Impact of soil and water conservation technology adoption on smallholder farms in South-Western Uganda

For countries where the agricultural sector supports a majority of the population as in Uganda, the link between poverty and land degradation is of great significance. Soil and water conservation technologies are a recommended means of reducing degradation rates. However, ex-ante and ex-post analyses of the impact of these technologies remain few.

Using survey data collected from 338 randomly selected households in the Kabale district of South-Western Uganda, this study used a Tradeoff Analysis for Multi-Dimensional Impact Assessment (TOA-MD) model to analyze the impact of adoption on household agricultural income and poverty levels. In the survey, households in the district either had or had not adopted the soil and water conservation technologies that had been disseminated. Results indicate that the simulated range of adoption rates is between 55 and 85%, with a potential to increase to about 90% amongst households with higher non-farm income.  Households are also anticipated to benefit from adoption of soil and water conservation technologies through higher income from farming and poverty reduction; adoption is positively correlated with household non-farm income. Increased access to inputs, credit and improvement in infrastructure are recommended, especially for low income households. Dissemination of soil and water conservation technologies needs to be combined with other income generating measures in order to have a bigger impact on household welfare.