D. Mukasa

Diversity in smallholder farms growing coffee and their use of recommended coffee management practices in Uganda

Many smallholder farm systems in Uganda produce coffee as an important cash crop. Yet coffee yields are poor. To increase farmers’ production, a range of agronomic practices have been recommended by national and international agencies. Yet the adoption potential of recommendations differs between farm systems. To understand the differences in adoption potential of recommended coffee management practices in Uganda, we provide a typology of farm systems with coffee, assess the diversity between the farm types, and evaluate the current use of existing management recommendations for each farm type. Through factor analysis and cluster analysis of farms producing coffee, we identified five farm types: large coffee farms, farms with off-farm activities, coffee-dependent farms, diversified farms, and banana–coffee farms. The farm types were based on differences in size, and on the relative contributions of coffee, banana and off-farm labour to total household income. They also differ in the availability of the resources labour, land and cash, in coffee production and revenue, and in current use of most recommended practices. Qualitative analysis indicates that farm types have different constraints and opportunities to adopt recommendations. Our results highlight that an analysis of different farmsystems with coffee production, a degree of definition beyond the ‘smallholder coffee farmer’ as a homogenous entity, is important in order to understand the scope for success or failure of recommended practices.

Influence of shaded systems on Xylosandrus compactus infestation in Robusta coffee along a rainfall gradient in Uganda

We investigated the relationship between characteristics of coffee shade systems and coffee pest infestation by the black coffee twig borer Xylosandrus compactus Eichhoff. The pest deprives Uganda of

Agronomic and economic benefits of coffee-banana intercropping in Uganda's smallholder farming systems

40 millions annually, yet its control remains inadequate. The present study considered three rainfall zones in Central Uganda and 50 coffee plots that were randomly selected from each rainfall zone. Data were collected on X. compactus infestation and key shade indicators: canopy cover, tree‐species densities, diameter at breast height (DBH) and ratio of coffee to banana. Cluster analysis revealed two coffee shade systems: a matured shade tree (MST) system and a young poly‐culture (YPC) system. Xylosandrus compactus infestations were significantly less in the MST system than in the YPC system and significantly less in the low rainfall zone than in the high rainfall zone. An increase in the density of Carica papaya and Albizia chinensis significantly reduced and increased X. compactus infestation, respectively. A higher average DBH of individual trees and a higher density of trees that exude sap significantly lowered X. compactus infestation. Suppressing X. compactus infestation requires bigger trees, a high density of sap‐exuding trees and no Albizia chinensis. Further research should aim to investigate X. compactus flight activity and microclimate influencing X. compactus population dynamics.