Factors Affecting the Adoption of Soil and Water Conservation Practices by Small-Holder Farmers in Muyembe Sub-County, Eastern Uganda

Abstract

Farmers in tropical rural areas are confronted with several challenges but outstanding among these
challenges is soil degradation arising from soil erosion. This study involved identifying the dominant soil and
water conservation practices and assessing the factors affecting their adoption in the Muyembe sub-county,
Eastern Uganda. A total of 500 respondents were used to obtain primary data. As the study adopted a crosssectional
design, we used questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and field observations to collect
the required data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the non-parametric (Chi-square) test.
The results indicated that the dominant soil and water conservation practices adopted in the study area were,
contour cropping (77%), mixed cropping (59% and crop rotation (51%). The remaining five practices had
less than a 50% adoption rate. The chi-square test revealed that the age and gender of the farmers had a
significant association with the levels of the adoption of soil and water conservation practices among farmers
at P<0.001. We concluded that the adoption of soil and water conservation practices was low, which left the
majority of farmers vulnerable to soil erosion effects such as low yields and crop failure. We recommend that
stakeholders who work on soil and water conservation programs use model farmers in the area to educate
and demonstrate the importance of soil and water conservation practices to other farmers.