Seminar for officials of rural radio of the countries participating in the onchocerciasis control programme: Ouagadougou, 4-6 May 1977, initial experiences in implementing the upper region agricultural development programme

Sent:ar for Officials of Rural Badios of the corxr.triespartlcipatjrg j:r the Onchocerciasis Control Progra"mre Ouagador.rgou 4-6 \Iay A977 Doc/9 Ori-gina1; Ehg1lsh UPPU? BEGIOI{ AGRICITTTITMI DE\rEIrpIm\tt rnoGEAtr/n[E (mmnp) fnitlal experiences in irnllementing the Upper Region AgriculturaY Development Prograrnme Dr A. 0, Abudu J fhere are ti,ro principal ob j ectives of -bile GL:ana Upper Region .i,gricul turaL Development Pro5rarainc. Ihe fj-rst of these is io increase agricultura] produclion ancl , therefore, ihe incor:res of the farmers' The second. objective is to establ-ish a peflilanent and efficien-b s;rsten for the supply of services to the farr.lers. In orCer to accoraplisli these tvtin goa1s, the ?rogramn.e vrlII , atlong other n1€&Sr.lI€S, ilave to redefine the role of aSricul-iural service, irlfensify extension worlc fcr crop and animal production, improve hlu.ian nu'britio[, c'Levelop the required p]rysical- infrastructure, devise a strategr anc)- implei'rent neasures -'r'o control the rapid rate of soil erosion in iire Region and develop specialized' ins'ui- tutions to service the comllercial and financial requiremeni;s of th6 farmers' TIre fi-::st five years, ag75/77 - tgeo/]1'' ciraracterized as the investment period, u,iI1 ini,rol-ve the ?roLral,rne vtrich comprisesl (r) -@-"wlqpee-Ir! (") Establish at a rate of about JO a year, 90 service centres, tO provide improvecl e:itension services to srrafl 1-atmers and. management advice to a refatively feiv larger farr:ers. Eacli Service Cen-bre is e:cpected to serve about 1, 500 fanilies. (U) ?:rovide farrn inputs , includ-i ng insecticides, seed. dress j'ng improved seeds, fertilisers, "irare parts, far:n equipilent, oxen, etc',for cash or seasonal deferred. payu,"r.'os r= wefl as medium and long'berr: 1oans, all in tne direction of increaslng the agricul'ttt"?l-produc-bioir on about 1OSrOOO hectares of land1 i.e.1 abou-u'10% of toi;al arable land cu-ffently under cultivation ior such crops as milIet, tal-I aird dwarf so}.ghu.n, maLze, groundnuis, co btoD, rice, covlpea.s, and- tomatoes' (") Provide inproved onfatm grain s-i;orage' (a) Provide be-bter animal heali;h services and ilproved animal husbandry and establish '';en sna]l ranches, each of abor-rt 2rOO0 hectares, for Iocal livestock owners. (u) Develop se.,ett applied. research and demonstration units together vri'bh ai1 associated. seed. mu'ltiplication prograiiliie' (-t) Establisir a pilot functional literacy schene' (g) Expand the facil-ities of the Ghana Broad,casting Corporation ttrrough a raclio neirniork and regional stuclios io brradcasi in tjrree of the most important languages of the Region' (n) Improve hrxoan nr-r-brition and- health -i;hrough agricul-bura1 extcnsion services, the functional l-iteracy prograume and radio services' (i) provide inservice training for the Programriiers s-baff bcth ln the Region and through travel grants for visi'us-bo selected projects and sciremei for speciaf izecl milnagei.lent trainin; oustside Ghana. -2- ( z\ Ptrvsical Infrastructure (") Constru-ct about 120 nerv sr.ra11 da.us and rehabiliiate about 100 e:ristin3 dams together