The overall objective of the project was to improve the incomes and living standards
of the peasant population in the area by increasing their food production
and creating opportunities for them to engage in profitable agricultural
activities on their smallholdings.
More specifically, it was hoped to: increase agricultural production through the provision of supervised credit and extension; strengthen production support services; arrest soil degradation; increase the use of water for irrigation and other agricultural purposes; improve the marketing system for agricultural products; provide physical and social infrastructure; improve the nutritional levels of peasant families by increasing food availability; encourage the production of handicrafts; develop the role of women in the peasant economy; and increase family incomes.
Activities
In order to achieve the project’s objectives, nine components were included:
- supervised credit;
- support services;
- micro-irrigation;
- land rehabilitation;
- forestation and soil conservation;
- physical and social infrastructure;
- fish culture;
- traditional handicrafts development; and
- TA.
Outcome
Project execution was seriously affected by drastic economic and political changes in the country, including the hyperinflation and drastic currency devaluation of 1983-85, enforcement of strong monetary and fiscal restrictions between 1986 and 1988, and the restructuring of public institutions. Bureaucratic bottlenecks caused problems in transfers of project funds and in purchases of supplies and equipment. Moreover, a severe public spending adjustment programme prevented local counterparts from meeting their financial obligations to the project.
In general, the project succeeded in improving the beneficiaries’ quality of life, mainly thanks to increased availability of potable water, agricultural land and micro-irrigation. However, its impact varied and fell below target. According to the mid-term review (MTR), project management changed four times in less than three years.
Access to inputs and infrastructure
| Planned |
Achieved |
|
| Provide six thousand peasant families with supervised credit for agricultural and livestock production, as the principal component of the project. Construct or rehabilitate 140 km of all-weather feeder roads. Provide drinking water, including by the installment
of systems to distribute water directly to peasant households and
by the digging of wells. |
The supervised credit (35% of project costs) was ineffective. The project was unable to create a sustainable credit system adequate to the needs of the peasants. By August 1993, the value of outstanding loans was $4.7 million (91% of the loans), of which 62% was due and had not been repaid. This outcome was caused by the difficult institutional and economic context, including the closure of the agricultural bank. The project wrongly estimated the demand for credit in the poorer areas, and had problems with implementation (high transaction costs) and supervision (inability to detect problems quickly). No information on the construction of feeder roads is currently available. The availability of potable water benefited 1310
families in 24 communities. |
| Planned |
Achieved |
|
| Make full use of available agricultural extension services; provide technical support and coordination to ensure that supervised credit for agricultural and livestock production had the greatest possible impact. Strengthen institutions providing support services for agricultural and livestock production activities, as well as cooperatives involved in marketing agricultural products. |
No information is available on the impact of the extension services. Local institutions were strengthened by the provision of training. Some individuals who had received training went on to work on other development projects. |
| One of the main constraints faced by poor farmers in the area is that the main marketing channels are controlled by a number of intermediaries, who keep the price of farming products low and prevent the smallholders from effectively increasing their incomes. The absence of government policies in support of the smallholder farmers has contributed to keeping them at the mercy of the intermediaries. |
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| Planned |
Achieved |
|
| Improve marketing by granting short- and long-term credit to cooperatives to finance the construction of storage, product grading and packaging facilities; enable them to purchase peasant production for marketing; and provide international TA. Create new jobs opportunities and increase incomes by encouraging alternative income-generating activities, especially for women, including the construction of 1 000 fish ponds (to produce 120 tons of fish per year) and the promotion of traditional handicrafts. |
The marketing component suffered severe setbacks. Its design was too ambitious and took no account of the traditions and interests of peasant communities and the complexity of the marketing process. Women benefited from the traditional handicrafts production component. Five workshops, including 300 women from 12 different communities, produced 5 000 articles. The fish culture component was largely unsuccessful. |
|
| Bolivia faces serious problems in terms of soil conservation and the management of natural resources. Over the last 30 years, degradation of the natural vegetative cover has increased alarmingly, mainly owing to the high pressure of agriculture and livestock activities, which has led to falling harvests and losses in the smallholder farming economy. The farmers are unaware of the damage they are causing, and thus take no remedial action. |
