PL-480, Title III program, food for development program (F.D.P.) annual report - 1984 : United States of America fiscal year

480 Title III Food for Development Program (FDP) in Bolivia. Annual report covers the period 11/83-10/84. Implementation has been generally positive, despite Bolivia"s extreme economic and social instability. Economic problems severely reduced the human and financial resources of Bolivian public sector implementing agencies, diminished the purchasing power of pesos in the FDP special account, and restricted importation of equipment and inputs for FDP subprojects (SP"s); social unrest also badly hampered the FDP - a strike at the Central Bank froze FDP funds for more than a month; at one point, the entire public sector stopped work for a month. A very important accomplishment was the opening of FDP financing to private sector investments through the commercial banking system; 8 productive SP"s totaling about $1 million and benefiting 1,300 persons have been financed in this way. Similarly, the FDP has begun financing private sector SP"s - promoted by the public sector Departmental Development Corporations - which use both Title III local currency and dollar contributions from an A.I.D. loan, supplemented by funds from the private banking system; 6 projects have been approved under this system. More private sector involvement is expected in the future. SP"s in agriculture have been particularly successful. Approximately $2 million in credit was channeled to four cooperatives and financed the planting of over 12,000 ha of corn, soybeans, cotton, and potatoes, benefiting 4,585 families. A wheat seed multiplication SP in eastern Bolivia provided seeds to over 1,000 farmers and made possible the planting of 8,500 ha of commercial wheat. Significant contributions are also being made in SP"s concerning campesino scholarships, economic analysis, and tropics development, and the contagious disease control SP was intensified. SP"s have also been conducted in pesticide control, plant quarantine, rural development, irrigation, institutional development, community conservation, and road construction. The Bolivian Government"s policy compliance was mixed, although relative to previous years some impressive steps were taken. FDP administration has been normal, all entities cooperating efficiently.