A number of policy initiatives in Uganda’s agriculture sector have been tailored towards
transforming the sector from subsistence to commercial production. Owing to this background,
this study examines the drivers of food crop commercialization in Uganda. The
unique feature of this study is threefold: one, we exploit the seasonal component of the
surveys to examine the seasonality of participation; two, we provide results of two different
measures to proxy commercialization, namely; the likelihood of participation, and intensity
of participation, in the market for selected crops; and finally, we investigate these issues
using a new panel dataset for Uganda. Findings reveal that different household and community
level characteristics pose varying impacts on commercialization across seasons. Of
particular interest is evidence that self-sufficiency needs override household decisions during
the second season. This finding underscores the need to design interventions that target
increased production in this season, charaterised by short rains and less production activity.