Togo animal traction A.I.P.

PES, the sole evaluation to be conducted during the life of the project, covers the period 4/78-6/81 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with project personnel and project and nonproject farmers. Despite almost a year"s delay in A.I.D. funding approval and a scant influence over Government of Togo (GOT) decisionmaking, this pilot project, which has been extended to a third agricultural season, has made remarkable progress within existing structures to promote AT, which was almost nonexistent at its inception, and to influence GOT policy and program planning. Specifically, the project has trained 106 pair of oxen, involving 200 farmers in the process (vs. identical respective targets of 60-80) - although improved animal health has been due to efforts of the Animal Health Service, not to farmer training - and has greatly expanded the Agbassa AT Center which, while still not serving as a primary regional center for AT training and support services, has shown itself capable of processing over 150 pair of oxen a year. On the debit side, due in part to input timing problems (a key issue for the future), the revolving credit system for animals and equipment has not been established, and training at Agbassa, where efforts have focused on construction, is just underway, with just 11 extensionists (of 140 targeted) and no blacksmiths or veterinary agents trained to date. On the other hand, 10 oxen trainers have been trained and are teaching farmers in turn; these trainers represent a farmer-agent model of extension service lacking in the classical GOT system. Finally, due to poor planning, the five subsites at which PCV"s and their counterparts were to provide farmers with needed AT backstopping never fully materialized. Although no data have been collected on the project"s impact to date on crop yields and farmer income, these latter should increase with improved credit, training, and extension inputs. A project extension to 6/30/82 is among the recommendations.