Determinants of adoption of potato production in the low land areas of Uganda

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is an important food and cash crop for smallholder farmers, giving more food, more nutrition and more cash per unit of area and time. Adoption of the crop is therefore seen as a pathway to improved smallholder farmer livelihoods. However, the crop has not been widely adopted especially in the low land areas of Uganda. A survey involving 424 farmers selected using stratified random sampling method was conducted in Isingiro, Rakai and Lyantonde districts of Uganda to: i) characterize farmers in the low land districts of Uganda by adoption status, and ii) determine the factors that influence adoption of potato production in the lowland areas of Uganda. The study used Chi-square tests, t-tests and a Tobit model. Findings of the study showed that potato adopters owned 2.21 ha on average and it was significantly larger than the land owned by non-adopters (1.40 ha). A significantly higher proportion of potato adopters accessed credit (25.40 %) and also had contact with extension agents (25%) in the previous 12 months compared to the proportion of non- adopters who accessed credit (17.05%) and visited by an extension agents (17.61%) in the previous 12 months. Variables that significantly influenced adoption and intensity of adoption of potato production included sex (p<0.01), access to credit (p<0.1), distance to market (p<0.1), information access from fellow farmers and from a radio (p<0.01) and location specific variables (p<0.01).