International Journal of Agriculture Extension and Social Development

author(s)
Siraj Ali Mayambala, Paul Kibwika, Herbert Talwana and Matsiko Frank

abstract
Sustainable intensification (SI) of agriculture is hyped for its likelihood to enhance food systems, and to reduce poverty. In Uganda, SI has for decades been included in government’s agro-based intervention targeting smallholder farmers, although the uptake of SI practices remains limited. This study sought to utilize the experiences of farmers to construct an adoption profile of SI practices and to establish why farmers choose to or not to implement the promoted practices. Using descriptive design, data from 584 maize commercializing farmers of Eastern Uganda was subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and identified four distinct SI practice user profiles. The “non-adopters”; “sustainable farmers” (users of maize-legume intercrop and or organic fertilizer); “intensifying farmers” (users of improved varieties and or inorganic fertilizer); and the “sustainable intensifying farmers” (joint use of sustainable and intensification practices). Farmer socio-demographic attributes (age, sex, education, orientation to market and cultivated acreage) as well as the goals for using SI practices differed across the four profiles. Farmers in the SI profiles were middle-aged relatively better-resourced and educated male and female farmers producing mainly for market and aiming to improve yields (F=4.16, p<.006) and soil fertility (F=13.72, p<.000) through conforming to expectations of valued peers (F=6.46, p<.003). It is, thus concluded that the use of SI practices is a spatial game, limited by insufficient resourcing, gender inequities, inadequate strategies to supplement farmers’ resources and differing farming goals. It is recommended that extension workers and policy makers should undertake well-targeted SI practices delivered using socially inclusive strategies and policies that promote equitable distribution of resources to men and women, respectively.