Northern Ugandan Pig Farmers' Utilization of Labor

Abstract

Pig (Susscrofa domesticus) production is becoming a more significant source of food security and revenue for smallholder farmers in several sub-Saharan nations. This is explained by the increased likelihood of market monitoring for pork, which is fueled by population expansion, urbanization, and the shift in diet toward a higher proportion of animal protein per person. Consequently, one of the practical methods to lift smallholder farmers out of poverty and food insecurity is to increase pig production. Few research have been conducted on the distribution of innovative behavior and the socioeconomic factors that affect labor use in the region, despite the fact that there are many studies on the aspects of pig production, such as feeding, breeding, and space requirements. Finding the socioeconomic factors that affect the distribution of innovative behavior and the use of labor (family or hired) among pig farmers in Northern Uganda was the aim of this study. We characterized smallholder pig farmers in northern Uganda based on the type of labor they employed to produce pigs using a cross-sectional survey and descriptive analysis. We also investigated how the four aspects of innovation behavior—exploration, experimentation, adaptation, and modification—were distributed among these farmers. The findings showed that young, educated farmers who had numerous pigs, were part of a farmer group, had a smaller household size, and had non-farm jobs were more likely to use hired labor than those who did not. The proportion of farmers who displayed the various aspects of innovation behavior varied significantly. Therefore, the socioeconomic disparities among farmers that define the labor restrictions they experience should be taken into account when designing interventions to increase pig production through the use of hired labor.