# **3.1 Coverage and its determinants**

Basic characteristics of time line and participation are illustrated in Table 1 by fortnight of the May 2005 to March 2006 survey period which according to FAO covers the harvest periods for most of Uganda‟s seasonal crops.<sup>5</sup> Column 1 illustrates that, after a rather slow start of 45 and 194 households who received the diary in the first or second fortnight of May 2005, some 400 households started making diary entries in each of the subsequent fortnights to add up to 4,451 who made any diary entries overall. The cumulative total of households reporting in any period, net of those who dropped or completed, in column 2 illustrates that we have a total of 41,673 fortnight-household combinations. The duration for which a household starting in a given fortnight remained in the sample as well as the number of diary entries made, as reported in col. 3 and 4, suggests that, with the exception of the initial and the last periods, the average household made diary entries for about 10 fortnights or 5 months and that, with some 115 entries overall (or 11.09 per fortnight), the frequency of doing so was high, i.e. almost on a daily basis. With more than half a million entries in total, this could potentially provide quite a rich basis of information to analyze agricultural performance, provided underlying information is of good quality.

Before making inferences from the diary on overall agricultural production in Uganda, it will be critical to assess the extent to which certain households will be more predisposed than others to responding, thus possibly leading to biased results. Table 2 presents sample composition and descriptive statistics to assess whether some groups are more likely to respond to or complete the diary. Overall figures suggest that, out of a total of 5,506 households who received the diary, 1,055 never made any entry, leading to a nonresponse rate of slightly below 20%. For those who started, however, attrition was relatively low, i.e. more than 90% persevered in filling the diary until it was collected during the second visit of the survey.<sup>6</sup> Across regions, completion rates are lower in urban areas and highest in the West but lowest in the Center. Given the very limited training effort and the modest cost of the exercise, results are encouraging.

To provide insights regarding potential biases, Table 2 compares descriptive statistics between agricultural households who did or did not start filling the diary (col. 2 and 3) and, conditional on starting to fill, those who completed and those who dropped out (col. 4 and 5). Three conclusions stand out. First, those with high opportunity costs of time were less likely to either start or complete the diary. Those with higher levels of education and a cement floor (which is less widespread and more suitable as an indication of wealth than iron roofs) are significantly less likely to respond or complete. Second, a response is more likely from those who are full time in agriculture, cultivate larger areas, and have higher yields (not output). Finally, being a member of local committees or having been affected by more widespread

> 5 A reasonably complete crop calendar is available at <u>http://www.fao.org/agriculture/seed/cropcalendar/searchbycountry.do.</u> 6 Unfortunately, no record was kept of who made a particular entry or which of the household‟s plots the harvest came from. Given the interesting gender dynamics, exploring the potential for adding such information would be high on the agenda for potential future experiments of this sort.

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