANDA

Basil MUGONOLA
Supervisors:
Prof. E. Mathijs
Prof. J. Deckers

Members of the
Examination Committee:
Prof. R. Merckx
Prof. J. Poesen Dissertation presented in
Prof. M. Maertens partial fulfillment of the
Prof. L. Vranken requirements for the
Prof. M. Isabirye degree of Doctor of
Bioscience Engineering.
February 2013
© 2009 Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Groep Wetenschap & Technologie, Arenberg
Doctoraatsschool, W. de Croylaan 6, 3001 Heverlee, België

Alle rechten voorbehouden. Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden vermenigvuldigd en/of
openbaar gemaakt worden door middel van druk, fotokopie, microfilm, elektronisch of op
welke andere wijze ook zonder voorafgaandelijke schriftelijke toestemming van de uitgever.

All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced in any form by print,
photoprint, microfilm, electronic or any other means without written permission from the
publisher.

ISBN 978-90-8826-292-0
D/ 2013/11.109/19
OPTIMAL MANAGEMENT OF FARM-LEVEL RESOURCES IN THE LAKE
VICTORIA CATCHMENTS: A CASE OF UPPER RWIZI AND IGULUIBI MICRO-
CATCHMENTS, UGANDA

Basil MUGONOLA

February, 2013
Acknowledgement

My dream to pursue PhD training, started at Virginia Polytechnique and State University
(Virginia Tech-USA) in 2006-2007, was finally fulfilled with funding from the Belgian
Government through the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC) and research support from
VLIR Own-initiative project (The RipaVic project in the upper Rwizi micro-catchment ) and
VICRES project in the Iguluibi micro-catchment. I am very grateful to Professors Seppe
Deckers, Jean Poesen and Erik Mathijs who enabled me secure admission at the Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven. In the same breath I am grateful to Professor Moses Isabirye who
recruited me to work on the RipaVic and VICRES projects. I am sure meeting Moses was
more than coincidental as there should have been divine benevolence at this critical time of
need.

I wish to express my profound gratitude to my excellent team of supervisors. All through, I
have been encouraged and motivated by my promoters Erik, Seppe and Moses. My main
promoter, Erik, contributed immensely to the shaping of the final study. I greatly appreciate
the team of assessors and examiners for being true to your task and ensuring that the work is
of the expected standard. I received very helpful comments on the earlier drafts of chapter
two from Prof Miet Maertens, which together with comments from two anonymous reviewers
tremendously improved the overall outlook of this chapter. The excellent team at the division
of Bio-economics, the regular divisional seminars taught and helped me on improving the
soft and presentation skills. I also thank my colleagues; Dr. Joshua Wanyama, Dr. Ivan Lule,
Dr. Andrew Kabanza, Dr. Hidelitha Msita, Alice Nakiyemba, George Kalema and Kevin
Akoyi; thank you for the support and encouragement. I also thank the faculty of Bio-science
administration including Sarah De Smet, Sofie Bruneel and Viviane Crabbé.
iv
I am also grateful to Professor Dan Taylor of Virginia Tech for encouraging me all through
my formative years of my academic carrier. I am sure working with you on the Integrated
Pest Management (IPM) projects in eastern and central Uganda and later your support and
securing a scholarship for me to attend course work at Virginia Tech greatly motivated me to
soldier on. I appreciate the support of Dr. Jackie Bonabana-Wabbi of the department of
Agricultural economics and agribusiness Makerere University for encouraging and ‘cheering’
me on right from Virginia Tech and all through. I thank Professors: Samuel Kyamanywa and
Bernard Bashaasha; Dr. Valentine Kasenge and Ms Elizabeth Balirwa for your enormous
contributions to my academic growth. I also thank the staff of Kawanda National Agricultural
Research laboratories for supporting me during my research.

There are people I worked with in the course of the field work especially in the undulating
hills of southwestern Uganda and in the Iguluibi micro-catchment in eastern Uganda. The
excellent team of research assistants; Elias Rwobusingye, Agnes Ainembabazi, Jerome
Bahati, Godfrey Natureba and Simon Peter Waigumba, who also helped in data coding and
entry. The farmers from both study areas who were there to always answer tiring and
sometimes questions that required a lot of recall in order to remember details of previous
activities, I can not thank you enough. The leaders in Mabarara especially the Mbarara
district natural resources officer Mr. Jeconius Musingwire and the chairman Mayuge farmers’
forum Mr. Joshua Mudusu, in Iguluibi; I greatly appreciate all that you did to make the data
collection exercises successful. I also thank the project driver, Mr. Sam Ntale for doing such
a wonderful job.

v
I am and will forever be grateful to my family for the enormous contribution, sacrifices and
patience throughout the study, and especially during the many times I was away from home.
My Late Father I appreciate all you did to make me what I am. I am sure I have brought pride
on to you! To my dear mother I can not describe in a few words what you are to me; thank
you for being a true mother to the word. All my siblings, I am grateful for your collective
support and encouragement; for in Unity I have found strength; may we continue to uphold
this virtue of togetherness.

