An Economic Assessment of Banana Genetic Improvement and ...

BANANA-GROWING HOUSEHOLDS AND BANANA CULTIVARS 51
Table 5.2 Average total value per household
of crops stored, livestock, and other assets,
and percentage distribution by type of asset,
Uganda (Ush)
Elevation
Table 5.3 Average total value per household
of crops stored, livestock, and other assets,
and percentage distribution by type of asset,
Tanzania (Tsh)
Elevation
Asset
Low High All
Asset
Low
High
All
Crops in storage 23,730 21,663 23,508
Livestock 326,934 264,985 320,287
Other assets 49,957 72,325 52,357
Percentage distribution
Crops in storage 19.9*** 28.5*** 20.8
Livestock 49.3*** 32.9*** 47.6
Other assets 30.8** 38.6** 31.6
Total 100 100 100
Notes: *** and ** indicate statistical significance at the 1 percent
and 5 percent levels, respectively, in the difference of means or
distributions across elevations within countries. Other assets
include radios, bicycles, and motorcycles.
Crops in storage 32,765*** 38,234*** 34,400
Livestock 176,559*** 330,695*** 222,621
Other assets 135,494*** 171,159*** 146,152
Percentage distribution
Crops in storage 18.7** 11.1** 16.9
Livestock 29.3*** 41.1*** 32.2
Other assets 52.0** 47.7** 50.9
Total 100 100 100
Notes: *** and ** indicate statistical significance at the 1 percent
and 5 percent levels, respectively, in the difference of means or
distributions across elevations within countries. Other assets
include furniture, radios, bicycles, and motorcycles.
In Tanzania, the most important food
crops kept in storage at the time of the survey
included beans, maize, groundnuts,
bambara nuts, and sorghum. Other crops
found stored by farmers were dried cassava,
soybeans, cowpeas, and coffee. High-elevation
areas have higher average total values
of crops in storage than do low-elevation
areas.
In Uganda, livestock include cattle,
chickens, goats, sheep, and pigs. Livestock
contributes the highest overall value (49
percent) of the three asset categories for
which value was easily assessed with market
prices. Although levels did not differ
significantly because of underlying variation,
proportional distributions among asset
categories clearly depend on elevation, with
the value of stored crops and consumer durables
being greater in the highlands. Because
cattle were distributed across much of
the area in either elevation zone, and chickens
were concentrated among villages in the
low-elevation areas, livestock assets contribute
proportionately more to total assets
in the low-elevation zone. In part because of
wide variation among households, differences
in total value of livestock are not statistically
significant—except in the case of
chickens. In high-elevation areas, chickens
are less important in the diet. They also tend
to destroy mulch in banana groves, imposing
a constraint on banana production. Goats
also appear to be relatively more important
in high-elevation areas.
In Tanzania, households keep cattle,
goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, and ducks, and
livestock represents the largest in value on
average of the three major asset categories
(crops stored, livestock, and other consumer
durables). The number of farmers keeping
livestock types and average number of each
type per household differ statistically across
the agroecological zones, as do asset values
by elevation. Households in the highlands
have a higher value of each type of asset
than those in the lowlands. Livestock value
(Tsh 330,695) in the highlands was about
twice that in the lowlands (Tsh 176,559).
Percentage distributions by type of asset