Agriculture is still the dominant sector in the Ugandan economy, contributing about 42% of total GDP (1998) and employing over 60% of the total labour force, which comprises 80% of the rural population. About 85% of the population, who live in rural areas, derive their livelihood from agriculture either directly, as smallholder subsistence farmers, or indirectly from rural off-farm activities, which in turn are driven by agriculture.

Employment breakdown:

Available statistics suggest that of total employment in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, 89% were in crop farming and the rest in “other agriculture” including livestock, poultry, etc. (IHS 1992/93). However, it is likely that employment in the coffee sub-sector, which contributes about 60% of total export earnings, may have increased following the coffee recovery and boom of the early 1990s.

Farm structure and productivity:

Agricultural production is carried out on a myriad of small farms scattered all over the country, with per capita land holding estimated at 1.14 hectares, but only 41% of cultivatable land is generally under cultivation. Nearly all these smallholdings are rain-fed, employing family labour and hand hoes, and are characterised by low productivity.

Household economic activities:

Current estimates suggest that there are about 3 million smallholder households in rural areas, whose main economic activities include crop farming as the predominant activity, followed by livestock keeping and fishing. However, an array of economic activities such as brick-making, carpentry, tailoring, shop-keeping, etc., are other alternative forms of employment available to rural households.