VOLTA VALLEY DEVELOPMENT : TECHNICAL GUIDANCE REPORT MARCH 1980

Evaluation, timeframe for which is not specified, is based on interviews with project staff, site visits, and review of documents. AVV's farm model and technical package are inflexible and do not address all farmers' needs. The fertilizer used is inadequate; it is geared to cotton, but not to cereal crops. The method of applying fertilizer (after, instead of, during planting) is useless. Soil erosion and runoff are rampant due to plowing with heavy machinery, monocropping with cotton using clear-cut furrows (versus intercropping with legumes), burning fields after harvest, and a 2-year fallow period. Pesticides are used indiscriminately without testing for need and optimum timing of application. Plow animals are poorly trained and unhealthy. An extension service was established and is functioning in most of the settled areas but lacks leadership, training equipment and facilities, transportation, and trained personnel at all levels. Two AVV research stations (RS) were set up to study agronomy and animal production. Both RS's staff are competent and their experiments well-designed and executed. Further experiments are being conducted at the Kamboinse Agricultural RS under the management of International Crops Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). However, AVV cannot absorb the data generated by the RS. Recommendations include: (1) limiting the use of heavy equipment; (2) using crop-specific fertilizers; (3) using early and late maturing crops and inter- and double-cropping; (4) improving the health and training of plow animals; (5) recruiting extension agents (EA) from villages based on farming experience and extending training for all EA's to a year; (6) obtaining data on Malawi's extension service; (7) obtaining additional trainees, equipment, and facilities; and (8) applying the research findings from the AVV and ICRISAT RS at the village level. Finally, AVV should work more closely with other government agencies and adopt a more flexible policy on migrants.