Continued use of climate-smart agricultural practices in central Uganda cattle corridor: a farming household typology perspective

Uganda’s central cattle corridor remains highly vulnerable to climate shocks such as drought and erratic rainfall, threatening food security and agricultural productivity for smallholder farming households. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices are widely promoted as resilience-building strategies, yet their continued use remains inconsistent across farming communities due to differences in household typologies. The study examined how household typologies shape continued use of CSA practices in Uganda’s central cattle corridor by determining adoption levels, characterizing household typologies and assessing how typological differences explain variations in CSA continuity. A cross-section mixed methods design combined data from 364 households, 6 FGDs, and 12 key-informant interviews. Adoption of CSA practices fell into three categories, i.e., high (>50%), moderate (25–49%) and low (<25%) with high adoption practices such as legumes in rotation (98% continuity), manuring (95%) and shade-tree planting (95%) showing use durations of 6-10 years. Principal Components Analysis reduced 29 practices into 10 CSA bundles explaining 64% of total variance (KMO 0.62; Bartlett’s χ 2 = 1,753.21, p < 0.001). Hierarchical clustering generated four household typologies, i.e., moderately resourced CSA-engaged (8.5%), mainstream selective CSA uptake (77.1%), resource-constrained livestock-oriented (12.4%) and high-resource CSA intensive (1.9%). Analysis revealed significant variation in land access [ F (3,343) = 4.96, p = 0.002] and institutional support [χ 2 (3) = 20.29, p = 0.0001] among the developed typologies. Guided by the Resource-Based Theory (RBT), the findings show that CSA continuity is not randomly distributed but reflects how well specific practice bundles align with a household’s tangible, intangible and human resources. Resource-rich typologies tended to maintain a broader and more integrated set of CSA practices (such as soil fertility management, water harvesting and improved seed use) while resource-constrained groups focus on simpler, cost-effective options. Continuity was highest where CSA was embedded into existing farm systems and supported by complementary assets, e.g., access to extension or community networks. The study advances SDGs 1, 2, 5, and 13 by showing how typology-based CSA interventions strengthen resilience, food security and gender inclusions (SDG 2.4.1). It aligns with Uganda’s NDP IV and Vision 2040 on agro-industrialization and climate adaptation, urging a shift from blanket to typology-informed CSA scaling and inclusive, cost-effective, and goal-aligned outcomes.