Contribution of Agricultural Transformation on Poverty Reduction in Rural Areas of Uganda. A Case of Kisoro District

Purpose: In Uganda, poverty in rural areas had remained a challenge as depicted by 31 percent of rural population below poverty line as of financial year 2016/2017 (UBOS, 2018) having risen from 22.8 percent in financial year 2012/2013 (MoFPED, 2014). In Kisoro district, poverty was high as manifested by low household access to electricity (7.6%), piped water (33.7 %), high illiteracy levels, food insecurity, poor housing conditions where 84.6% of households lived in semi- permanent dwelling units (UBOS, 2017). The study was to examine how agricultural transformation could contribute to poverty reduction in rural areas of Uganda with a case of Kisoro district. The study objectives were:  to establish how farming practices could contribute rural poverty reduction in Kisoro district; to explore the effect of agro- processing on rural poverty reduction in Kisoro district; to find out how marketing of agricultural produce and products could ensure rural poverty reduction in Kisoro district and to establish the relationship between agricultural transformation policies and rural poverty reduction in Kisoro district. Methodology: The study was undertaken in Kisoro district where 391 participants were respondents from sample of 400 a representation of 97.8 % response rate. The respondents were constituted of agricultural farmers and industrialists, business entrepreneurs, district technical staff, religious, political and opinion leaders. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in the study with a cross- sectional survey design applied. The methods used in data collection methods were: survey, interviews, observations and review of both primary and secondary documents; the tools used included self-administered questionnaires, interview guide, interview schedule, observation plan, observation checklist, a camera and a recorder. Findings: The study findings established that Farming practices could significantly ensure rural poverty reduction in Kisoro district.The findings established that there was a positive and significant relationship between farming practices and rural poverty reduction (r = 0.253, p< 0.05). Agro- processing had a significant effect on rural poverty reduction in Kisoro district with a positive and significant relationship (r = 0. 351, p< 0.05) with also a positive and significant influence on poverty reduction (β= 0.170, p = 0.001). This result demonstrated that improvements in agro- processing were followed by improvements in poverty reduction. Marketing of agricultural produce and products could significantly ensure rural poverty reduction in Kisoro district (r = 0.246, p< 0.05), though with a negative as well as insignificant influence on poverty reduction (β = -0.018, p = 0.751The findings established that there was a positive and significant relationship between agricultural transformation policies and rural poverty reduction (r= 0.329, p<0.05) with a positive and significant influence on poverty reduction (β = 0.141, p = 0.002).  On the whole, the findings established that agricultural transformation explained 15 % of the contribution on rural poverty reduction (adjusted R square = 0.150). This implied that a unit improvement towards agricultural transformation had an effect in reducing rural poverty by up to 15%. reduction. The study concluded that strategies that aimed at reducing rural poverty needed to embrace agro- processing and government policies since they had the highest coefficients in poverty reduction and also to adopt new approaches and technologies for enhanced growth. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommended that; agricultural transformation through innovative practices  like agro- ecological zoning, farm automation, artificial intelligence, soil and land management practices, irrigation, research and development, precision agriculture, diffusion, high- pay off inputs, infrastructural development, enterprise development loans, community agricultural stores, village agricultural teams, enabling fiscal policies could be sustainably promoted for enhanced agricultural productivity, marketing and incomes.