Participatory inclusiveness in the potato value chain in South-Western Uganda
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Date
2025
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Scientific Research and Innovation Council
Abstract
Smallholder farmers play a major role in the agricultural value chains (AVCs) of developing countries
Uganda inclusive, and this has been of great concern to policy makers, development partners, research, and
extension workers. The study underscores the evidence of participatory inclusiveness on the potato value
chain (PVC) in South-Western (SW) Uganda. The study on which the paper is based adopted a cross-
sectional mixed method research (MMR) design whereby both quantitative and qualitative data were
collected using a Survey Research Questionnaire (SRQ) and a semi-structured interview (SSI) grid
respectively. The population sample of 375 respondents to the SRQs and 79 participants to the SSIs was
sourced from four Districts of Kisoro, Rubanda, Kabale and Rukiga in SW Uganda. The study was guided
by the Relational Risk Theory (RRT) and the Theory of Incentives (TI) in examining participatory
inclusiveness. The concept of participatory inclusiveness was studied along the independent variables (IVs)
of collaboration, innovation, support opportunities, and combined participatory inclusiveness and
dependent variables (DVs) of actor influencers (AIs) chain influencers (CIs) and environmental influencers
(EIs). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to analyse quantitative data
while thematic analysis helped to examine qualitative data. Generally, results from the descriptive statistical
analysis and regression analysis through the Ordinary Least of Squares (OLS) model, showed that
participatory inclusiveness was evident and affected by the PVC actors’ ability to access new knowledge,
existing governance policies, and availability of extension services. The study recommends that individual
actors in the PVC should have access to new and appropriate knowledge, chain leaders should enact and
pursue good governance policies and the Government of Uganda (GoU) should empower and deploy its
extension workers with the appropriate skills, competences, expertise, and necessary tools and equipment
to effectively assist PVC actors, especially the small-holders. Development partners like Non-
Governmental Organisations (NGOs) need to facilitate effective dissemination of information and influence
policies and regulations relevant to PVC.
Description
ASRIC Journal of Agricultural Sciences, pp. 59-74
Keywords
Inclusiveness, SW Uganda, Potato Value Chain, Smallholder Farmers