From the bottom of my heart I dedicate this dissertation to my beloved wife Mrs. Mercy
Wanyana Mugonola and our son Timothy Blessing Malagala Mugonola for the love, support,
prayers and commitment you provided to me, especially in the many times when I was at my
lowest.
All said and done, I return all the Glory and Honor back to God Almighty who has made it all
possible!

Basil Mugonola
Leuven, Belgium
February, 2013
vi
List of abbreviations and acronyms

AU African Union
CAADP Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme
CBA Cost Benefit Analysis
DSIP Development Strategy and Investment Plan
EAC East African Community
EAFF East African Farmers’ Federation
GDP Gross Domestic Product
LVB Lake Victoria Basin
LVEMP Lake Victoria Environmental Management Program
MAAIF Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (Uganda)
MFPED Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (Uganda)
MLHUD Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development
NAADS National Agricultural Advisory Services
NARO National Agricultural Research Organization
NDP National Development Plan
NEMA National Environment Management Authority (Uganda)
NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development
NFP National Forest Plan
NPA National Planning Authority
NPSP Non Point Source Pollution
NPV Net Present Value
NTAE Non Traditional Agricultural Exports
vii
PEAP Poverty Eradication Action Programme
PFA Prosperity For All
PMA Plan for Modernization of Agriculture
PSU Primary Sampling Unit
RDS Rural Development Strategy
RipaVic Riparian zones of Lake Victoria Project
SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
SPF Stochastic Production Frontier
SSU Secondary Sampling Unit
SWC Soil and Water Conservation
TDS Technology Development Sites
TLU Tropical Livestock Unit
THF Tropical High Forest
UBOS Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Uganda)
UPE Universal Primary Education (Uganda)
USE Universal Secondary Education (Uganda)
UGX Uganda Shilling
VICRES Lake Victoria Research Initiative Project (Uganda).
VLIR Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad (The Flemish Interuniversity Council)
viii
Summary

This study investigates use and management of farm-level resources given increasing
concerns of land degradation and pollution of Lake Victoria in Uganda. It was conducted in
selected sites in the upper River Rwizi and Iguluibi micro-catchments. Unsustainable
agricultural expansion and other land use activities in these regions have lead to land
degradation, soil erosion, pollution of Lake Victoria, soil fertility decline and decline in
agricultural productivity. Remedial efforts are only in experimental phase and the
contribution of agricultural activities to land degradation and pollution is not well
documented. The gist of this dissertation derives the socio-economic and farm-level resource
uses and management conditions under which these remedial efforts can be implemented and
thus contribute to the momentous policy debate on land degradation. The following research
questions guided the study:
• What factors determine the adoption of soil and water conservation (SWC)
technologies in the upper Rwizi micro-catchment?
• Are there productivity differentials between adopters and non-adopters of SWC
technologies in the upper Rwizi micro-catchment?
• Are grass strips used in maize cropping as filters of sediments economically viable?
• What is the linkage between smallholder farmers’ socio-economic and farm
characteristics to seeking information on agricultural land management technologies?

This dissertation is laid out in six chapters.

Chapter one introduces and frames the issue of land degradation in light of changing land
ix
uses in Uganda. It also describes the study areas, sampling and data collection and finally
gives a structure of how the different chapters are interrelated in the dissertation.

Chapter two investigates the factors influencing the adoption of SWC technologies. A
decision making framework is used to analyze the socio-economic, institutional, bio-physical,
and farm structural factors that predispose smallholder farmers to adopt SWC technologies.
The analysis uses cross-sectional survey data from 271 households in the upper Rwizi micro-
catchment. Results reveal that the likelihood to adopt SWC technologies increases with land
size, access to agricultural extension services, sex of the household head and the particular
sub-county of the smallholder farmers. Findings further show that the quadratic term in land
size is significant and negative, pointing to a potential acreage threshold to adoption of SWC
technologies in the catchment.

Chapter three analyzes efficiency differences between adopters and non-adopters of SWC
technologies. Using data from a cross-sectional survey of 246 smallholder banana farmers in
the upper Rwizi micro-catchment, a Cobb-Douglas stochastic production frontier is fitted
after correcting for self-selection bias in the adopter and non-adopter sub-samples, using a
Heckman two stage procedure. Factors that significantly contribute to technical inefficiency
include education, adoption of SWC technologies and distance to markets. The estimated
average technical efficiencies are significantly different between adopters and non-adopters.
Banana production exhibits decreasing returns to scale. Results further reveal that banana
farmers are technically inefficient, implying that there is great potential for increasing
production by improving technical efficiency under the current input regimes.

x