ON - FARM WATER MANAGEMENT RESEARCH

Evaluation covers the period 8/31/77-10/31/80 and is based on an attached special evaluation (PD-AAG-313-A1). Although the project (which is 60% complete) is serving Sri Lanka"s agricultural needs, the rate of disseminating research results to farmers is too slow, and the results have not been adequately applied in the field. In particular, the fact that several vegetable crops and soybeans are suitable for the area"s upland farming has not been communicated to farmers. The project has been seriously handicapped by the insufficient number of trained, permanent Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) staff needed to gather and analyze data and to make farmer contacts. Additional personnel are needed to increase farmer contact and to conduct more farm trials. The demonstration/training objective is only 10% complete and two other major outputs, water balance and structures and water measurement, are less than 20% complete. The other major activities (land preparation and leveling, irrigation and drainage, and soil/crop/water management) are 40-60% complete. The special evaluation found the performance of the contractor, Chemonics Inc., to be adequate, despite GSL dissatisfaction. However, the contract with Chemonics will not be extended; rather, local consultants will implement the project with the help of U.S. professionals. The following action decisions were taken: The project will be extended by one year. Two permanent assistant soil chemists and up to five temporary soil chemists from the GSL Irrigation Department will be hired as project research assistants. The research assistants, supervised by a local consulting firm, will conduct extensive field studies. Additional training will be provided as follows: 1-2 persons trained for masters" degrees; short-term U.S. training on neutron probes provided to 1-2 persons; 1-2 persons sent to the International Water Management Symposium in early 1981; and 2-3 persons sent for third country water management training.