Title: Factors affecting adoption of mulching in Kibaale sub-catchment, South Central Uganda

Authors: Joel Kakaire; Albert Kobinah Mensah; Emmanuel Menya

Addresses: Department of Geography, Kenyatta University, P.O. Box 43844, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya ' Department of Geography, Kenyatta University, P.O. Box 43844, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya ' Department of Bio-systems Engineering, Gulu University, P.O. Box 166, Gulu, Uganda

Abstract: Mulching is one of the major soil and water conservation measures applied for conserving soil moisture and modifying soil physical environment. The study aimed at determining the factors which influence the adoption of mulching in Kibaale sub-catchment, Uganda. 100 structured questionnaires; key informant interviews and observation were used to obtain the socio economic and institutional data. To determine the factors affecting adoption of mulching, descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used. Chi-square (P ≤ 05) was used to establish the relationship between the identified factors and adoption. Using chi-square test, the study also identified education level of household head, household size, accessibility to farmland and marital status as the major factors that significantly affected adoption of mulching. The community leaders should ensure that the members attain some level of education and ensure that the land owned by individuals is within their periphery of management and control.

Keywords: mulching adoption; factor analysis; Kibaale sub-catchment; Uganda; soil moisture; education levels; household size; farmland access; marital status; soil conservation; water conservation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSAMI.2016.077268

International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, 2016 Vol.2 No.1, pp.19 - 39

Received: 28 Sep 2015
Accepted: 30 Dec 2015

Published online: 25 Jun 2016 *

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