Niger cereals research

PES covers the period 6/85-7/86 and is based on document review, site visits, discussions with concerned personnel, and an attached institutional analysis of INRAN (XD-AAT-892-A). The project has made significant, if uneven, progress toward achieving its goals. INRAN has initiated research aimed at improving small farm productivity in three major areas - production systems, crop improvement, and farming systems. The project has also: established linkages between INRAN and international agricultural research centers (although in-country linkages remain weak); improved INRAN research support services in the areas of data management and statistics, cereal quality and soils analysis, and in-service training; provided long- and short-term training (including 20 Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. scholarships) and research commodities; and expanded the Kolo research station, installed computer facilities at the soils laboratory, and completed construction of INRAN headquarters and the Tarna research station. While the project has thus succeeded in addressing most of the initially identified constraints to INRAN"s institutional capacity, it has had only modest - yet increasingly significant - success in improving INRAN"s capability to manage its research program; researchers still spend too much time on administrative duties. Perhaps the project"s most important achievement has been the increasing acceptance by INRAN researchers of a multidisciplinary approach to research (reflected in its instigation of joint annual research review meetings with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Office Nationale des Amenagements Hydro-agricoles) and by its policymakers of the need for institutional reforms. However, these attitudinal changes are still fairly nascent and must now be institutionalized. Also, the project has just begun to address financial management issues. A second phase of the project is recommended. This phase should: be long-term in nature and build on the present project; continue and improve research begun in this project; create a strong research-extension linkage; and continue training at all levels, especially of field agents and extensionists. In particular, future assistance should include specialized training and TA in research management; improving INRAN"s capacity in this area - a key project objective - cannot be accomplished simply by providing TA in research. Planning for Phase II should begin now, in order to preserve continuity.