Cooperative agreement no. 676-0016-A-00-4046-00 [to VITA]

Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) will implement the project, in cooperation with Africare (subcontractor), the Peace Corps, and agencies of the GCAR"s Ministry of Rural Development. First, a baseline study, building on information acquired by a 1979-81 FAO project, will be conducted to obtain data on the extent and nature of PH losses and, to a lesser extent, on marketing activities in the target areas. The study will also provide preliminary quantitative data on the effectiveness, acceptability, and costs of alternative PH technologies. Technologies which will be introduced by the project will address the following areas: insect, bird, and rodent control; sanitation; grain cleaning/drying; cassava processing; and cottonseed and groundnut oil pressing. Replicable farmer and extensionist PH training programs will be developed. The former will rely mostly on direct communication with farmers as individuals and in groups and on demonstration activities; village and hamlet-level workshops for married couples and for unmarried male and female farmers will be conducted separately. For extension agents, short, subject-specific training workshops will be held 2-3 times a year on a zone-by-zone basis, and follow-up visits will be made to ensure that agents are correctly demonstrating the PH technologies. Audiovisual aids will be used in the workshops and provided to agents. It is expected that up to 80 agents will attend orientation workshops, and 20-30 will complete the entire training cycle. Both farmers and agents will participate in monitoring and evaluating project technologies. During the program"s final stage, a program for transferring project activities to other parts of the country will be introduced. The project will directly benefit some 12,000 people in 25 villages in the 5 zones as well as 1,400 ox-plow farmers in zones where ACADOP - the major GCAR cooperating agency - is active.