Livelihoods and rural poverty reduction in Uganda

Uganda has put in place a comprehensive framework for poverty reduction known as the poverty eradication action plan (PEAP). A subcomponent of the PEAP, the plan for the modernization of agriculture (PMA) is designed to address the goal of reducing poverty in rural areas. This paper utilizes research on rural livelihoods in three rural districts to derive policy inferences relevant to this framework. Research findings show that rural poverty is strongly associated with lack of land and livestock, as well as inability to secure nonfarm alternatives to diminishing farm opportunities. Meanwhile rural families encounter a rural taxation regime associated with fiscal decentralization that is basically inimical to the expansion of monetary opportunities in rural areas. A fundamental contradiction between the goals of PEAP/PMA and decentralized rural taxation is revealed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.