Insecticide Use by Small-Scale Ugandan Cassava Growers: An Economic Analysis

Cassava is the second most important source of calories in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is subject to economically important yield losses from viral diseases, including cassava brown streak disease and cassava mosaic disease. These diseases are vectored by cassava whitefly, so improved approaches for whitefly and disease control are needed to enable smallholder farmers to protect their cassava crops. To investigate the economic viability of insecticide applications against whitefly, the effect of four insecticide application regimes on three cassava genotypes (NASE 3, NASE 12, MKUMBA) and a local landrace were evaluated, for different farmer groups. Data were collected from researcher–farmer managed fields and descriptive statistics were analyzed. Insecticide and personal protective equipment were the major costs for those farmers that applied insecticide and the dipping treatment had a marginal rate of return of 1.66 (166%), demonstrating that this option was the most profitable and effective. While insecticide users incurred more production costs, they also accrued more profit than non-insecticide users, especially if insecticide was applied at early stages of cassava growth. There is a clear need, therefore, to strengthen the commercialization of cassava crop through plant protection measures such as judicious insecticide application on susceptible varieties, so as to increase yield and crop quality.