Need to reassess AID"s strategy for food crop protection in West Africa

Audit report covers the period to 5/84 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with project, A.I.D., and host government officials and with farmers. RFCP has made some progress in developing National Plant Protection Services (NPSS"s) in participating countries, but very little in its major purpose of extending integrated pest management (IPM) techniques to food crop farmers. This failure has occurred primarily because a closely related IPM project (6250928) has not yet developed technical packages adapted to individual country needs. Linkages between RFCP"s institution building component and Project 6250928"s research component have been weak due to poor timing (e.g., RFCP started 3 years before Project 6250928) and other coordination problems. Even if the technical packages had been developed, however, little use could have been made of them, for participating countries have made slow progress in developing their training and extension programs and their managerial and technical capabilities. NPSS"s have given limited attention to assessing crop losses caused by specific pests and to the economic viability of various chemical and nonchemical pest control methods. The only new IPM technique being used by the project is a method for biological control of the cassava mealybug. Management and implementation problems (diffused responsibility, USDA"s failure to provide sufficient country-level TA, lack of defined criteria for measuring project progress, and lack of an effective management information system) have slowed progress in developing the NPSS"s. A.I.D. and the USDA have now taken steps to improve monitoring/coordination. A Fall 1984 evaluation will consider consolidating the RFCP and IPM projects. This evaluation should specifically address obstacles to IPM, namely farmers" dependency on and host countries" subsidization of chemical pesticides. Other recommendations are to: evaluate country-level TA needs; fill vacant project positions in a timely manner; and develop a management information system.