Project assistance completion report : agricultural planning project, project no. 493-0317

The project helped to introduce new data collection and analysis, project management, and commodity analysis methods into economic research in agriculture. Training is considered the most effective and important project area, benefiting over 1,000 persons. Three participants (vs. five planned) are completing U.S. Ph.D. training, and the PACD has been extended to 6/30/87 for this activity (costing, notably, an average of $20,000 per year, outrageous for land grant universities). In addition, 22 OAE staff received M.S. training, and 6 completed USDA technical short courses. The project supported in-country training in the use of computers, a large number of fora for agricultural policy formulation, and attendance at international meetings. The agricultural statistics component was the most significant among the technical areas. A system of area sampling frames (ASF) was installed in all 73 provinces, and by 10/85 in use by all OAE zone offices. Thailand will be the first country outside the United States to begin using this advanced system, which incorporates satellite data into the ASF methodology. Aerial photographs to complete coverage of the system's 2,000 sampling units should be ordered in 1986 when work on ASF is complete. ASF surveys were conducted for 54 provinces (the rest will be surveyed in 10/86 and after), and a 10/84 ASF rice survey of 15 provinces produced smaller sampling errors than did the previous list frame methodology. The immediate post-project period of data collection from ASF will be critical. While accomplishments were impressive, they did not meet expectations, especially as related to policy formulation. The project's strong policy orientation was not always vigorously pursued by the consultants and not encouraged by OAE management. A major disappointment regarding TA from Iowa State University was the recruitment of most project staff from other universities, the USDA, or USDA/AID retirees, resulting in reduced cooperation and esprit de corps with the Thai government. Lessons learned are to: (1) avoid overselling projects in the design phase; (2) match consultants with the primary objectives to be pursued; (3) avoid unduly restrictive or ambitious terms of reference for team members, but make the contractor accountable for individual and overall performance; and (4) develop better reporting mechanisms so that reports are substantive and indicative of project performance.