Higher agricultural education : phase II & agronomic institute

PES covers the period 6/76-12/82 and is based on document review and interviews with the INAV Director. Although the conflict between INAV"s staffing needs and the demand for trained personnel elsewhere in the agricultural sector, complicated by the lengthy period required for in-country Ph.D."s, has aggravated the inevitably slow process of institutional development, steady progress has been made. In project 0134, completed in 3/80, end-of-project conditions were minimally achieved. One of six U.S. staff positions was replaced by the project"s end; two others were replaced 21 months later. The other three positions are still being staffed by U.S. personnel, in part because of a Government of Morocco decision to establish a School of Horticulture in Agadir. Most departments have an average of 3-6 returned participants able to replace U.S. staff. (There is only one returned participant in plant breeding, however, a situation that should not be allowed to continue.) No Ph.D. research programs or courses were established, but third cycle programs were instituted by 1979 in soil science and forestry and by 12/81 in range and watershed management. Over 30 INAN graduates were employed in agricultural production and nutrition programs, mostly in the public sector. Momentum has increased in project 1060, but attainment of output targets and of end-of-project status, especially regarding establishment of an INAV doctoral system and lessening INAV reliance on foreign faculty, will be best assessed at the project"s 9/85 completion. It is doubtful whether 15 in-country doctorates will be completed (the first three will be granted by 12/82); another follow-on project may be needed. Unplanned effects were the creation of a U.S.-trained cadre of technicians in the Ministry of Agriculture and the growing appreciation by Morocco"s agricultural professionals of U.S. agricultural education. To determine attainment of the sector goal, a tracer study on the activities of graduates is recommended.