St. Vincent agricultural development project

Vincent and the Grenadines. The project, which was twice extended to permit completion of construction, resulted in few lasting improvements. Positively, the project: (1) built an extension to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Agriculture (MTIA) office building; (2) built a prefabricated marketing shed and purchased a rack/pallet system to store produce for export; (3) set up a $100,000 fund and distributed loans; (4) collected and analyzed agricultural data and provided some related training; and (5) conducted a pilot winter vegetable activity. On the debit side: (1) traders are not using the marketing storage facility; (2) the rack/pallet system has not been assembled and the forklifts and pallets were never purchased; (3) no market price information system was established; (4) the agricultural census was delayed a year due to an interministerial conflict, and the accuracy of the data, which remain in draft form, is questionable; and (5) only limited markets were identified for the winter vegetables. Moreover, there was little success in research or training activities. Research facilities/equipment were not upgraded; varietal trials had little impact; the planned pesticide safety program was not undertaken, and MTIA staff were not trained to conduct special yield forecasting studies. Several unforeseen factors - a change in the host government administration, the suspension of CARICOM concessional terms and marketing protocols for 3 of 4 target vegetables, the demise of the sugar industry after a 4/85 policy change, and A.I.D.'s shift from bilateral to regional projects - led to numerous changes in the already overambitious project design, in particular, to the addition, without a budget increase, of the winter vegetable activity which doubled the allocation to crop production at the expense of other activities. Several lessons were learned: (1) extending the PACD without extending the TA contract did not lead to successful project completion; (2) a final evaluation conducted 2 months before extending the PACD a year cannot assess final project impact; (3) widespread support is needed for an agricultural census to succeed; (4) crop research, especially when conducted by a regional organization (here, CARDI) and a local unit, should be carefully focused and structured; (5) market research and identification are critical before engaging in crop production; (6) adding new components without additional funds or TA demands paying greater attention to the original objectives; (7) when external factors intervene, it is necessary to reassess project assumptions and possibilities; (8) institutionalization requires early identification of counterparts and trainees; (9) MTIA lacks the capacity to manage USAID advance funds.