Micro Economic Indices Of Poverty And Their Prevalence Among Rural Households In Selected Sub-Counties In Bushenyi District, Uganda: Proposed Solutions

The study was to establish quantifiable and intractable dimensions of poverty among the rural households; to assess the level of poverty based on the quantifiable and intractable dimensions of poverty identified; to establish the relationship between poverty and marital status, number of members in a family and income levels and to propose solutions based on the findings of the study. This was done following a total sample size of 375 households in the three sub-counties of Bushenyi district.

The study used a descriptive survey on population of rural households in selected sub counties in Bushenyi district. Both quantifiable and intractable dimensions of poverty were considered and their means were got to prove on their level of significance by testing the hypothesis. The mean of intractable dimensions of poverty was 69.08 and for quantifiable it was 27.39 the study measured the level of poverty following such mean ranges in the three sub-counties of Bushenyi district.

Data was collected using simple and purposive sampling techniques. A questionnaire, interviews and observation checklist were used. Data was then analyzed using SPSS. The level of significance of both intractable and quantifiable dimensions of poverty was considered to be 0.05. This meant that there was a correlating significant difference between such variables and poverty in the households of Busheyi district. It was evidenced that, most of the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents were given out like age, gender were given out in relation to the levels of poverty among the rural households and their means were calculated as well to determine the extent at which poverty had affected the most households of bushenyi district. This has indeed brought poverty irrespective of such socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and Quantifiable and intractable dimensions of poverty among rural households were given out like resources owned by the households micro-economic indices of poverty like price fluctuations and low levels of per-capita incomes were given out. Poverty affected everybody irrespective of marital status and number of members in a family however the level of income had a high significant relationship with poverty.

Therefore, it is recommended that, Poverty Alleviation interventions by governments, donors, CSO and Communities should focus on married, single, divorced or widowed, nucleus and extended families and improvement in the level of income in the households of Bushenyi district.