Review report of the CRIES/SIEDRA project in the Dominican Republic

Special evaluation covers the period 11/78-5/79 and is based on interviews with project and Government of the Dominican Republic (GODR) officials and document review. SIEDRA has established institutional viability as a department within the Sub-Secretariat of National Resources, is internalizing CRIES concepts, methods, and goals, and has established direct communication with the Secretariat of Agriculture and with nongovernmental policymaking entities, although major operational linkages with the latter are still lacking. SIEDRA has made substantial progress on three of the four project targets. It has established an accurate and consistent data management and evaluation system for national crop data collection by sector agencies and has helped form a National Soils Commission, which adopted U.S. soil and taxonomy survey methods and produced an integrated soils classification data set (resource planning units) for interagency use in evaluating agricultural potential. Data in other areas, however (e.g., land and water resources, production levels and costs, and technology options), while the best available, need further work. SIEDRA has also made substantial progress in selected natural resource analyses issues due to staff competencies in these areas; the staff is relatively weak, however, in the economic and system analytical capabilities needed for policy analysis. These staff considerations, along with the existing assignment of responsibilities among GODR agencies, makes the target of making SEIDRA an integral part of sector planning currently infeasible. Recommendations are, inter alia, that A.I.D.: support SIEDRA for another 2 years; finance training of SIEDRA personnel in agricultural economics (with emphasis on policy analysis), macro and micro level natural resource management, and, for planning purposes, data collection and interpretation techniques; and assign SIEDRA primary responsibility for developing the natural resources management loan. Project experience suggests that the CRIES is adaptable to LDC"s as long as host country and consultant leadership is strong.