Honduras rural roads : old directions and new

To assist Honduran road construction, A.I.D. developed two roads approaches differing in inputs and impacts. In 1965, A.I.D. approved a project to build feeder roads in areas isolated from marketplaces on the "trickle-down" theory that the roads would benefit rich and poor alike, lead to cash crop production, and reduce subsistence farming and cattle ranching. The project called for road construction with no complementary credit, extension, or marketing services. Case studies of two of the feeder roads showed that the roads stimulated the cultivation of additional land, the production of cash crops, and also improved local access to medical and educational services. Project benefits varied, however, depending on external factors. In one case, sugar cane production increased due to a sugar mill built after road completion, while in the other, an agrarian reform program initiated by the National Agrarian Institute promoted production of palm oil and citrus by small farmer cooperatives. In 1974, A.I.D approved a project to assist agrarian reform by providing credit and technical assistance to model rural cooperatives and by constructing roads to connect cooperative fields to all-weather highways. Project delays prevented the planned use of local construction crews, education regarding the roads' benefits, and the establishment of an ongoing local road maintenance unit. These roads encouraged cash cropping, the availability of credit and extension services, and the cooperatives' development of schools. The evaluation team concluded the following: roads are needed for development, but do not guarantee it; corollary policies greatly affect the roads' distribution of socioeconomic benefits; access roads are more consistent with A.I.D.'s new policy than are feeder roads, since the former allows specific selection of beneficiaries; and, a road's long-term impact makes it difficult to render a final project assessment. Appended are descriptions of evaluation methodology, a technical analysis of the roads, and an aerial study of the first project's impact in one area.