Profit efficiency analysis of onions production among smallholder farmers in Uganda: A review

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the most consumed food ingredients globally, making it a crop with unique market opportunities in agribusiness. The objective of this review was to determine the main determinants of profit efficiency of onion production in Uganda. Onion is predominantly produced in the country by smallholder farmers, with a few medium to large scale production units. The main factors that affect profit efficiency of onion production among smallholder farmers include shortage of human labour, inadequate quality seeds, lack of sufficient supply of fertilizers, lack of irrigation facilities and insecticides, suboptimal farming experience, small land size, and low level of farmers’ education. These factors are spatial, temporal and context specific; thus, necessitating that an empirical study be conducted in the Uganda setting. In addition, in spite of the fact that onion production in Uganda is done all year-round, its productivity has remained low with a national average yield of 5 t ha-1 which is much lower than the global average of 19.7 t ha-1. Keywords: Allium cepa, Cobb-Douglas, irrigation, Uganda