Project activity completion report : small holders production preparation project

project to upgrade smallholder agriculture in Guinea. The project did succeed in developing a design for the proposed follow-on project (6750210), but the follow-on was never approved by USAID/G, which decided instead to focus on supporting the market-oriented economic reforms of the new Guinean government, which came to power in 1985. Other achievements under this project included: (1) furnishing and equipping facilities built under predecessor project 6750201 - the Foulaya Training Laboratory, Faranah Agricultural Training Institute, Faranah Demonstration Farm, and the Tindo Agricultural Extension Training Center; and (2) training 166 agricultural educators and technicians - four of whom received advanced U.S. training. The project-equipped facilities, as being used by the Government of Guinea (GOG), are seen to be of great value, even though no longer supported by A.I.D. Nonetheless, the project teaches several lessons. (1) The project design was far too ambitious given Guinea"s rudimentary institutional framework for agricultural development, and the resources allotted were insufficient, resulting in defections of contract personnel (sometimes after only 4 months of service). Nor did the design provide for adjustments to GOG budgetary difficulties. (2) Contractors and Mission management should monitor and continuously interpret current events in the course of long-term planning and seek to incorporate these events into the planning process. In the present case, more than $1 million was spent in designing the follow-on. It would have been advisable to close down the design activity and wait for events to unfold on the national scene.