Modelling priority patterns in asset acquisition: the case of smallholder farmers in three rural districts in Uganda

Poor smallholder farmers in Uganda live at or below subsistence level. They are vulnerable to multiple risks and insecurities and have limited access to capital markets. In this article we propose a model to estimate household priority patterns in asset acquisition using cross-section data. The model is applied to a field-survey consisting of 938 farm households from three districts. The model predicts the distribution of asset ownership, conditional on the type of assets owned. Based on the established priority patterns the article proposes a low-cost, regional poverty monitoring instrument using only asset type data.