National Oil Palm Project Baseline Study Report (Phase I: Kalangala, Buvuma and Mayuge Hubs)
Oil palm growers in Kalangala earn far more than non-growers (UGX 26.2 million vs UGX 4.4 million a year), but they have turned most of their land over to oil palm, leaving 0.8 acres per household for food. Buffer zones have been encroached and financial literacy is low.
Overview
Baseline for the ten-year, IFAD-funded National Oil Palm Project run by Uganda's Ministry of Agriculture (MAAIF). It covers three of the five hubs: Kalangala (existing oil palm growers), Buvuma (planting had just started) and Mayuge (Mayuge, Bugiri and Namayingo districts, prospective growers). The study set starting values for logframe and socio-economic indicators: land tenure, poverty, income, food security, financial inclusion, oil palm agronomy, other crops and livestock, extension, climate-smart practices, environmental compliance, HIV knowledge, gender-based violence and women's empowerment. Data were collected in early 2022 and the report is dated August 2022.
Key findings
- Kalangala: average household income over the past 12 months was UGX 26.2 million in oil palm grower (OPG) households and UGX 4.4 million in non-OPG households. Buvuma averaged UGX 2.9 million and Mayuge UGX 2.98 million.
- Kalangala: 82% of OPG farmland is under oil palm, leaving each OPG household on average 0.8 acres for food. Average yield was 6.98 tons per acre per year (range 2.0-16.0 tons), about UGX 7.5 million per acre.
- Kalangala: 65.1% of OPGs had less than 2 hectares of plantation, against the project's 2-hectare target. Women owned 35.1% of the 247 oil palm plots alone and 10.1% jointly, and their plots were smaller (4.2 vs 6.0 acres).
- Food insecurity: 13.4% of OPG and 23.4% of non-OPG households in Kalangala; 35.1% moderately food insecure in Buvuma; 35.5% in Mayuge, where 60% of households had a food shortage in the past 12 months.
- Bank or microfinance accounts: 100% of Kalangala OPGs but only 27.2% of non-OPGs, 20.0% of Buvuma respondents (24.3% of men, 11.0% of women) and about one in four in Mayuge.
- Few farmers used three or more climate-smart practices (31% in Kalangala, 24% in Buvuma). Improved seed and inorganic fertiliser were each used by fewer than 20% of farmers in those hubs.
- Women reporting physical intimate partner violence in the past 12 months: 26.9% in Buvuma, against 21.2% for the islands in UDHS 2016, and 22.4% in Mayuge. About 18% of Kalangala households reported hiring a child to work in their oil palm plantations in the past 12 months.
In figures
26.2 UGX million
4.4 UGX million
2.98 UGX million
2.9 UGX million
Data table
| Item | UGX million |
|---|---|
| Kalangala, oil palm growers | 26.2 |
| Kalangala, non-growers | 4.4 |
| Mayuge | 2.98 |
| Buvuma | 2.9 |
100 % of households
27.2 % of households
20 % of households
Data table
| Item | % of households |
|---|---|
| Kalangala, oil palm growers | 100 |
| Kalangala, non-growers | 27.2 |
| Buvuma | 20 |
Recommendations
- Add socio-economic, climate-smart agriculture and environmental management indicators to the project M&E framework.
- Improve extension for older oil palm growers on good agricultural practices, sustainable environmental practices and climate-smart agriculture, including intercropping, to close yield gaps.
- Enforce project principles such as farmers keeping the agreed land area under food production.
- Work with the Ministry of Health on health care and behaviour change communication (HIV/AIDS, STIs, contraception) as the number of migrant workers grows.
- Work with NEMA and district local governments to strengthen environmental and social compliance through regular, public audits of smallholders and estates.
- Improve financial literacy so that households use land-sale or compensation money and loans productively, and empower the farmers' cooperative to advocate on prices and input quality.
- Train VSLAs and farmer groups to run as profitable ventures, including registering to lend to non-members.
Lessons learned
- Over time, OPG households in Kalangala converted land set aside for food into oil palm, because the crop earns more per acre and food can be bought. Enforcement of the food-land requirement has been weak.
- Communities are reluctant to follow buffer-zone, wetland and forest rules when they see the nucleus estate and some officials not complying with them.
Methodology
Mixed methods: a household survey of 1,534 randomly selected smallholder households (Kalangala 424, Buvuma 492, Mayuge hub 617; 94% of the planned 1,630), using a stratified two-stage cluster design, plus focus group discussions and key informant interviews with district staff. Quantitative data were analysed in STATA and qualitative data by content analysis.
Limitations
- No information was captured on the effect of COVID-19.
- Some sampled respondents could not be traced and were replaced from a reserve list.