Ogwang, Aaron2026-09-242026-09-242026Ogwang, A. (2026). Determinants of profitability of simsim growing in Okwongodul sub county Dokolo district. [Unpublished undergraduate research report]. Busitema University.https://bdears.busitema.ac.ug/handle/123456789/9659Undergraduate research reportThe purpose of this study was to establish whether smallholder simsim production in Okwongodul Sub-County, Dokolo District, generates an economic return once the full cost of production is taken into account. Three objectives guided the work: to determine the socio-economic characteristics of smallholder simsim farmers, to determine the profitability of smallholder simsim production, and to determine the factors influencing that profitability. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted. A multi-stage procedure combining purposive selection of the sub-county with simple random selection of four parishes, eight villages and individual household heads produced a sample of 100 farmers drawn from a frame of 673 agricultural households. Primary data on production costs, yields, farm-gate prices and household characteristics were collected through a structured questionnaire administered face to face and analysed in SPSS Version 26 using descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis and ordinary least squares regression. Simsim production in the sub-county was found to be dominated by women, who made up 66 per cent of respondents, and by farmers with little formal schooling, 42 per cent having received none. Gross margin analysis returned a mean of UGX -181,000 per season against mean revenue of UGX 311,150 and mean variable cost of UGX 492,150. Only 28 per cent of respondents recovered their full production costs, and the same 28 per cent returned a benefit-cost ratio at or above unity. Labour absorbed 51.8 per cent of total variable cost and purchased inputs a further 36.5 per cent. Eleven of the twenty determinants identified in the conceptual framework could be carried into estimation, the remainder having not been captured by the questionnaire or having shown no variation across respondents. Access to market information was the only variable to reach significance, and then at the 10 per cent level, carrying a negative coefficient (β = -246,883; p = 0.080). Land allocated to simsim carried a positive coefficient that fell just short of that threshold (β = 12,484; p = 0.105). The model as a whole was not statistically significant (F(11, 71) = 0.993; p = 0.461) and explained 21.6 per cent of the variation in gross margin, 9.4 per cent after adjustment. The study concludes that simsim, although widely promoted as a cash crop capable of lifting rural households out of poverty, was not profitable for most sampled farmers under the cost and price conditions of the 2025 season. High labour and land-hire costs relative to farm-gate revenue, rather than low participation in the enterprise, account for the shortfall. It is recommended that extension agencies promote labour-saving practices and appropriate small-scale mechanisation, that local government and community structures work to lower the cost of hired land, that savings groups and financial institutions extend affordable seasonal credit, and that extension curricula be built around cost management and market-oriented decision making rather than production technique alone.enOther