Determinants of Land Use in the Densely Populated Kigezi Highlands of Southwestern Uganda

W. Bamwerinde, Bernard Bashaasha, W. Ssembajjwe and Frank Place ()

No 25298, 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia from International Association of Agricultural Economists

Abstract: We use a multinominal logit model to examine the determinants of plot abandonment (unintentional fallows) and long fallows (intentional fallows) in order to propose policy interventions that lead to optimal and sustainable management of land use systems in Kigezi highlands. Household factors such as age, and post primary education positively influenced farmers' decision to abandon plots. Therefore, more fallows and abandoned terraces were common with older farmers compared to younger ones. However, farm size and household type had no significant influence on abandonment of plots. Plot variables such as slope and plot distance had the expected positive signs while soil fertility had a significant negative sign as predicted. Two types of interventions are recommended. Those aimed at highly cultivable, moderate slopes and those aimed at uncultivable and fragile areas. For the former, the probability of adoption and intensity of use of appropriate agrobased interventions is likely to be very high. The latter require specific interventions that are profitable and yet allowing farmers to keep the land under cover for a very long time. Furthermore, we recommend incentives aimed at minimizing distances to plot fields.

Keywords: Land; Economics/Use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 16
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:iaae06:25298

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.25298

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