Assessment of USAID/Tanzania"s agriculture research project

Audit report covers the period 11/76-10/83 and is based on document review, a site visit, and interviews with project officials. The project failed to achieve most of its objectives, due mainly to an overly ambitious project design, delays in selecting the contractor (the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture - IITA), subsequent poor IITA performance, lack of GOT inputs, and inadequate USAID/T monitoring. However, success was achieved in certain areas. Twenty-five sorghum/millet trials were conducted in 1982-83 and one variety was released in 1983. Maize variety development and testing was carried out in 3 of 4 targeted ecological zones and new varieties of food legumes were developed in 3 targeted zones. Two workshops were conducted in 1983, but no inservice training in research or extension has been provided. IITA failed to provide technical staff in some disciplines specified in the contract, preventing Tanzanian counterparts from receiving needed skills. IITA also concentrated research disproportionately on cowpeas. The GOT, for its part, failed to provide programmed budgetary support and its in-kind contributions were not documented, making it impossible to determine how much was provided. In addition, the GOT only provided 36 participant trainees (vs. a target of 67), 13 of whom remain in degree programs. Participant training files were incomplete and did not indicate the degree of progress made, making monitoring impossible. Initially inadequate USAID/T monitoring, since improved, also contributed to the project"s marginal performance. Finally, due to the lack of a management control system, the propriety of some $2.7 million in commodity expenditures could not be verified, and some project equipment, stored outside, shows signs of rust. It is recommended that the lessons learned in this project be applied to the follow-on Farming Systems Research Project, begun in 1982, which is already behind schedule and showing signs of similar problems, especially delays in arrival of technical advisors and GOT failure to provide planned inputs.