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| Planned |
Achieved |
|
| Rehabilitate 800-1 000 ha of highly fertile soils, and strengthen institutions involved in micro-irrigation. Facilitate access to land by distributing 800-1 000 ha of highly fertile lands to peasant farming households, thereby increasing individual holdings by approximately 1 ha. Control and prevent erosion through re-establishment of protective vegetation. |
900 ha of land was rehabilitated and distributed to 1 800 producers in 47 communities. Micro-irrigation techniques were introduced on 1 655 ha, benefiting 2 750 families. Soil erosion was halted in a number of valleys in the region. |
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Livestock feed mainly consists of natural pastures during the rainy season and agricultural by-products during the winter months. However, such by-products do not completely satisfy sheep production requirements. Natural pastures have a very low carrying capacity and are seriously overgrazed. |
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Planned |
Achieved |
|
Provide credit to support the introduction and application of technology for improving the nutrition of sheep with a view to increasing meat and wool production. This included short-term credit to finance the cultivation of oats to improve the sheep pastures. Undertake research on forages, and improve sheep pastures by promoting oat/Vicia spp. mixes. |
Although the use of oat and Vicia spp. forage had a positive impact in other regions of Bolivia with similar ecological conditions, poor results were achieved in the project area. |
|
| The sheep population of the Chuquisaca region represents only 10% of the national herd. Animal production systems are poorly managed, resulting in overgrazing, a high inbreeding coefficient and serious external and internal parasite infestations. The herds generally number less than 30 animals. The typical sheep weighs only about 20 kg. |
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| Planned |
Achieved |
|
| Provide credit to support the introduction and application of technology for improving the reproductive potential of sheep, in order to increase meat and wool production. This included long-term credit to finance the purchase of 4 500 improved Corriedale sheep provided by the Regional Development Corporation of Chuquisaca. |
The sheep production component suffered a number of serious setbacks. Its design was too ambitious, and did not take account of the traditions and interests of peasant communities and complexity of the marketing process. By July 1986, 56 improved sires had been purchased and distributed, but no progress was made due to poor management and the lack of proper feeding and animal health programmes. Some 857 farmers were trained in improved sheep management techniques, such as use of proper sheep-shearing tools; in controlled reproduction methods to obtain lambs during the most advantageous period of the year; and in the castration of rams not suitable for reproduction. |
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| According to a survey of the animal health situation, infectious diseases and parasite infestations have a major negative impact on local livestock productivity. |
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| Planned |
Achieved |
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| Implement the following animal health programme:
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Very few animal health campaigns were completed. By July 1986, some 4 485 animals in 33 communities had been treated for internal parasites. |
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- The direct beneficiaries of such complex, geographically dispersed projects, involving numerous institutions with differing interests and structures, should also be the principal actors. The possibility of the rural population participating in the ex post evaluation mission should be explored.
- Rural credit should not be provided exclusively for agricultural production purposes. Small-scale farmers should be able to invest in other potentially profitable production activities, such as traditional handicrafts.
- The credit system should be more ‘rural’ in nature so as to promote the participation of communal organizations. This would help reduce administrative costs and debt defaults.
- Credit should be provided to individuals, under community supervision, rather than to groups. It was observed that whenever credit was provided to groups, less responsibility was taken for its management.
- Priority should be given to the careful selection of credit recipients, in collaboration with community authorities, rather than to over-expensive, time-consuming annual supervisions.
- The design of the animal health programme was over-ambitious and did not take account of the traditions and interests of peasant communities or of the complexity of the marketing process.
- A ‘technological package’ (TP) is not automatically transferable, even if positive results were obtained under similar ecological conditions. Other important factors play a pivotal role in TP adoption: socio-economic and cultural conditions, appropriate training support, availability of inputs and technical follow-up.
