SMALL FARM MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY

The project consists of two subprojects. Subproject one will provide agarian reform and other small farmers with technical assistance in finanical management of their farms. The Ministry of Agriculture will implement the subproject through the farm management improvement component of the national agrarian reform. A Joint Cooperative Board, controlled by cooperatives, will be established to help implement the subproject. Direct transfer payments will be made to 45,000 reform farmers and 11,000 small scale farmers. Farmers will use transfers to purchase, in accordance with established program methodologies, technical assistance from private sector entities and from Technical Service Units (TSU) of farming cooperatives. Transfers will initially cover 70% of these costs and then gradually decline. Farmers will be assisted in keeping a journal of expenses and income. TSU personnel will transpose these data into standardized records on farm performance. The results will be fed back to farmers to help improve farm planning and management. TSU personnel will undergo preparatory training given by the Agarian Reform Training and Research Institute. Courses will treat not only the techniques of filling out farm records, but also the rationale for the particular system used, as well as the operation of the technical assistance system and the project responsibilities of TSU personnel. Methodology courses on farm production, planning, and comparative analyses of crop production and net farm income and of farm management will also be included. Three professional and technical courses will be offered the first year and, along with three evaluation seminars, five in the second. Sixteen paratechnician courses will be given during the first two years and eight final evaluation seminars will be offered at the end of the project. By the second year, up to 40 TSU"s will be functioning within the cooperative system. Credit will be provided through the Central Bank to existing cooperatives to establish or expand TSU"s.