National Oil Palm Project Baseline Study Report: Masaka and Mukono Hubs

Overview

Phase II of the National Oil Palm Project baseline for Uganda's Ministry of Agriculture (MAAIF), with IFAD funding. It covers the two hubs not surveyed in 2022 because farmers were not yet aware of NOPP: Masaka (Kalungu, Kyotera and Masaka districts) and Mukono (Buikwe and Mukono districts). The study was commissioned in February 2023, the report is dated March 2023, and crop data refer to the July-December 2022 season. It records starting values for land, poverty, income, food security, savings and credit, crops, livestock, extension, climate-smart practices, environmental awareness, HIV knowledge, gender-based violence and women's empowerment.

Key findings

• Masaka: average landholding was 6.7 acres. 94% of parcels were owned and 76% had official documents, mostly written sale agreements. In Mukono, farmers held about 2.5 acres on average and one in four parcels had no recognised documents.
• Households likely to be below the US$1.90/day poverty line (PPI): 37.5% in Masaka and 26.0% in Mukono. Average annual household income in Masaka was UGX 3.7 million in male-headed and UGX 3.4 million in female-headed households.
• Yields were low: in Masaka, coffee 765.6 kg/acre, maize 474.2 kg/acre and cassava 1.5 MT/acre. Only 16.2% used inorganic fertiliser, 6% irrigated and over 60% planted local seed. Mukono coffee yielded about 437 kg/acre in July-December 2022.
• Food security was relatively high in Masaka: 6.6% of households were food insecure on the FIES and 76% of women met minimum dietary diversity.
• Extension access in the past 12 months was 26.2% in Masaka and 22.4% in Mukono (25.5% of men, 16.1% of women). In Mukono, 77% used at least one climate-smart practice and 31% used at least three.
• In Masaka, 53% of farmers were interested in growing oil palm. 62.1% knew of the 2-hectare criterion, but fewer than 5% could name any other selection criterion.
• Women reporting physical intimate partner violence in the past 12 months: 16.4% in Masaka and 23.4% in Mukono. In Mukono, 64.1% of women knew where to report but only 19.4% of survivors did.

In figures

Recommendations

• Step up awareness of and buy-in to the oil palm project in Masaka. Some farmers fear their land will be taken. Include environmental requirements such as protecting buffer zones.
• Support use of purchased inputs to raise productivity.
• Enforce project principles such as keeping the agreed land area under food production, drawing on Kalangala's experience of food shortages and high food prices.
• Use an HIV/AIDS communication strategy that combines interpersonal and mass communication, because awareness is not matched by knowledge of prevention.
• Strengthen female-headed households' technical knowledge in agriculture, support more off-farm income sources under the livelihoods component, and build knowledge on preventing and responding to gender-based violence.

Lessons learned

• The Masaka and Mukono hubs were left out of the 2022 survey because farmers were not yet aware of NOPP. In 2023, many farmers and local leaders still declined to take part because they were sceptical of government projects.

Methodology

Mixed methods using the stratified two-stage cluster design from Phase I. The household survey covered Masaka (427) and Mukono (469), with 500 planned per hub, using SurveyCTO tablets. There were also 12 focus group discussions and 6 key informant interviews. Data were analysed in STATA with sampling weights.

Limitations

• Response rate was 89% (93% in Mukono, 85% in Masaka); many farmers and local leaders declined to take part.