13th Annual International Management Conference Proceeding

DETERMINANTS OF AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT IN A RURAL SETTING
A CASE OF BANANA PRODUCTION IN NTUNGAMO DISTRICT
By
Mr. Turyahikayo Willy
Lecturer, Makerere University Business School
Finance Dept.
P.O.Box 1337 Kampala
E-mail: wturyahikayo@yahoo.com
Tel: +256-772-957295
Abstract
The study on determinants of agricultural output was done in Nyakyera Sub-County in Ntungamo District. The study
used Banana production as a case study. The study had the following objectives;
i)To estimate the effect of Land, Labour and Capital on banana production in Nyakyera Sub County.
ii) To find out the effect of Social, Economic and Environmental factors on banana production in Nyakyera Sub County
To achieve the above, 200 respondents were chosen using a systematic random sampling technique from four parishes.
A Poison regression analysis was conducted to estimate a Cobb-Douglas Production function. It was found that Land,
Labour, Capital and Manure application are all significant determinants of Banana production in the area. A qualitative
technique was used to explore other factors which influence banana production. From this qualitative analysis, it was
found that culture, government policy, cultural division of labour, land tenure systems and land ownership systems
influence banana production negatively. The study also offered policy prescriptions for improving agricultural
production. Among these were the need for massive sensitisation to break the cultural beliefs on the use of improved
varieties which have for a long time impeded agricultural output and gender division of labour. The study ended by
suggesting other areas for future research.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In a continent in which the urban employed population is tiny, in which only a small proportion of the
population derives their living directly from non- agricultural source, the development of agriculture is
almost synonymous with economic development. Until intermediate demand has grown to a level sufficient
to support a nascent capital goods industry, the bulk of the population must rely upon increasing agricultural
output for an improvement in the standard of living. According to Nypan and Astrid, the connection
between economic development and agriculture was noted as early as 1914 to be as close as to be identical.
Agriculture is an important branch of the whole economy in most less developed countries. More than 70%
of the labour force in sub Saharan Africa finds its livelihood in agriculture. However, Africa has performed
poorly in agriculture and specifically in food production with more than half of Africa living on food
emergencies. More than half of sub-Saharan African countries are said to live on food emergencies. Africa as
a whole was noted to have been experiencing a drop in per capita food out put. As early as 1981, Uganda
was noted to be amongst those countries faced with per capita food output problem. The per capita food
out put had fallen by more than 30% within that period. (Glantz 1987).
In Uganda, the importance of agriculture can be gauged from the percentage of the population engaged in
agriculture compared to the total population, from the size of agricultural GDP in relation to the total GDP
or else from the place held by the agricultural produce in total exports.
Judging by the three criteria considered, Uganda is amongst most agricultural countries in the sub- Saharan.
The corollary is that GDP per person engaged in agriculture is lower than the per capita GDP. This lower
GDP per “agricultural worker” suggests that the productivity of agricultural labour is low and that the level
of agricultural income is likewise very low.
When the NRM government came to power in 1986, there was a need to reverse the trend of major macro
economic variables so as to regain a stable and more sustainable macro economic structure. An economic
recovery programme (ERP) was introduced in 1987.
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