Influence of member participation on sustainability of community-based coffee nurseries in Kasese district

Abstract

The Uganda Coffee Development Authority has prioritized Community-based approaches as a means for ensuring sustainability of the coffee nurseries in Uganda. To-date the Authority continues to distribute coffee seed to community-based nursery groups and several community demonstration sites set up all over the country. While some communities have registered commendable growth and sustainable seedling production, others have recorded failure and collapse. The reasons for failure are not well understood. Therefore, the study was conducted to: i) examine key characteristics of the Community-based Coffee Nurseries in Kasese District ii) determine the level of member participation in management and operations of the CBNP and iii) establish the relationship between member participation and sustainability of CBNP. Cross sectional survey design was adopted. Questionnaires, focused group discussions and Document review were used to collect information from 294 respondents. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS while qualitative data was presented using thematic approach. Results showed that the community was not empowered to create community projects as solution to their coffee seedlings needs through community projects without external support. However, CBCNs sustainability in Kilembe Sub County was majorly influenced by member participation as compared to CBCNs in Mahango Sub County. The most important requirement for membership of a CBN was being a coffee farmer and a resident in the sub county. Member participation in management and operations of CBNP was higher in Kilembe than Mahango Sub County. Member participation and number of years as CBN had a statistically significant positive effect on number of seedlings for each farmer in Kilembe, whereas members training, number of years as CBN and membership had a statistically significant positive effect on number of seedlings for each farmer in Mahango. Membership, Members Contribution, Number of Years as CBN, Members Participation and Members training had statistically significant positive effect on the number of members in groups in Kilembe, whereas Membership, Number of Years as CBN, Resources Mobilization, Members Participation and Members training had a statistically significant positive effect on the number of members in groups in Mahango.