vri-bh the associa-bed structural works to enable the d.evelopnent of dry season gardening, fruit tree nurseries and fistr cu.ituring. These clams will provide vrater for livestock and assist in ila'cer conservation. (f) Develop soil conservation ineasures to 1:rotect the catchment areas of the dams and some 1SO,OOO hectares of farm land, ie.7 about 3O/" of total arable Ianc}. (") Cons'bruct '/oO village (a) Construct stores and anci regional pro j ect offices andr (u) Provid.e vehicl-es and (f) Construct tlo cot-bon wel-Is . cffices a-b farm serviee centres, district the houses for ttre staff of the Progranme. other equiprnen-b. ginneries. 3 ) J-irF-Lt*c-\1t i-o]-qr--S-l4.p-9-It (") Establish the Upper Region Agricultural Developneni Programne L,lanagement Unit (Unftru) which will be responsibfe for impleme,r-bing tire Progranns. :.he implenentaiion of the Prograniire incfud-es the admini-stra'bion of aII the se::vices of the lyiini'bry of Agricul-i,urc vritirin the Upper Region. (U) Es'oablish the ilarners Services Company (Un) I,ta., a liraited Iiability company r,vhich will be responsible for the inpu'b delivery aspect of tire Progra,:ru.le (") Strengthen the regional branch of -bhe Agricutural Development Banlr (els). Developraent Corporation (urOlco), clivisions. (a) Strengttren the Upper Regioiral particula{y its iransport and whol-esale ( +) l.-q1"1-og911[*q1,?3Al."g Establish, under the d-irect control- of the Prograr:une, a special Oncirocerclasis SurveSr Unit -bo preps.rer in consuliation with the Coordinating Committee of the iia'bional- Onchocerciasis Program-ne of Ghana", a Ien year Developmen'u Plan and feersibiliby studies for investment projccts for areas freed froir onchocerciasis in the Upper and llorthern Regions of Ghana. The d.etails of what I have nr-rnerated so far are availabl-e i-n a more lengthy docunent which has al-reacly been circr-rlated orr at any rate, is wi-bh the Oncho Prcgrarnme here in Ouagad.ougor-r. In order to undertalre this massi-ve Irogrr*ro", the 'toba1- financing available is -bhe equlvalen-i; of about frA3 -llion or about :", !5,:iilLioir. iJhichever way one r:a-;6 look at it, ihis is a rnassive prograrurie. i'he or:emillion individuals resi-deni in the Upper Region, about A016 of the population of Ghana, 'bhe Government of Ghana and the other inain sources of funds, :irr.in1y loan fund-sr.for impleinciiting the Prograrlne; the llorl-d lar*: (rc/") and Britain l2of5), arl looking forward to the success of this ei:cieavour. fndeer], it is noi -5- too far fetchcd to speculaie that evcn the gods overse eing -Lhe a]:lost27r3oo liri2 wLriclr naice upthe uppcr Re6ii-on, abor-rt tz/" of tbe zS5rooo kia2 whicl: coirprise Ghanr., ha-re 'bhe gz'eates-i; 55ooclr,,rilI toward. the success ofthe Ghana upper Re5lion Agricr-rItural Devclopraen-l; ?rograrni,re. Be'bween the la,tter par-b cf I9Z4 vrhen tlie -,rrograr.ule vras 1.irstidentifiecl by a .,/ortd Banlc r:ission anii right -bLris floilerlt Ln f.977 tthere have been scveral ciranges in -tne econoi,ric circr-unstances lvithin Girana aird. tire t'rorlcl ou';sid.c. lieanv,,irile, tLrose o1- us r,vho are noi,r char3cdlvith i-mp1e::,reniing the Progranine 'ircLd no-thing to con';ribr-rte eL-b any poir-rtduritlg vrhi-ch 1t vras fr.sirroned.. It is these e:lis'cing ancL unfold-in5 factors wirich are the basis of the sort of lrroblens