Abstract

This paper examined actual farmers’ cultivation practices of NERICA (New Rice for Africa) and the determinants of its yield, based on data obtained from a field survey conducted in central Uganda. NERICA’s high yielding potential was realized in farmers’ fields. On average, farmers attained yield as high as 3 t ha^-1. A high seeding rate, high fertilizer/chemical applications and high laborintensity characterized the upland NERICA cultivation in the study area. The estimation of yield function revealed that the response of rice yield to nitrogen was as high as 46 kg ha^-1 of paddy per 1 kg ha^-1 of nitrogen applied, and that the continuous planting reduced the yield significantly. The large difference in the unit yield between large and small farmers was explained by small farmers’ higher input intensities than large farmers’, and it is the high labor requirement of NERICA that makes it a pro-smallholder technology.

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