“Uganda over the last twenty years has maintained high economic growth rates, increasing urbanization and shifting patterns in sectoral contribution to overall development. This transformation is dominated by an increasing proportion of the wealth generated by Uganda’s economy shifting from being a product of agricultural activities to coming out of the service sector of the economy, in particular. However, this shift in the sources of wealth in the economy is not being accompanied by a shift in employment out of agriculture to the other sectors. Rather, what we find is that employment is actually increasing in agriculture, even as its contribution to Uganda’s economy is declining. The high population growth rate of Uganda poses an immense challenge for Uganda’s economic development. In consequence, relying on customary mechanisms for obtaining access to farmland, many Ugandans continue to rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, consuming much of what they produce. Specialized agricultural production for the market is still not as common as one would expect if we are to see significant transformation in Uganda’s rural economy.”
