USAID/Haiti evaluation of the research and extension component of the integrated agricultural development project

Special evaluation covers the period 2/81-12/83 and is based primarily on interviews with Government of Haiti (GOH) officials. The project is too ambitious to attain all its goals and lack of timely action and especially of operating funds have delayed implementation despite efforts of the GOH Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural Development (DARNDR) to comply with project requirements. Nonetheless, the TA team from the Texas A&M has made notable progress in identifying improved varieties of cereal, legume, and root crops (especially of corn, grain sorghum, field beans, sweet potato, and cassava), promoting intercropping, and developing technological packages for small farmers. The Levy Research Station has not yet been fully developed, but not because of decisions by the TA team. Efforts to strengthen Haitian research capacity have been only partially successful due to the weakness of the existing research service structure, the GOH"s slow response to the project agreements, a lack of funds, occasionally inadequate counterpart selection, the sending of counterparts for overseas training, and communication barriers. In other areas, helpful economic data have been collected and the training program is on track, although training aimed at establishing a research - extension link within DARNDR has been slighted and the need for training in farming systems research is now evident. The latter, however, cannot be accomplished by this project. Also, the allied vertebrate pest control project had identified at least 8 pests responsible for damage to 13 major crops and has developed DARNDR"s capability to develop pest control programs. To complete the project, the TA team must still complete current experiments, write up the technical packages, and multiply the elected seed materials, complete the analysis of baseline data and analyze the impact of the new technology, and arrange to transfer the project to DARNDR. The major recommendation is to extend the TA contract for at least 9 months.