Agribusiness development project

The evaluation covers the period 9/91-12/94. The project has made good progress toward meeting its broad institutional objectives. The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has created a new Agribusiness Agency (MOA/BA) and the Ministry of Industry (MOI) has created a Directorate General for Agro-Industry (MOI/IHP). Staffing for these two agencies, which are directly responsible for facilitating agribusiness development, has been a major step forward. Additionally, the project has assessed and begun working with numerous agribusiness associations, and institution-building assistance to selected private sector associations has helped lay a sustainable foundation for future activities under the private sector component. Another key accomplishment is that women represent 20% of training participants and are actively involved in most agribusiness companies at the production and processing levels. The TA team (TAT) provided implementation leadership and carried out many support activities, many of which, however, did not consider counterpart concerns or include counterpart participation, nor take into account the project"s strategic objectives. Government of Indonesia (GOI) counterpart funding and personnel changes have aggravated this problem. Changes in the project"s management structure and in personnel within participating GOI Ministries and USAID have weakened the project"s policy agenda and hampered its ability to focus on key technical issues and geographic areas. However, a revised and streamlined project management structure, coupled with changes in the TAT and re-enforced counterpart relationships, should facilitate the selection and implementation of priority activities.