Project assistance completion report [: improved water and land use in the Sierra]

The project successfully completed many of its planned activities, improving the agricultural potential of the lands in the target area and contributing to long-term agricultural development by increasing the efficiency of land and water use and by making more water available to farmers, thereby significantly reducing the risk of catastrophic failure caused by lack of rainfall. Specifically, 17 of 27 planned small-scale irrigation and drainage network subprojects were designed and completed, making 13,443 of a planned 27,900 ha suitable for improved agricultural production, benefiting 10,439 families. The project also provided credit extension assistance to 100 farm families, and granted about 200 small farmer loans per season; established 135 research plots and 20 demonstration plots on 11 crops, trained 28 technicians and 33 new farmers, using baseline data from the 1985 crop cycle, and developed methodologies for conducting farm-level budget analyses and sociological data collation. Finally, 795 ha of a planned 1,200 ha were reforested.