Project assistance completion report for the university agribusiness partnership project (517-0243)(UAPP)

ISA implemented the project with assistance from the Midwest Consortium for International Activities, Inc. (MUCIA). Results of the project were positive; through curriculum development, faculty and administrator training, and development of an endowment fund, ISA now has the capacity to provide well-trained mid-level personnel to the country"s agribusiness and agro-industrial community. At present, ISA graduates are employed primarily by the private sector, and the Institute has an Endowment Fund that covers 20-25% of its operating costs. Moreover, ISA has achieved international status, with 90 foreign students out of its 270 total student body. On the down side, several assumptions in project design proved false. USAID was able to provide only $8.5 million of the planned $12 million. Consequently, the PACD was shortened by 9 months, the levels of inputs for the MUCIA grant were reduced, especially for long-term TA, and the level of long-term professional exchange under the ISA grant was cut back. The following lessons were learned. (1) The goal to increase non-traditional commodity-based incomes was too ambitious and beyond the project"s ability to influence. Nontraditional agricultural exports actually declined over the project period because of an unfavorable macroeconomic environment and the exclusion of Dominican products from U.S. markets due to illegal pesticide residues. (2) The private sector"s ability and willingness to contribute to an Endowment Fund was overestimated. A declining rather than expanding nontraditional agriculture sector certainly contributed to reduced contributions. (3) Although the institutional strengthening of ISA was not explicit in the design of the project, it was perhaps its most significant outcome. The principal changes made in ISA were the establishment of a new undergraduate curriculum tailored to the project purpose, a strengthened capacity for continuing education and research, closer ties to the agro-industrial community, and the development and institutionalization of new administrative capabilities in the areas of planning, accounting, budgeting, personnel management, and academic affairs. In addition, the project put ISA in the position to lead and coordinate the large-scale project for the Rehabilitation of the Natural Resource Base of the Yaque del Norte River Watershed. ISA improved its financial structure with the development of income-generating activities in farm production, continuing education, conference services, and TA. With the establishment of the Development Office, the infrastructure for fund raising was established. (4) Faculty retention remains a problem, especially for persons in the areas of agribusiness and agricultural economics who have excellent opportunities for work in the private sector. This requires that ISA direct more attention to raising salaries and incentives for supplementary income. This, in turn, depends on generating more income; but fundraising for an Endowment Fund is difficult, especially for an institution without such experience and the transition being experienced by the agricultural sector due to increased competition from imports. USAID also provided similar endowments to Junta Agroempresarial Dominicana (JAD) and the Fundacion de Desarrollo Agropecuario (FDA), which are actively competing with ISA for donations from the same sources and for the same sector.