| Based on household survey data, this paper investigates the impact on coffee and non-coffee households of the pronounced coffee price fluctuations in Uganda during the 1990s. As expected, the price boom of the early 1990s was associated with substantial poverty reduction for coffee farmers. More strikingly, their poverty incidence continued to go down when prices fell again. This may be explained by a combination of factors: first, coffee production increased after 1995, probably as a delayed response to improved price incentives; second, there is evidence of consumption smoothing among specialized coffee farmers; and third, coffee farmers diversified into alternative crops. Non-coffee farmers seem to have benefited from the income generated through the... |
