Browsing by Author "Mugonya, J."

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    Determinants of Innovation Behaviour among Pig Farmers in Northern Uganda
    (African Journal of Rural Development, 2020) Mugonya, J.; Kalule, S.W.; Ndyomugyenyi, E. K.
    Attributable to poor market linkages, Ugandan pig farmers are taken advantage of by middlemen who pay low prices, recline the weight of pigs and default on payments. Farmer innovation can remedy the situation; however, the factors influencing pig farmers’ innovation behaviour are not fully known. Further, extant studies on the subject tend to report findings on innovation behaviour as a composite variable other than its decomposed phases of exploration, experimentation, adaptation and modification of farming practices. This study therefore aimed at examining the influence of socio-economic factors on the phases of innovation behaviour among pig farmers in Northern Uganda. A cross sectional survey of 239 respondents was carried out and primary data were collected using pretested, semi-structured questionnaires between the month of October and November 2018. Tobit regression was employed for data analysis. The results revealed that personal selling affects all phases of innovation behaviour. In addition, i) exploration of new practices was affected by stock size, educational level and gender; ii) experimentation of new practices also depended on educational level; iii) adaptation of new practices was predicted by farming experience, extension service, access credit, non-farm employment, distance to town market and pork selling, and lastly iv) modification of existing practices was contingent on farming experience, access to extension service, access to credit, price negotiation ability, selling pigs to peer farmers and selling pork. Therefore, pig farmers operating in poorly developed value chains should as much as possible do personal selling of their pigs and pig products through informing their community members about the availability of piglets for sale on their farms, taking their pigs to the market or slaughtering pigs to sell pork instead of live pigs.
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    Effect of Market Information Quality, Sharing and Utilisation on the Innovation Behaviour of Smallholder Pig Producers
    (Cogent Food & Agriculture, 2021) Mugonya, J.; Kalule, S. W.; Ndyomugyenyi, E. K.
    Although pig farming can accelerate Uganda’s economic development, the value chain is undeveloped with poorly organized informal markets. Buyers take advantage of farmers paying low prices, pointing to the poor quality of pigs and pork. Farmer innovation can remedy this situation by enabling farmers to reduce costs, improve pig productivity and quality of pigs and pork. Leveraging farmer innovation behaviour calls for appropriate agricultural information. However, the effect of market information quality, sharing, and utilization on the innovation behaviour of pig producing farmers is not fully known. This study sought to determine the effect of information quality, sharing, and utilisation on the innovation behaviour of pig producing farmers in Northern Uganda. A cross-section survey of 239 respondents selected through multiple stages of purposive and random sampling was done. Data were analysed by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results show that information quality contributes significantly to innovation behaviour directly (β = 0.247; P < 0.01) as well as indirectly through the partial mediation of information utilization (β = 0.176; 95% CI = 0.040∼0.349). Therefore, interventions that seek to enhance smallholder farmer innovation should provide quality information and support farmers to utilise it.
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    Utilisation of Labour among Pig Farmers in Northern Uganda
    (African Crop Science Journal, 2020) Mugonya, J.; Kalule, S.W.; Ndyomugyenyi, E.K.
    In many sub-Saharan countries, pig (Susscrofa domesticus) production is increasingly an important food security and income generating activity for smallholder farmers. This is attributed to the high prospects for vigilance of the pork market, driven by urbanisation, population growth and dietary transition towards more animal protein per capita. Therefore, increasing pig production is one of the viable pathways to get smallholder farmers out of poverty and food insecurity. Although there are extensive studies about the elements of pig production, such as feeding, breeding and space requirements; little work has been done on distribution of innovation behaviour and the socio-economic factors that influence labour utilisation in the region. The objective of this study was to determine the socio-economic factors that influence labour (family or hired) utilisation and distribution of innovation behaviour among pig farmers in Northern Uganda. Through a cross sectional survey and descriptive analysis, we characterised smallholder pig farmers in the northern Uganda by type of labour used for pig production, and explored the distribution of the dimensions of innovation behaviour (exploration, experimentation, adaptation and modification) among them. Results revealed that young educated farmers with non-farm employment, a smaller household size, belonging to a farmer group and who had many pigs were more likely to use hired labour than those with counter characteristics. There were significant differences in the number of farmers who exhibited the different dimensions of innovation behavior. Therefore, interventions to boost pig production through the use of hired labour should consider the socio-economic differences among farmers which determine labour constraints they face.