Sustainable Agricultural Practices Support Rural Food Security Before and Through the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Uganda
Conference Year
2023
Abstract
A shift toward sustainable agriculture in sub‐Saharan Africa would have the potential to increase food security while minimizing environmental impacts and enhancing ecosystem services. Agriculture is the main livelihood of many of Uganda’s rural poor; the majority of food produced in Uganda comes from small, diversified farms. These same small‐scale farmers are particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change and also experienced increased food insecurity through the Covid‐19 pandemic. This analysis examines the association between sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) and food security (ability to access and afford sufficient food), drawing on survey data from the 2019‐2020 Ugandan National Panel Survey (UNPS), conducted by the Ugandan Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) with support from the World Bank through the Living Standards Measurement Study‐ Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS‐ISA). The suite of six SAPs considered includes intercropping, fallowing, integration of crop residues, application of manure, and use of organic fertilizers. We further consider the food security implications of other agricultural practices, including the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and the intensity of grazing for livestock. The results of bivariate and multivariate analyses (logit and ordinal logistic regression models) suggest that the adoption of SAPs including intercropping, manure, or other organic fertilizers to enhance soil fertility is positively and significantly associated with household food security in 2019‐20 (pre‐pandemic). We further show positive interactions among practices, with the use of multiple SAPs generally increasing household food security relative to one SAP alone. However, some SAPs have no significant effects, and the use of fallow and grazing is negatively associated with food security. A final set of analyses further extend these findings, linking the use of SAPs by small‐scale farm households in the pre‐pandemic 2019‐20 surveys to eight rounds of newer phone surveys collected from 2020‐2022 from a subset of the same households, highlighting how SAPs pre‐pandemic were associated with food security (including more nuanced food security metrics based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)) through the Covid‐19 pandemic. Findings underscore the potential for investment and policies supporting more SAPs to enhance both immediate food security as well as longer‐term community resilience.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Travis Reynolds
Status
Graduate
Student College
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Second Student College
Graduate College
Program/Major
Community Development and Applied Economics
Primary Research Category
Social Science
Sustainable Agricultural Practices Support Rural Food Security Before and Through the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Uganda
A shift toward sustainable agriculture in sub‐Saharan Africa would have the potential to increase food security while minimizing environmental impacts and enhancing ecosystem services. Agriculture is the main livelihood of many of Uganda’s rural poor; the majority of food produced in Uganda comes from small, diversified farms. These same small‐scale farmers are particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change and also experienced increased food insecurity through the Covid‐19 pandemic. This analysis examines the association between sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) and food security (ability to access and afford sufficient food), drawing on survey data from the 2019‐2020 Ugandan National Panel Survey (UNPS), conducted by the Ugandan Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) with support from the World Bank through the Living Standards Measurement Study‐ Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS‐ISA). The suite of six SAPs considered includes intercropping, fallowing, integration of crop residues, application of manure, and use of organic fertilizers. We further consider the food security implications of other agricultural practices, including the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and the intensity of grazing for livestock. The results of bivariate and multivariate analyses (logit and ordinal logistic regression models) suggest that the adoption of SAPs including intercropping, manure, or other organic fertilizers to enhance soil fertility is positively and significantly associated with household food security in 2019‐20 (pre‐pandemic). We further show positive interactions among practices, with the use of multiple SAPs generally increasing household food security relative to one SAP alone. However, some SAPs have no significant effects, and the use of fallow and grazing is negatively associated with food security. A final set of analyses further extend these findings, linking the use of SAPs by small‐scale farm households in the pre‐pandemic 2019‐20 surveys to eight rounds of newer phone surveys collected from 2020‐2022 from a subset of the same households, highlighting how SAPs pre‐pandemic were associated with food security (including more nuanced food security metrics based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)) through the Covid‐19 pandemic. Findings underscore the potential for investment and policies supporting more SAPs to enhance both immediate food security as well as longer‐term community resilience.