Adoption of cattle manure for banana production by farmers in Mbarara district, Uganda

Abstract

Bananas are the main staple food crop grown in Mbarara District but production is threatened by Mbarara's declining soil fertility. Cattle manure has a potential of improving soil fertility as it is available and affordable through the good supply from the high cattle population of the area compared to scarce & costly inorganic fertilizers. In addressing the problem, the aim was to find out the rate of cattle manure adoption for increasing banana yields. A sample size of 226 respondents was used for the study consisting of 214 banana farmers randomly selected and 12 change agents deployed in the area taken whole. The four sub counties used were selected through stratified sampling picking the best performing in banana production. Data was collected using interview guides, questionnaires, and focus group discussion guides. Statistical package for social scientists Version 21 .0 was used to compute frequencies, percentages, means and r values. Qualitative data from interviews and focused group discussions was analyzed through open coding according to themes. The findings revealed that 77% of the banana farmers regularly applied cattle manure with more than half (50%) of them applying it with kitchen refuse. The study also revealed a relationship between farmers ' socio-economic characteristics and cattle manure adoption by farmers which was largely determined by farmer's age, education level, marital status, income source and sex of the farmer. Additionally, others were perceived benefits of cattle manure, distance to the road for ferrying manure and produce, desire to improve soil fertility and land ownership. Using Pearson r values, the results further revealed that cattle manure adoption had a relationship at 0.05 alpha with banana bunch size in kg (r=.632*) and with yield in kg ha.1(r=.740*). The associations of cattle manure adoption with socio-economic characteristics gave further r values as age (r=.914*), education level (r=.878*), and distance to the road for ferrying manure and produce (r= .906*). The study concluded that 77% of the banana farmers regularly applied cattle manure. Based on qualitative data and r values, cattle manure adoption by farmers was influenced by key factors such as age, education level, marital status, income source, and distance to the road for ferrying manure/produce. Adoption of cattle manure was certainly an advantage in increasing banana yields. The study recommends more collective efforts by relevant agencies supported by the government in training the fanners to adopt more use of cattle manure.