Effect of high-value crops on households economic status in the coffee-banana farming system of Uganda

Smallholder farmers in Uganda’s coffee-banana farming system taking up production of Hot Pepper, French Beans and Okra as high-value crops. In this paper, we ascertain the roles that these crops play in wealth inequality reduction, and whether they are among the predictors of wealth and wealth intensity. Using household survey data collected from 522 households in the Coffee-Banana Farming System area, a wealth index is estimated and this is subjected to Gini coefficient analysis. Further, regression using robust and ordered logit models were undertaken with wealth as an dependent variable. Results depict that these crops do not reduce wealth inequality in the short-run, though they have a slight contribution to this development challenge. It is also evident that these crops are not among the determinants of wealth or wealth intensity. It is concluded that the contribution of the crops under study, to shifting smallholder farming households away from the poorly-endowed category is not significant in the short term production horizon