rrhich r'/e are el.periencingin irtpl-cmenting the Prograrure. I sira"Il nori ui:.dcrtalce a ycry brief exar:i- nation of a fevr of these problens. Obviouslyr it is too early in ttrePro3raniners implementation to irave expcrienced more tiran just a Lninu-befraction of these pi'oblems. Frorn the information f have furnished. so fc.r, -the prosranme is e, massive one. Althoughthe \7or1d. Banh tell:s and vrritcs about thetiProjectii,it is preferable to refer to ii as the irPro;raflr.',.er?. It is a progralurre inthe sense that there are numerous projects and sub-projecis lvhich -bogethe:. malie up the pacl;age. Ihe f:-eld. lve rLre covering and its complexity ancl the various measures ve havc to u-nc1 er'ual;e to gel; the i,lirole business on the right course - this is toc cornplex 'bo bc 'cernei. a project. liot'; ihai a ivhole new tearir is charged--iith ,,ire implenen'uation of -bl.ie Programme, aird- as 'uhe vari-ous inct-ir,-iduals, each of ilren expert and experienced in their own rigirt, &re bcinS^ assenblcd., we a.re bcginnin5'uo see'i;hat sone of -i;ireirprojects?ivirithi-n the g:rogrc.itmre have bcen seriously under-subscribed both in-bhe conponc;rtc lecded for the job iLircl in thefunds a11occ-'red. As rrrembcrs of o,.r-r 'bcan cxamine their rcspcctive responsi-bilities fo:: execlr'cing tlie pros::aLL-1e, l,'e simul-bancously e::p1ore the i:eansfor re-shapi:r2: tire spccific projec'Ls or su.b-projects or fiird lvays 1nl.hich u/e can st.retch the funcls as r:uch as this is feasible and coirsistcn-b wii;h efficiency, A good proiror,r,ion of 1;hc problem a.rises because of il:.e ra-be of prj-ce infl-a.bion v,rhich iras'batcen place both wibhj-n Glana and outsiC.e. ]'or e>carnpIe, ,uhe cs-i;ina-ues whicL:. lrere nra.cie for our br-rildings ere nov/ 50'11 of tlic cost of putting up those buildings. irli-biriln'the'briojrec-rs, bnild.ing costs ha.vc rloublcd, In this,.cgard ei-bher clenents of bhe proglaJtme have to be scalecl dolrn or adc"r-bional soltrces of furnds ha.ve -i;o be locaieci if bhe cl-enen-ts of 'uhe pac);agc should- re.taain as was origi- na1ly provided' It is in thj-s rcgard. that we havc heen holding discussions wiih of'ficials of the ilethcrl-ands Govcrmen'b and. Duich institutions for assistance in the c:'-iension comnunication aitd training aspects of 'uhe Prograrnne because r,vha'c t,'as provicled rititin the Prog;cl.riure cannot d.o an effectivc job. One criticc"l area is the rec::r-ri-i;rnen-b of high level staff froin a.broad as provided forbire Progr.-.rol,te. Our top Ievel staff cone frorr tr,vo sources: Those -lo bc rccruitecl through ir,trorlci tsanll ciratrnels at:ilthosc to bc obtained unc1cr a tccl.rn-; cal- ass;is-balcc agreemcnt. signed be-bl.reen the Governeilcnts of Ghaira and the Unitcd l{ingdo::r. Jlor the PrograntLre, e" najority of these ind-ivid.uals, abourt 19 of them conprising about BO!5 of -biie potential total of e:rpatria-be s'taff arc being rcc::uited 11ri'61r-gi1 'bhe British l;linistry of Ovcrseas Developnent in loirclon. ,Iop 1er,-cl and highly eompe'bent staff of 'ciris calibrc are not easy to come by. lhc recruitnent of this level of staff began aroundi ilte r,riddl-e of 1976 or cvc:lIatcr. Sinco official-s of -bire B:ribish ODiir lrere i-nvolved all along, since - a.