Land tenure and soil conservation practices on the slopes of Mt Elgon National Park, Eastern Uganda

Abstract

Property rights have been noted to increasingly play a central role in the management of land resources. This paper examines the implications of land tenure on soil conservation on the slopes of Mt Elgon, Eastern Uganda. Primary data were obtained through household surveys and field observations conducted in Tsekululu Sub County, Bubulo County, Manafwa District, Eastern Uganda between September and December 2012. The sampled parishes were stratified according to their distance from the Park boundary. SPSS (16) was used to compute descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. Check dams and gulley controls were the most common structural measures adopted by farmers in all the three sites, although, overall the level of adoption by park-adjacent communities was lower compared to distant ones, whose reluctance to invest in long term conservation techniques is attributable to the tenure insecurity, while the high adoption rate by distant communities is owed to the transferability, alienability, exclusivity and enforceability rights that secure private land. Thus, a policy environment that guarantees tenure security of park adjacent farmers could help in incentivizing investment in soil conservation. Success thereof will be achieved if the politicians, Park Authorities and local communities jointly participate in their design and implementation.

Perceptions and Response Actions of Smallholder Coffee Farmers to Climate Variability in Montane Ecosystems

“…Farmers who own land are more likely to invest in long term response actions such as planting shade trees. This is consistent with Mugagga and Buyinza [38] who asserted that adoption of soil and water conservation techniques around Mt. Elgon is a function of property rights and security owing to the ease of transferability, alienability, exclusivity and enforceability rights.…”

Socioeconomic Factors Influencing Uptake of Coffee Production Recommended Practices in Kichwamba and Kirugu Sub-Counties Rubirizi District, Uganda

“…However, farmers continue to register low coffee yields (average harvest of 0.5 kg of Fairly Average Quality per tree instead of 2-4 kg) hence affecting their livelihoods and incomes (MAAIF, 2010). Efforts to promote the right management practices to enhance productivity have remained futile as farmers have continued relying on traditional unsuitable practices, which yield poorly (Mugagga & Buyinza, 2013). Studies done in other areas linked the use of management practices to socioeconomic factors like land size, labour availability, access to credit and extension information (Allan et al, 2015).…”

“…Coffee farming has been promoted as part of the strategies for poverty alleviation through income generation (Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, 2010). It is a major source of farmers' income in the district, and it has helped in poverty reduction across the district (Mugagga & Buyinza, 2013). To increase coffee productivity in the area, a number of management practices have been promoted by National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), but they have not been fully embraced by the majority of farmers causing stagnation in the coffee yields (Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, 2010)…”

Sustainable Agroforestry Landscape Management: Changing the Game

“…The population increase has directly raised demand and competition for natural resources including land and water [103,104]. Due to land inheritance, land fragmentation is common and is expected to worsen with population increment mounting pressures on resources [105,106]. Besides, the declining land productivity has led to reduction in food produce thus deficit in food supplies to the continuously fast-growing human population.…”