Evaluation of the non-traditional agricultural exports project

Final external evaluation, conducted one month before PACD, covers the period 9/84-6/88. The project will fail to achieve its goal of an increase of U.S. $63 million in nontraditional agricultural exports by PACD. This is due to a number of reasons: the project design was incomplete and faulty; measures of achievement were overestimated and inappropriate and the timeframe was insufficient; the budget was too small; the time required to develop and change the attitudes of participants or potential participants was not taken into consideration; USAID/E's management was inadequate; there was not continuity of TA; the investment credit facility did not perform as expected and there were too many delays; and the agreement between USAID/E and the Central Bank was confusing and caused delays in implementation. Nonetheless, the project has made important gains - especially in developing and utilizing private institutions - which should not be discarded. The activities which have been completed can be viewed as a Phase I effort setting the stage for Phase II. The second phase should be developmental and should build on the basic institutional structure that is now in place. It should stress TA and the development of a production and marketing base from which to launch a full-scale export marketing program. A systems approach is recommended. (Author abstract, modified)