Evaluation of the high impact agricultural marketing and production project, project number 538-0140 : final report

External evaluation covers the period 8/86-3/89, with emphasis on 1988 activities. The project has made a number of impressive accomplishments, particularly in the past year. Under this project, three times as many private sector investments have been funded in three years than by two predecessor projects combined in nine and six years respectively. However, emphasis now needs to shift from selecting new investments to managing the existing portfolio, and progress towards this goal is constrained by a seriously flawed project organizational structure. The two primary implementing agencies, the Agriculture Venture Trust (AVT) and Eastern Caribbean Agricultural Development (ECAD), have often worked at cross-purposes. ECAD has been primarily responsible for investment promotion and business plan preparation, while AVT has been in charge of screening and funding investments. This division has confused responsibility and accountability, created unnecessary conflict between the organizations, and sometimes confused and angered investors. The Mission has no special expertise in the venture capital field which could be used to reconcile strategic and operational differences between the adversaries. Meanwhile, neither organization has devoted sufficient attention and personnel to the planning and execution of portfolio management, which is key to the project's basic strategy. It is recommended that a single organization, a successor to AVT, be given responsibility for the full range of project functions, including the promotion, selection, and management of project investments. This organization should be a non-profit corporation, rather than a charitable trust such as AVT, whose format is too conservative and traditional for the purposes of the project. ECAD's role would be to serve the successor organization. More particular needs are to upgrade skills at every level (from AVT's Board of Directors to company operations at the grassroots) and to focus attention on marginal investments in which effective management and TA can spell the difference between success and failure. Given the time profiles and characteristics of most agricultural investments in the Eastern Caribbean, it is very doubtful that the project could become financially self-sustaining in the near future. Substantial additional donor capitalization and/or sustained support of operating expenses will be required for some time to come.