Hillside agriculture project

Evaluation covered the period 1987-11/89. Thanks to a lean, focused, and flexible implementation mechanism and a Project Coordinating Committee effective in formulating policies and approving subprojects (SP"s), the project has been successful in promoting the production of income-producing perennial tree crops and deserves continued support. Two areas highlighted for greater attention are the management of information being generated by the SP"s and the need to integrate soil conservation principles into ongoing SP"S. Also, the evaluation team was concerned that many SP"s will be susceptible to a tendency that haunts rural development projects: those individuals with more and better organized resources benefit most from development assistance. This could mean that over time an important number of farmers having perennial tree crops will continue to use practices that are not conducive to improving hillside production. Phase II, which is expected to begin in 1990 and which should be preceded by an assessment of the impact of Phase I SP"s, should add SP"s to expand the range of extension approaches and technology transfer. See also abstract of PD-ABA-390.