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Agriculture
About 85 per cent of the LVB population depends on
agriculture as their major economic and livelihood
activity (Lake Victoria Basin Commission 2007a).
Agricultural production is the mainstay of the Basin
economy, particularly in terms of food security, income
generation and employment. The main food crops
grown in the Basin are maize, beans, rice, cassava, sweet
potato, Irish potato, sorghum, wheat, millet, banana,
pineapples, groundnuts, sesame cowpeas, green
grams, soybean, yams, tomato and a wide variety of
indigenous and exotic fruits.
Vegetables and other horticultural crops such as tea
and coffee are also grown on a commercial-scale. Other
main cash crops grown in the Basin are sugarcane,
cotton, tobacco, sunflower, pyrethrum and vanilla.
The proportion of land used for agriculture varies,
depending on topography, soils, rainfall, population
pressure and climate. The area of arable land in the
Basin is 33 per cent, 20 per cent and 28 per cent of
the total land area for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda,
respectively (Bullock et al. 1995).
Small- to medium-scale irrigation schemes are common,
especially in the lower part of the Basin where river water
is harnessed for irrigation. Figure 1.8 shows the different
kinds of cultivation systems in the LVB.
Mixed lowland smallholder subsistence rain-fed
cultivation is the most common agricultural production
system in the Basin and is characterized by small
landholdings of less than one hectare, operated by single
households and cultivated mainly by hand. There is a
single growing season during the rainy period. There is
minimal use of innovative farming techniques and many
households maintain a small herd of livestock.
Mixed highland smallholder cultivation is also common
and similar to the lowland system. There are, however,
some differences: mixed highland smallholder cultivation
is generally located at higher altitudes (above 1,700
metres above sea level [masl].); the landholdings are a
little bigger, ranging between 2 and 10 ha; there is a mix of
hand cultivation and some use of mechanized equipment;
the farming system is semi-commercial, with cash crops
prevalent in addition to food crops; and crop efficiency
is higher, with two growing seasons a year. Small-scale
irrigation is sometimes practised in these cultivation
systems, and is used to provide water during the dry season
and times of drought. Marshland irrigation is a particular
type of technique practised in the Kagera sub-basin.
Large-scale cultivation systems involve landholdings
as large as tens of thousands of hectares. The system
is generally mechanized and cash (or industrial) crops
are the main types of crop. They are characterized by
large household landholdings and company-owned or
government-owned estates. Commonly grown crops
are coffee, tea, cotton, flowers, sugarcane and cereals.
This type of farming system is characterized by the high
use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, as well as
supplementary irrigation.
Figure 1.8: Main agricultural systems in the Lake Victoria Basin
Source: BRL Ingénierie 2014
Potato farming in the Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya