Expanded program of economic analysis - Lesotho agriculture sector analysis

ONSITE DISCUSSNS WITH GOL & CSU PARTICIPANTS WERE CONDUCTED. PROJ IS BEHIND SCHEDULE DUE TO LATE ARRIVALS OF CSU TEAM,DELAYS IN COMPLETING SECTOR REVIEWS,AND DIFFICULTY OF THE GOL IN PROVIDING QUALIFIED STAFF.TEAM FEELS ORIGINAL IMPLEMENTATN SCHEDULE WAS OVERLY OPTIMISTIC & THAT ENOUGH TIME REMAINS TO COMPLETE PROJ OBJECTIVES BY 10/80. PHASE I,RESPONSIBLE FOR INITIAL RESEARCH & PROVIDING FACILITIES FOR CSU"S STAFF,AND PHASE II,CONCERNED WITH ACADEMIC TRAINING OF PARTICIPANTS & PLANNING FOR IMPLEMENTATN OF SECTOR ANALYSIS,ARE COMPLETED. PHASE III WILL IMPROVE THE DEVEL OF ACTUAL SECTOR DEVEL STRATEGY. OF THE 8 BOSOTHOS TO RECIEVE US TRAINING,2 HAVE COMPLETEDMS COURSE WORK,5 ARE IN TRAINING,AND 1 IS YET TO BE NAMED. SINCE IT HAS BEEN IMPOSSIBLE FOR MS TRAINEES TO COMPLETE THESES AFTER RETURNING TO LOSOTHO,TEAM RECOMMENDS STUDENTS BE ASSIGNED TO GOL"S PLANNING UNIT AFTER US COURSE WORK TO CONDUCT IN-COUNTRY RESEARCH AND THEN RETURN TO THE US FOR 8-12 WEEKS TO COMPLETE THE THESES. THE ATTEMPT TO TEACH GRAD LEVEL CSU COUNSES IN MASERU HAS NOT MET WITH SUCCESS. THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THE SECTOR STUDY,TO PROVIDE RECOMMENDATNS BASED ON PRESENT DATA, HAS BEEN LARGELY SUPPLIED BY CSU DUE TO TOO FEW GOL STAFF & POOR GOL PRIORITIES. ALTHOUGH PLANNING FOR ANALYTICAL WORK FOR AGR SECTOR STUDIES IS PROCEEDING WELL,MORE ATTENSN SHOULD BE PAID TO GOL"S PRIORITY POLICY ISSUES,SM-SCALE MODEL UTILIZATN,IMPROVING INSTITUTNL STRUCTURE,AND PERSONNEL TRAINING. TEAM FEELS CONTINUING RELATNS WITH CSU & GOL SHOULD EXTEND BEYOND PROJ"S 4YRS & BE FUNDED BY THE AFRICANN BUREAU & USAID. CSU NEEDS TO IMPROVE GOL"S CAPABILITY TO DO SECTOR PLANNING & POLICY ANALYSIS BASED ON ACCURATE DATE CONCERNING FARMERS & COORDINATING COMMUNICATN BETWEEN TECH DIVISNS. IF ANALYSIS IS BASED ON SCIENTIFIC METHODS WHICH ARE INTERACTIVE,SYSTEMATIC,MULTIDICIPLINARY,RIGOUO US,SUPPORTED BY AN IMPROVED DATA SYS,CAPABLE OF QUICK RESPONSES & FARMER OIENTED; THE AGR SECTOR DEVEL SHOULD IMPROVE GOL"S FUNCTNING.