Assessment of the effect of climate smart agriculture adoption on household food security in Nakasongola district, Uganda

A Dissertation Submitted to the Directorate Of Research and Graduate Training in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Science in Environment and Natural Resources of Makerere University

Under climate variability and change situation, Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) has been proposed as a strategic response action that has potential to achieve triple objectives of increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, adapting and building resilience to climate variability and change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There is need to find out the CSA practices being used among the farmers and understand their contribution to the food security of households in Uganda. This study assessed the effects of climate smart agriculture adoption on household food security in Nakasongola district in central Uganda. Specifically, the study: (i) characterised the different climate smart agricultural practices used in Nakasongola district, (ii) determined the factors that influence adoption of CSA practices, and (iii) determined the effect of CSA practices on household food security in Nakasongola district. A cross-sectional household survey among 165 respondents, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were undertaken to collect requisite data. The principal component analysis with iteration and varimax rotation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used in characterizing CSA practices. In order to identify the reported levels of CSA utility, an Ordered Logit Model was applied. An endogenous switching regression was adopted to determine the effect of CSA adoption on household food security. Results showed that households used a combination practices of different categories of including soil and water management practices, pasture management practice, livestock productivity and disease management among which agroforestry was the most widely used CSA practice. The PCA results revealed six major categories with 16 most widely used combination of practices. The key factors that influenced the adoption of CSA practices among households included access to climate information, total livestock units, ownership of non-livestock assets and participation in off-farm activities. About 53 percent of the households was found food secure, with only 28% being among those that have embraced the use of CSA practice and the majority (72%) being non adopters of CSA practice. Pastoral households (82%) were more food secure than their crop farming counterparts. Thus, it was evident that that households not using CSA practices were more food secure compared to those have adopted the use of CSA practices were more food secure than those that had adopted the use of CSA practices. It is recommended that households should be encouraged to use a combined set of CSA practices to fully realize their contribution to their household food security.