Contribution of Rangelands to Household Food Basket and Income in a Pastoral Area in Uganda
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Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Food Security
Abstract
Rangelands are important ecosystems as they offer livelihood options and food security to many people
in Uganda. There is barely any study that has analyzed the intricate relationship between household food basket,
income and rangelands in Uganda. This study determined the contribution of rangelands to household food basket
and income in Nakaseke district, Uganda. A cross-sectional survey using semi-structured questionnaires was
conducted among 180 randomly selected households. The survey was aimed at determining the relationship between
rangeland resources, food basket and income. Results showed that rangeland resources contribute significantly
(p<0.05) to household food basket and income during both dry and wet seasons. Water, grass and shrubs were the
most important rangeland resources in the area. On average, a household expended US$ 4.29 and US$ 4.04 daily on
milk during the wet and dry seasons respectively. This accounted for the largest household expenditure on household
food items. The household food basket is constituted by milk, meat from cattle and goats, posho, cassava, beans,
vegetables, fruits, honey, sugar and oil. Four months; January-March and July-August were observed to have the
lowest resource availability during the year. On average, households earned US$ 20.07 per month translating to
US$ 240.84 annually. This average is lower than the US$571.9 national estimated per capita income. The average
monthly income of the households during the wet and dry seasons was US$ 22.4 and US$ 17.7 respectively.
Seasonal differences in income were however non-significant (p>0.05). The logistic regression results showed that
size of land owned significantly influences cattle numbers and income at household level but does not influence the
number and type of crops cultivated and available food reserves. Seventy three percent (73%) of the households
attributed their livestock herd sizes to the presence of vast expanses of the rangeland. These findings show that
rangelands are the most important contributors to household food basket as well as household assets such as
livestock that have influence on household food security.
Description
Keywords
Food reserves, Food security, Land ownership, Dry and wet seasons, Uganda
Citation
Betty Mbolanyi, Anthony Egeru, and David Mfitumukiza, “Contribution of Rangelands to Household Food Basket and Income in a Pastoral Area in Uganda.” Journal of Food Security, vol. 4, no. 3 (2016): 68-75. doi: 10.12691/jfs-4-3-3.