Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

Proceedings of the 12th Annual Conference © 2011 IAABD
Abstract
Determinants of Import Demand of Rice in Uganda
Theodora S. Hyuha, thyuha@agric.mak.ac.ug
Department of Agribusiness and Natural Resources, School of Agricultural Sciences,
Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Ekere William, wekere@agric.mak.ac.ug
Department of Agribusiness and Natural resources, School of Agricultural Sciences,
Makerere University, Kampala. Uganda
Grace Bantebya Kyomuhendo 2 gbantebya@ss.mak.ac.ug
National Crop Resource Research Institute
Jimmy Lamo
Department of Gender and Women Studies Makerere University, Uganda.
Rice has been singled out as one of the crops that play an important role in the economy. Its importance has become
more critical due to increasing demand which has created a gap in domestic supply. This study analyses
determinants of import demand for rice in Uganda using econometric methods. Own price and own consumption
have significant influence on rice imports in Uganda. Thus there is a need to increase supply through supporting
farmers to increase domestic rice production to stabilize prices, if the country is to be self sufficient in rice domestic
production through adopting high yielding varieties.
Introduction
Rice, particularly, the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) developed at West Africa Rice Development
Association (WARDA) center is a technology designed to address food security in Africa. Uganda
Government adopted it as one of the crops that can assist her to achieve the overarching objective of
poverty eradication and at the same time meet the MDGs of halving poverty in the country by 2015.
Before the introduction of NERICA, some Ugandan farmers were growing upland (local varieties) and
irrigated rice introduced by the Chinese Government in 1950’s.
Rice has been singled out as one of the crops that play an important role as both a food and a cash crop in
the country (Sabiiti, 1995; Ochollah et al., 1997; Jagwe et al., 2005). The crop ranks fourth among the
cereal crops, occupying a total of 119 thousand hectares of land with an estimated output of 162 thousand
tons (UBOS, 2008). Its importance has become more critical due to increasing demand both domestically
and regionally. It has been identified by the Government of Uganda as a crop which holds a key to
poverty reduction and household food security (UNRDS, 2009). This optimism is based on the following
observations: it competes well within the farming system (Jagwe et al., 2005); has higher yields than
those in Asia (Kijima et al., 2006); profitable (Hyuha et al., 2008) and there is increasing change in tastes,
especially in urban areas leading to high demand both domestically and regionally (Elepu, 2006).
To fulfill this demand, supply must increase which can come from domestic production or foreign supply.
Domestically, NERICA yields at farmer fields is 56 percent of that at the station (2.2 tones per hectare as
opposed to 5 tonnes per hectare) (Kijima et al., 2006), but according to UBOS (2008) it is estimated at
1.36 per hectare. However, for irrigated rice, the yields are higher and one study estimated to be 3 tons
per hectare. These figures depict a big potential for increased output. However, Hyuha et al (2007)
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