A Typology and Preferences for Pigeon Pea in Smallholder Mixed Farming Systems in Uganda

Dorothy Birungi Namuyiga (), Till Stellmacher, Christian Borgemeister and Jeroen C. J. Groot
Additional contact information
Dorothy Birungi Namuyiga: Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany
Till Stellmacher: Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany
Christian Borgemeister: Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany
Jeroen C. J. Groot: Farming Systems Ecology, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 430, 6700 Wageningen, The Netherlands

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: Pigeon pea ( Cajanus cajan ) remains an under-researched ‘orphan crop’ yet is important for food and nutrition security of smallholders. Furthermore, smallholders are heterogeneous, with varying perceptions and resource capacities. Against this backdrop, we clustered smallholders and assessed their preferences for pigeon pea. Data were gathered through a cross-sectional survey of 257 smallholders from northern Uganda, corroborated with key informant interviews. Using multivariate analysis, we generated six clusters that explained 63% of the total variance. Three farm types (LEX—low-resourced and experienced, LUN—low-resourced and inexperienced, and LED—low-resourced and educated) represented 15, 10, and 17% of the farms, respectively, and were resource-constrained with low farm size, low livestock units, low education level and low pigeon pea sales. Three other types (MEX—medium-resourced and experienced, HEX—high-resourced and experienced, HED—high-resourced and educated) represented 7, 6, and 7% of the samples and were highly-resourced given their above-average level of endowment. Pigeon pea was mainly produced for household consumption, especially by the low-resourced farm types. Across farm types, smallholders preferred pigeon pea because it fixed nitrogen (94%), is relatively easy to harvest (90%) and it provided more biomass (89%) compared to other crops. The developed typology allows for tailored pro-poor agricultural policies to address particular necessities of specific farm types. Understanding varied preferences can facilitate investments into improving pigeon pea traits, which are particularly desirable and appropriate for smallholders.

Keywords: pigeon pea; preference; endowment; smallholders; typology; Uganda (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1186/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/8/1186/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:8:p:1186-:d:883830

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().