Upper Volta - Hauts - Bassins Agricultural Development Project

Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No. 9055 PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT BURKINA FASO HAUTS-BASSINS AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 1285-BUR) OCTOBER 15, 1990 Agriculture Operations Division Sahelian Department Africa Region This document has a restricted distuboton mnd may be used by redplents only In the perfonmauce of their officXl duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed wihot World Bak outbhaon.  CURREN French African Community Franc (CFAF) Per US$ Appraisal Year: 300 Intervening Years: 350 Completion Year: 300 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES Metric System ABBREVIATIONS CCCE Caisse Centrale de Cooperation Economique CNCA National Agricultural Credit Bank CRPA Regional Farming and Livestock Promotion Center FAC Fonds d'Aide et de Cooperation GV Village Group IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development IRAT Tropical Agriculture Research Institute ORD Regional Development Agency PAPEM Pre-Extension and Multi-site Experimentation Support Post SOFITEX Cotton Comopany FISCAL YEAR Government: January 1 - December 31  FOR OMCIAL USE ONLY THE WORLD BANK Washington, D.C. 20433 U.S.A. Ofcr. no Dweckw.C.EwaI Opq.tm lvaluatui October 15, 1990 MEMORANDUM TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS AND THE PRESIDENT SUBJECT: Project Completion Report on Burkina Faso Hauts-Bassins Agricultural Development Project (Credit 1285-BUR) Attached, for information, is a copy of a report entitled "Project Completion Report on Burkina Faso - Hauts-Bassins Agricultural Development Project (Credit 1285-BUR)" prepared by the Africa Regional Office. No audit of this project has been made by the Operations Evaluation Department at this time. Attachment I This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their otffcial duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization.  FOR OmCIAL USE ONLY PRO = COWLZsIc REPORT RUEUNAL PASO EBTS-BASSINS M3XlUL!U3*L DVIVLOIHEN? PROJIc? (CREDIT 1285-BUR) TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .............................................................. i BASIC DATA SHEET ...................--------........ ilt SUMMARY ....... v I - THE PROJECT ....... 1 1.1. Project Identification and reparation. 1 1.2. Description of the Project. 2 II - TECHNICAL EXECUTION OF THE PROECT. 3 2.1. Signing and Entry into Effect of Various Agreements . 3 2.2. Project Start-up. 3 2.3. Extension Component . . 4 2.4. Adaptive Research Component. 6 2.5. Agriculture-Livestock Integration Component. . 7 2.6. Village Groups and Functional Literacy Component. 9 2.7. Supply and Credit Component . . 10 2.8. Seed Production Component .. ............ 12 2.9. Project Management, Staff Training and Monitoring . 12 2.9.1. Monitoring ..................... 12 2.9.2. Staff Training .13 2.9.3. Administration .14 2.10. Regional Training Center Component .14 2.11. Training of Newly-Settled Pastoralists Component .15 2.12. Studies and Subprojects to be Approved Component ...... .. 15 2.13. Production ... 16 2.13.1. Size of Spontaneous Migrations ... 17 2.13.2. Cotton ... 18 2.13.3. Sorghum .... 22 2.13.4. Maize ... 24 2.13.5. Mlllet ... 25 2.13.6. Other Crops ... 26 2.14. Expansion of Production Systems ... . 27 III FINANCIAL EXECUTION OF THE PROJECT ............................... 31 3.1. Project Costs ... 31 3.2. Remarks ... 31 3.3. Procurement and Cofinancing ... 35 3.4. Sumary of Costs: Financing and Disbursements ... 35 IV - ECONOMIC ANALYSIS ... 37 4.1. Farm Budgets ... 37 4.2. Overall Analysis and Justification . .. 38 4.2.1. Benefits ... 38 4.2.2. Costs ... 38 4.2.3. Economic Rate of Return ... 39 This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization.  Table of Contents (Cout'd) Page No. V - BANK'S PE R F O RMUNCE ...................... 39 VI - RECOMNENDATIONS .40 VII- CONCLUSIONS ..42 APPENDIX 1: Monitoring and Evaluation Component 43 ANNEXES 45 Map: IBRD 15915  (i) PIOJECT COMPLETION PEPORT URIKINA PASO HAUTS-BASSINS AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMEFT PROJECT (CREDIT 1285-BUR) PREFACE This is the Project Completion Report (PCR) for the Hauts-Bassins Agricultural Development Project in Burkina Faso, for which Credit 1285-UV in the amount of US$ 4.7 million (SDR 4.2 million) was approved on July 27, 1982. The Credit was closed on June 30, 1988 on schedule. The Credit was not fully disbursed, and SDR 2.589 million (US$ 3.4 million) were cancelled as of January 12, 1990. The PCR was prepared principally by the Hauts-Bassins Project Staff, with the assistance of Mr. C6lestin Bado of the Bank's Resident Mission in Burkina Faso. The preparation of the preface, staff inputs and final formatting was done by Ms. JoAnne Nickerson of the Africa Regional Office. Preparation of this PCR was begun during the Bank's last supervision in June 1988, and is based, inter alia, on the Staff Appraisal Report; the aide-memoires of the supervision reports; correspondence between the Bank and the Borrower; and the Project's technical documentation.  (iii) BASIC DATA SHEET Key Project Data Actual or * Original Ela" Current Estimate Project Cost (US$m) 20.8 11.4 Credit Amount (US$m) 4.7 4.7 Disbursed - 1.9 Cancelled 3.4 Repaid Outstanding - 1.9 Cofinancing: IFAD 3.1 1.9 Beneficiaries 0.5 0.3 Commercial Banks 3.2 3.7 France 9.3 2.7 Government 0.0 0.9 Date for Completion Physical Components 6/30/87 6/30/88 Proportion Completed by Target Date (%) 100 60 Economic Rate of Return (%) 33 20 Institutional Performance - Moderate Cumulative Estimated and Actual Disbursements FY83 FY84 FY85 FY86 FY87 FY88 FY8 Appraisal Estimate (US$m) 0.2 1.1 2.3 3.4 4.7 - Actual (US$m) 0.0 0.5 0.8 0.9 1.1 1.6 1.9 Actual as % Estimate 0 45 35 26 23 34 40 Staff Inputs FY82 FY83 FY84 FY85 FY86 FY87 FY88 FY89 FY90 TOTAL Appraisal 14.0 14.0 Negotiations 3.1 0.9 4.0 Supervision 4.9 7.9 10.6 6.9 3.0 15.8 2.7 0.4 52.3 Completion 1.0 1.9 0.5 3.4 TOTAL 17.1 5.8 7.9 10.6 6.9 3.1 16.8 4.6 0.9 73.7  (iv) Other Proiect Data Item OriQ inal Elan Revisions Actual First Mention in Bank Files 10/79 - 10/79 Negotiations 9/81 1/82 4/82 Board Approval 3/82 - 7/82 Effectiveness 9/82 12/82 6/83 Closing Date 6/30/88 6/30/88 Borrower Republic of Burkina Faso Executing Agency Hauts Bassins Regional Development Authority FY of Borrower Calendar Year Follow-up Project Agricultural Support Services Project (Credit 1979 - Bur) Mission Data Item Month/ No. of No. of Staff Discipline Date of Year Weeks Persons Week Report Preparation _/ 7/81 Appraisal h/ 10/81 2 7 14 FA,EC,AGRO 6/28/82 Supervision _/1 1/83 1 2 2 AGRO 3/08/83 2 11/83 1 2 2 AGRO 3/06/84 3 6/84 1 2 2 AGRO 11/26/84 4 11/84 1 2 2 AGRO 3/06/85 5 6/85 1 2 2 AGRO 9/11/85 6 12/85 1 2 2 AGRO 1/22/86 7 5/86 1 2 2 AGRO 6/25/86 8 1/87 1 2 2 AGRO 2/20/87 9 6/87 2 2 4 SOCIOL,AGRO 7/25/87 10 4/88 1 2 2 AG-ECON 6/24/88 ./ Done by a consultant team financed by FAC/CCCE; detailed mission data not readily available. b/ Appraised in conjunction with the Volta Noire Agricultural Development Project (Credit 1284-UV); one-half of mission time allocated to each project. Four of the seven appraisal mission members were from cofinanciers FAC, CCCE and IFAD; their time is not included in the staff inputs table above. S/ All supervision missions were conducted jointly with CCCE (whose time is not included in the staff inputs table above). Additional, partial supervisions of the livestock component of the project were carried out in conjunction with supervisions of the concurrent Livestock Project; these partial supervisions did not generate separate full supervision reports for the Hauts Bassins project.  (v) PROJCT COhPLUOII UPORT BUDXIM PASO HAUTS-ASSINS ARXCCTURAL D OPHS PROJCT (CREDIT 1285-EUK) EVALUATION SUM4RY Project Obie1tives The Hauts-Bassins Agricultural Development Project supported the activities of the Hauts-Bassins ORD for a period of five cropping seasons as was originally planned, albeit with a year's delay. This project, which took over from two preceding projects executed in the region with the financial support of IDA, was to consolidate the benefits of the two preceding operations and reinforce the role of the previously established village associations. One-fourth of the region's farmers had already benefitted from the aid of the two first projects, and the possibility of extending extension activities to a larger number of farmers still existed. To accomplish this, the project was to help improve agricultural techniques of farmers whom the extension system had not reached; and to promote the integration of agriculture and livestock with a view to increase the use of manure which would thwart the reduction of soil fertility. Project Execution Project execution was somewhat disrupted by factors beyond its control such as: (i) the Government's phasing-out of the ORDs in May 1987, which put the executing agency in an uncertain legal situation, preventing it from assuring certain services (credit, supply of inputs, etc...), (ii) unduly frequent movements of senior project staff, (iii) the complexity of the financial set-up which further burdened the already long and complicated procurement procedures. Proiect Results At the end of project execution, the number of farmers reached by extension had risen from 10,500 at appraisal to 38,000. Conforming to project expectations, the number of village associations did not increase very much during the life of the project. The accent was placed rather on making existing village associations - already established through a literacy program to support management - more dynamic with new leadership structures, and the creation of specialized committees (training, credit, marketing, environmental protection, etc...) which fostered the development of self- managed markets which presently handle a large portion of seed cotton (75% of marketing for the 1987-88 cropping season). The most spectacular reTsults lay in the increases in the production of cereals as well as cotton, which surpassed appraisal estimates by 15% and 110% respectively. Economic prices were lower than had been