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Sugarcane Production and Food Security in Uganda

The study analyses the relationship between households’ participation in sugarcane production and food security in Uganda’s major producing subregions of Buganda, Busoga and Bunyoro. Using primary data collected from 1,771 households and group discussions, the study uses three different measures of food security: — Household Food Insecurity Access Score (HFIAS); Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning (MAHFP); and Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) to lay a picture into this sugarcane -food security nexus. Findings revealed higher average HFIAS, MAHFP and HDDS values for cane-growing households compared to non-cane growers. Poisson estimates of the three food security scores and an Ordered Probit Model of Food Insecurity Scale, derived from HFIAS found that farm households engaging in cane production in 2021 had lower levels of food insecurity and a higher number of months of food adequacy on average, relative to households not producing cane, while controlling for other factors known to influence household food security. Other factors such as the dependence on unstable wage income, faith in indigenous religions, large family size, and shocks like crop pests and diseases, being resident in Busoga and Bunyoro sub-regions compared to Buganda led to increased food insecurity.

On the other hand, better access to food and a household having more months of adequate food provisions improved in male-headed households, households headed by persons of reasonable age, a stable annual salary income; maximum education of female adults; the number of livestock owned; the value of household assets; and the number of food crops grown. The study finds no significant effect of cane production on HDDs. Food insecurity score increased for households in which decision-making on crop choices on what to plant on plots was done jointly (both male and spouse) and only female head/spouse with no significant effect of decision making on crop marketing and income from sales on food security. Therefore, there is a need to design spatial programmes for Busoga and Bunyoro to enhance food security and at the same time pay special attention to integrating human capital development, especially for females, wealth creation, and crop diversification. In addition, there is a need to guide farming households on enterprise selection that matches with available arable land size. Farmers with the intention of growing cane should have a minimum of 8-15 acres under intensive cane production with a minimum of 1-2 acres under food.

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