Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Community Development and Applied Economics
First Advisor
Travis Reynolds
Second Advisor
Teresa Mares
Abstract
Despite record-high global food production, nearly a billion people experienced severe food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the majority in sub-Saharan Africa. Promoting sustainable agriculture in this region can enhance food security and resilience to external shocks while reducing environmental impacts and reliance on expensive inputs. This thesis will focus on Uganda, where agriculture is the main income source for many rural poor, and most of the food comes from small, diverse farms, making them vulnerable to climate change and food insecurity.In Article 1, we examine the relationship between Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) and food security using data from the 2019-2020 Ugandan National Panel Survey (UNPS). We specifically analyzed the impact of three SAPs: Intercropping, Fallow, and Organic Fertilizer. Findings suggest that the adoption of Fallow or Organic Fertilizer is significantly and positively linked to food security. Furthermore, adopting multiple SAPs has an even greater impact on food security. In Article 2, we examined the relationship between the pre-COVID-19 use of SAPs and food security in small-scale farming households during the COVID-19 pandemic. We utilized UNPS surveys in conjunction with 12 rounds of the High Frequency Phone Surveys on COVID-19 (HFPS) to conduct our analysis. While we selected the same SAPs, we employed a different measure of food security, the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), for a more comprehensive assessment of the intensity of food availability. To analyze the data, we employed a novel method that combined Household Fixed Effects regression with a Double-Hurdle model, as we found that different factors may be associated with the presence of food insecurity and its intensity. The results indicated that the intensity of SAP use was negatively and significantly associated with food insecurity, and that this effect increased in the latter rounds of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased investment in extension services that support Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) could significantly benefit long-term environmental and resilience outcomes. Additionally, allocating resources for research endeavors in Uganda, gathering detailed data on SAPs, and integrating comprehensive measures and innovative methods to assess various dimensions of food security could provide a clearer understanding of how to support the livelihoods of small-scale farmers both now and in the future.
Language
en
Number of Pages
89 p.
Recommended Citation
Schalkham, Emily Rose, "Sustainable Agricultural Practices, Resilience, & Food Security Among Small Scale Farming Households in Uganda: Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic" (2025). Graduate College Dissertations and Theses. 1994.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/1994