Causes and consequences of NERICA adoption in Uganda

Abstract

In Uganda, a new upland rice variety, namely New Rice for Africa (NERICA), was introduced in 2003 as one of its poverty eradication strategies essentially because it is high-yielding, which can results in both increased cash income and food security. In addition, NERICA is considered to be cultivable in most parts of Uganda thanks to its short maturity and drought tolerant trait. The major question is whether the NERICA Revolution is sustainable and extendable to wide areas. The major purposes of this study are to identify the determinants of NERICA adoption with a special focus on the high incidence of dropouts and to assess the consequences of NERICA adoption in terms of changes in crop income using the panel data collected in 2004 and 2006.