- eerly 1975, in the a;opra"im.1 nissions for thc Progranine, one mroulcl have expccted. that, sinultarreo*s11., sor'.c orga.ns within -blre British OD].T v'roulri have been sllrveying thc-lcrra.rn in order'uo prep""re ten'Lr,'rive lists of 1ikel;r speciarlisls for the U1:per Regioir Agricultural Developmen-b IrogrcLmr,re(ulalor). A list of cand.iclates as f am sr-r3gesting would indicate uhen they are most lilcely to te:rninate their cu-rren-b jobs and any other observations wirich coulcl infl-uence their-i;rairsition-bo the nevi responsibilities i-n the URA-DEP. Io the exten-b that tLrese types of ind.iviclual-s are hard to coile by, some of the;r might have to be hired l,reel;s or even r,:.onths before they are actnally recluired as 1on61 as there lvere the necessary indicatlons that the URADEP was going to be implernen-bec1. [hese specJ-alists hired earlier than the d.a-be they vrould be required for tire nel? responsibilrties could spend sone time preparing themselves so that they v'roul-d be ready to get onto 'bhe job as soon as the signals are clear. As the situation developed, some of -bhe most criti-cal ind.ividuals required by URADEP vuere not the first 'co be available. Right a'b the nor.ren-b there is one such position, that of Senior i,Iechanical Engineerrryhich has yct -bo be fiI1ed. 0f course, as the filling of that position gets de1aycd., the whole issue of es-bablishing necessary workshops, maintaining the ?rograirlrilcrs vehicles, prepari-ng tend.er docu:aents for earth-noving and other hear6r d.u-Ly ecluipi,ren-b for the d.am cons-bruction and d.am rehabili-bation get deIa,yed. li'herefore, to the extent i;hat each of the variorls pieces of the Programne are meant to be mutually reinforcing, ibs iropienentatj-on suffers. Gettirrg a programne, su-ch as UP.ADEP, off the ground requires the type of coordj-nation in ally armJ, thab is engagecl. in a rrar. fhis coorclin:.- tion involves not on1;r v'rhat ve do l'rj-thin'i;]re ?rqgrar.rrre itself. Of greater importance ic what happens in tiLe various Governnent l,[inistries, Departments and organs each of rvhose spheres of influence aff ect the content and con&.zt i of tire total Prograunc of agriclrltural anc1, ind,eed, rural developnent. In t}:is initial pha.se, there are bound-i;o be lapses in the coorciination and coopera-"'ive effort required.'co implene:.rt the ?ro6rararre. ir-'his is to be e:rpec'ccd aircr- lvill Criminish, bu-i; can ncver be elirnina-bed., as more u-nrierstan- cling is generatccl reg^az'ding the various aspects of URAD]rP ancl a.s more and. more of 'L,he various officie"ls develop a greate:r allpl:eciation of their role in the whole scirene ancl as bire inpact of UR/.D.li?t: activities get increcsi-n-gIy felt by the farncrs ancl officials of the nunerous governm'en'b and.private organs. Ideally, on ihe ground. in the Upper Region, there ought to have been enough dwelling houses of -bhe most desiro.ble type ready and. fully furnished for the expatriate personnel to lva.ik into and set up reasonably decent horces alrnost j-rl-ierliately they cn-ber 'che Region. If such burldj-ngs, prefe- rably of ti:e bungalow typer vc::e bui1t, or-,.r currcnt expericnce of iraving i;o hurrieclly get some mcasu-re of accomrnod.ation wouJ-cl irave been unnecessary. The amou-n'i; of u.nnecessary but avoicla"ble pioneering worlc woulcl have been greatly red.uced. A lo-b more of the cnergies and timc of ihe Project lTanager a-nd. the initially assembl-ecl top level staff would then have been channelled into more productive use fo:: iraplementing the aspects of the ProgramLe vihich reaIly matter: those lvhich cli.rcetly a.ffcc-b the fortunes of the farrners in the P'cgion. )tr -)- On a more dornes-bic level , on.e vrhicLr cannot be infl-uenced b)''uhc con-tent n6.the responsibilitics of thc }rograr,:ue, one can seriously consic.er gre eff ecl on the erpatrir.