post-PROJECT ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF SELECTED SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE LAND AND WATER DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS FUNDED BY USAID IN KOREA

Evaluation timeframe is not specified; methodology included interviews with 220 randomly selected farm households. Evaluation purpose is to assess changes in agricultural production and to compare actual with planned internal rates of return (IRR's) associated with these changes. In general, each project was designed to increase and/or improve paddy acreage. The sample projects resulted in a per household increase in paddy area of .07 ha and in improvement in the ratio of fully irrigated to total paddy of 56.6 points. Overall changes included the following: the double cropping ratio increased from 135.6 to 148.5 %; the area devoted to the production of new high-yielding varieties (HYV's) increased 21.8% while that for the production of native rice declined 28.3%; labor inputs for Tongil rice and native varieties increased 2.1% and 3.7%, respectively, but declined 1.1% for barley; the transplanting date for rice was advanced from 9 to 15 days due to the more widespread cultivation of HYV's; and the quantity of chemical fertilizer used per 10 ha increased 16.4%. Pure yield increases associated with the projects tended to be higher for rice and lower for barley than anticipated -- Tongil rice yields increased 17.4%; native rice, 35%; common barley, 7.5%; naked barley, 9.9%; and white potato yields, 11.7%. While favorable, such changes may precipitate future problems affecting labor requirements, agricultural inputs (chemicals, machinery, information), and crop production. Among the many general and component-specific conclusions drawn are: Lack of sufficient information or inputs rather than poor irrigation facilities may account for why HYV's were adopted less in northern than in southern provinces. Shifts in labor were especially acute--improvements in paddy acreage, drainage, and irrigation reduced labor required for plowing and water management activities and increased labor required for seed bed preparation and transplanting. Finally, the IRR's associated with the sampled areas are likely to be greater than planned.