This paper demonstrates the utility of small area estimation (SAE) of poverty methods for
researchers that wish to conduct a detailed welfare analysis as part of a larger survey of a
small geographic area of interest. Researchers studying context-specific technologies or
interventions can incorporate the survey-based SAE of poverty approach to conduct
detailed poverty analyzes of their specific area of interest without the expense of
collecting household consumption data. This study applies SAE methods as part of an
impact assessment of a locally adapted conservation agriculture production system in
Uganda’s Tororo District. Using SAE, I assess the Tororo District’s Foster-GreerThorbecke
(FGT) rural poverty indices, estimate the effects of per acre farm profit
increases to poor households on the district’s rural poverty indices, and compare the
findings to current estimates of the net returns from conservation agriculture in the
Tororo District. The SAE results suggest that increasing the farm profits of the bottom
30% of households by two U.S. dollars per acre per season could reduce the district’s
rural poverty incidence by one percentage point. The available data on the net returns to
conservation agriculture in the Tororo District, however, indicate that these modest
increases may only be achievable for adopting households that face high land preparation
costs.