Fostering the adoption of in situ rainwater harvesting for food security in Rwenzori Region, Uganda

Abstract

In situ rainwater harvesting is recognised as a key strategy to improve agriculture production to ensure food security, and several techniques exist that have proved successful in improving soil water storage and fertility. However, widespread adoption of these techniques is hampered by absence of adequate quantifiable evidence of their impact as well as a limited understanding of the determinants of adoption. This paper presents the impact of simple in situ rainwater harvesting techniques and explores some of the factors that led to better adoption of such techniques, based on a case study from Rwambu region in Uganda. It concludes that the adoption of the interventions is affected by current productivity of the land or availability of other land for farming, available resources and their competing uses, labour constraints and past approaches for promoting the interventions.