Niamey department development II

Interim PES covers the period 2/83-2/85 and is based on document review, site visits, and discussions with project personnel and beneficiaries. Because of the disastrous 1984 drought and the short time since revision of the implementation plan (1983), there has been little progress in meeting revised objectives. In regard to the project"s overall purpose of increasing small farm food production, some Farmer Couple Training Center (CPT) graduates - a fraction of the total target population - have successfully adopted certain elements of the proposed technical package, but there has been virtually no spread of the package from trainees to other farmers. In regard to strengthening local organization, significant progress has been made in increasing the ability of some cooperatives to manage credit and input distribution; major constraints have been the low levels of existing capabilities and of the resource base. The addition of the Agriculture Service to the CPT"s has been the project"s most obvious impact on improving government services. The project has also considerably strengthened Niamey Department"s Caisse Nationale de Credit Agricole, although the Caisse has had serious financial problems. The project has had little impact on two major organizations - the Animation Service and the Union Nigerienne de Credit et de Cooperation, which went out of existence in 1984. In other areas, CPT"s have achieved trainee targets, but the training has been inappropriate, mainly due to inadequate training of the CPT chiefs; training in non-farm, income-generating activities has not occurred; efforts to motivate villagers to organize for development have failed; and the extension of credit has lagged. The women"s component has suffered from lack of an advisor. Lessons learned are that: (1) in marginal agricultural areas, technical packages must be carefully adapted to varying on-farm conditions; (2) in an area with a meager resource base, providing villagers with incentives to organize for development is a difficult, long-term process; (3) local organization development is an extremely personnel-intensive process requiring trained and committed cadres. Numerous action decisions are included.