analysis of the effect of coffee production to the welfare of the people in kween district: a case study of binyiny sub-county

Description

The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of coffee production to the welfare of the people of Binyiny sub-county in Kween district. With more than 75% of the Kween district population living in the rural areas and dependent (either directly or indirectly) on agricultural activities for employment and incomes, agricultural growth and development are essential for the reduction of poverty, yet agriculture‟s potential has not been fully tapped. Like Uganda farmers association report (1996) states that hundreds of household in Uganda from small rural farmers are engaged in coffee production as the source of employment and therefore a major source of income. This research particularly but not exclusively took a better look on coffee production, marketing and its effect on the people‟s incomes in Binyiny sub-county in Kween district, Eastern Uganda. A random sampling technique (method) was used to include adequate representation of various sub groups. A total number of eighty (80) subjects were involved in the study. The data collected were categorized; frequency counts got and percentages were obtained. And the following results were revealed in summary that: coffee growing and selling has a positive contribution to the level of employment in Binyiny; the leading contributor to the farmers‟ incomes is mainly how much each could harvest and sell off for money; and the main challenges to the development of the coffee growing and selling were; low prices, price instabilities, limited access by farmers to extension services, narrow markets and poor climatic conditions among others. Thus this study helped to find out the contribution of the production and marketing of coffee to the people‟s welfare in the area in one way or the other, pointing out the marketing strategies adopted, and income flow-ins from the activity. Some indicators were used to know the social-economic contribution of coffee production and marketing to the welfare of the farmers. To improve the welfare levels in Kween district, there is a need by the coffee farmers to improve their output through the use of more improved seed variety to yield more output and the best farm management practices. In this respect, they will be able to raise enough output, enough income and this will help them graduate from poverty.