Abstract:
An allied project "Enabling Rural Innovations - ERI" was introduced in the potato farming systems
in the highlands of south-western Uganda with the objective to empower farmers to invest in soil
fertility management and conservation through enhanced knowledge in soil management and
profitable market linkages. The objective of this paper was to assess the determinants in addition to
enhanced farmers' knowledge and market linkages on farm households' decision to adopt soil
fertility management and conservation innovations in potato grown fields. Household survey was
conducted on 104 households that had consistently grown and sold potato in urban and non-urban
markets in five consecutive years. It was revealed that enhancements of farmers' knowledge in soil
fertility management and market linkages did not influence farmers' investments in soil fertility
improving innovations. Nonetheless, enhancements influenced farmers' adoption of trenches and
woodlots as mechanisms of controlling soil erosion and surface runoff within and outside potato
grown fields, respectively. Adoption of soil fertility management and conservation innovations in
potato grown fields was variously influenced by household characteristics other than the age of the
household head. Number of soil fertility management and conservation innovations adopted by
households was significantly influenced by household wealth category, number of field owned,
household size and education level of the household head.
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