An economic assessment of cowpea and groundnut IPM production technologies used by farmers in eastern Uganda

Abstract

Groundnut (Arachis hypogeaL.) and cowpea.(Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) come seoond and third respectively as the most widely grown legumes in Uganda especially in the northern and eastern regions. However, the yields of these crops have stagnated in recent years, mainly due to pests and diseases. As alternative control methods for pests and diseases, several integrated pest management (IM) technologies that rely on less use of pesticides have been developed and demonstrated on-farm in eastern Uganda for over 7 years, with farmers adopting some of them. The objective of this study was to determine the profitability of groundnut and cowpea IPM technologies. Farm data were obtained from surveys conducted in March-May 2001 in eastern Uganda, where 136 farmers were selected using purposive and random sampling procedures. The profitability of different IPM technology packages for each of the two crops was estimated using the partial budget approach and marginal rate of return (MRR). Results showed that changing from farmers traditional production practices to recommended IPM practices was profitable for both groundnut and cowpea. Marginal rate of return obtained ranged from 108% to 6,671% and 173% to 700% in groundnut and cowpea respectively; all these are well above the minimum accepted MRR of 100%.