Assessing People’s Awareness and Adoption of Backyard Gardening for Improving Household Food Security in Mbarara City, South Western Uganda
Abstract
Understanding the performance and farmer preferences of various agricultural activities is crucial for enhancing household food security in developing urban centres. This study analyses the adoption patterns of different agricultural activities in Mbarara City, Western Uganda. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data on ten agricultural activities were collected. Data were collected from participants and scored across five metrics. As the data were non-normally distributed, the Kruskal-Wallis test was employed to determine if significant differences existed in the median scores (both for performance and preference) across the activities. Results revealed no statistically significant difference in the median performance across all the activities (χ² = 5.92, df = 9, p-value = 0.747). Similarly, no significant difference was found in farmer preferences (χ² = 2.92, df = 9, p-value = 0.967). However, descriptive analysis showed distinct patterns: beekeeping and fish farming exhibited bimodal distributions in performance (clustering at high and low scores) and were the most preferred activities. In contrast, activities like poultry and vegetable farming were consistently lower-performing and less preferred. While no single activity statistically outperforms or is preferred over all others in a significant way, the variations in performance distributions and preference levels suggest that contextual factors (e.g., resource access, knowledge) heavily influence adoption success. Agricultural extension policies should therefore be tailored and flexible, promoting a diverse portfolio of activities suited to different household capacities rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
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