USAID/Haiti evaluation of the irrigation component of the integrated agricultural development project

Special evaluation covers the period to 8/83 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with farmers and with USAID/H, MOA, Ministry of Planning (MOP), and contractor personnel. Implementation has suffered delays resulting mainly from poor financial management (the MOA's misallocation of A.I.D. funds led the MOP, which allots P.L. 480 Title I monies for the project, to withhold these funds). Actual irrigation rehabilitation work is underway only at Dubreuil, where Phase I construction, involving some 225 ha, is expected to be completed by 9/83 (vs. a revised target for the entire Dubreuil system of 925 ha by 9/82. The Phase I system is adequately designed and constructed (except for a lack of measuring devices) and will over the long term prove cost-effective (farmers are expected to adopt modern technologies and diversify cropping). Nonetheless, completion of Phase II is justified only if financial and administrative delays are substantially reduced in the future. Attention to maintenance and watershed protection activities is also essential. Regarding the former, there is as yet no legally constituted water users' association capable of managing the system, although water user groups have been formed for 9 secondary canals. As regards the other planned irrigation subprojects (SP's) - the Jean Rabel SP was scuttled, the Damien SP has been suspended, the Thomazeau SP was also dropped (athough some feasibility work was completed), and proposals to rehabilitate the Marigot system have been discarded in favor of upgrading five smaller systems which use water from the same river or tributaries. Topographic work has thus far been completed for only one of these smaller systems (Belle Roche). It appears advisable to proceed with all these systems eventually. Overall accomplishments of the TA team have been less than they should have been, due not only to the team's late arrival but also to lack of support facilities, counterparts, and construction funds. Nonetheless, the Irrigation Service's competent staff of young engineers have received valuable experience and training through the project.