-be s'ta"ff of tlreir ov/n ilonestic affai;s. \Tl:ether a staff nember ls able io vork efficier:.b1y or prod.r-rctively depenils upon vthether his tvife is l:appy. foo liir.ny vi.riables enter inio this aspect oi h.r*o1 psychol_og7-. In t1:ese nodern ti6cs, the pioireering spirit of bygone d.ays is ro-lor]ger l-ritl'r rrleny of us.'Iherefore, I an not surprisecl *t "r. some e:lpat,'iate staff , reerui'r;ed and- postedL to help a developingcoun'cry develop, arrive on the scene and ex1:cc-b conditions of Ii-ving i'vhich onecanassociaieonlywit}rhighll,clevelopedeconoi]l.Les.onemethociof easi-ng this particufrr problen. is'bo prescn'G a.s realisbic a picture of bhe prospective en:rirorlirent -bo 'cl,..e specialis-b t;hen irc is being brief ed abou--b the natu.rc of the neiv job fo:: r-ihich he is being recruited. I thinh tlu'.t it is absolutely impo::tant to have as many elenents of liis family, a"'L least, hi-s wif e, ii:vol-ved in tlie inierviel/ oir bricfiig sessions' Ge -t'biirg prospec-bive staff members to vis:-t the pro j e cb or ilrograrilrile area- and' to see cond.itions for themselvcs ancl as.oart of 'uheir bricfing, although j-t is tire ideal thing to c'lo, is too eostl-y -bo be serior"rsly contcnplated. ,=io"'vever, briefiirg sessions shou-Id emplo;r enougi: auclio-vi-sual aic's and' an assorbment of inclividr,ial-s uhose pers;onal familiarliv wi-bh thc project or irrograrmte area can prcsent their pcc'.rliar pcxspcctives to -bhe cancli ates. In a1l of bhis exposi'uion, no merrtion has heen nade of the fa-rmer for vrhoirr tire ULADE? was fa"shionc'cl-. |t'his ornission is cleliberate bccause l-re have ye'c to ge'c more involvdi;ith irim iir or-rr ir,:.pl-ementation of tire ?rograi:r'-:e" Sorrc phasu= of the ir,rplemen-Lation have alreac1-y been begun.,l-iowever, rvesl'ra1l requiie a bit more1ine ar.C incre:ised cxpost,-rc in -bhe fiel-d by the new stafi, the gra.dgally rcoricntec'I" old stc.ff of thc fo:r,rer llinistry of Agricul-br-rrc which has novu r.fI becn absorbcc'l- by the URADIP, and'uhc ad'clitional staff yet to be rccruitcd, br:fore I can ccrrec-bIy prescnt problems in'uhe field. Ihe monitoring and evalu.ation vring of -birc URADEP wi]I bc establ-ished wi'bhin tire pext courple of months and 'bhe relevant specialist eraployed to put thai; dcpartmetr-b in order. Of course, :reanwhile, \rve tlse ollf olvn methods O-f monitoring 'bc gtr-idc us. I do not wish to talce -boo nuch of your tinc in an endlcss exposi-bion of problems in get''ring a project sLr.ch a.s the UIiADE? off the grou"nd. fhcre is tirc other side, tlie vi::tucs of prosramne of this scope, i'npact and hopc, -bo wllich the srinmary presentcd earlier lurrdly does any jus'uice. llovieYer, the lessons lihich cln, rathcr very prelininarily be presentcrl a"tthis stage, a.s I have at-benpted to do so fer, lvilL changc as the ?rograllrre implementa- -bion unf ol-cls. Assibi o Abrr.clu (1") ilanager / Vl,i,SnP 2Jrc1 April, 1977