foreseen at appraisal, however, so that the ex-nost economic rate of return of 20% is lower than the 33% return estimated at appraisal. Sustainability of Project Results In spite of very good project results in terms of incremental production, one major concern is the possible degradation of natural resources due to the extensification of cultivation practices and the lack  (vi) of integration of agriculture and livestock, and, therefore, of the insufficient organic matter in the soil. Lessons and Conclusions In terms of agricultural output as expressed in the economic rate of return, this project was clearly successful. It was implemented by a government line agency that was subject to all the normal problems of such agencies. Despite these problems, the project was well executed and higher- than-expected results were obtained. Further improvements can nonetheless be obtained, and one set of lessons bears on institution-building. First, the management of human resources should be strengthened, in particular senior staff turnover should be limited. Second, if technical assistance is needed, it should be targeted to specific needs, and the terms of reference clearly defined to ensure national staff training and the implementation of viable procedures. Third, the rel c'on between the CRPA and other national institutions, such as the Livestock Department, has to be clarified so that effective collaboration can be achieved in the field. The second set of lessons bears on the adequacy and sustainability of the technical approaches. In the process of strengthening the linkage between agricultural research and extension, programs should be designed to resolve producers' constraints on their production systems. Furthermore, priority should be given to maintain and improve the management of natural resources to halt the degradation caused by extensification and unsustainable crop and livestock husbandry practices. Part of the solution will be to find ways of improving the management of individual assets, but it will also have to include the more difficult task of improving the management of common assets.  PUJ CQOMMU OS2 313RU3 PASO uAwaS-'.Aaszs ASCUQ=DTO PROJECT (0a3WT 1285-sea) I. THE POXEWI I1/ 1.1. Project Identification and Prenaration 1.1.1. The project was identifled by IDA in 1979 following a Government request that a follow up project 'e envisaged to cover part of the larger area included in the West-Volta projects: the West-Volta Cotton Project, carried out from 1971-1972 to 1976- 1977; - the West-Volta Agricultural Development Project, carried out from 1977- 1978 to 1982-1983; - the West-Volta Livestock Project, carried out from 1975 to 1983. The follow-up project was prepared on behalf of the Government in 1980 by cons;;ltaiLcs whose se.-vices were funded by the FAC and the CCCE and who presented their report in July 1981. A joint IDA/CCCE/FAC mission was sent to appraise the report in May 1981, and the appraisal was undertaken in October 1981. 2/ 1.1.2. This project, covering a period of five years, was to build upon the success of the preceding projects in expanding production and giving greater responsibility to the village groups. The technical package in use upon completien of the West Volta project, which focused on manual cult!vation and input use, was at the time successfully adopted by some 10,500 farmers (of the 40,000 farmers in the region) and presented further possibilities to increase production, while attracting the remaining traditional farmers, who had become more receptive, while also continuing to improve the techniques of those farmers already reached. The main objectives of the project were: (a) to encourage improved manual cultural techniques amongst traditional farmers; (b) to promote the integration of livestock and agriculture, with the aim of fostering the use of organic fertilizer to counter decreasing soil fertility and the use of animal traction to remove labor bottlenecks for weeding and transport of output and inputs; (c) to promote as far as possible and closely monitor any measures which may lead to substitution of present chemical fertilizers in favor of less costly methods (including the use of organic fertilizers, rock phosphates, crop rotation) and research aimed at finding cheaper valid fertilizer formulations; (d) to encourage the use of inputs, particularly improved seeds, in order to allow further production increases by more advanced farmers; and (e) to foster further village groups on the lines of those already created and to test a small literacy program for some of these groups. 1.1.3. In defining project content particular attention was given to the need, in view of the Government's difficult financial position, to design agricultural development projects capable of recovering their ongoing costs, in order to ease the demands on Government budgetary support at the end of I/ Adapted from World Bank Staff Appraisal Report No. 3811-UV of 6/28/82. 2/ The mission was comprised of Mr. Notley and Mr. Serejski (IDA); Mr. Delacroix and Mr. Teysseyre (CCCE); Mr. Laurent (FAC); Ms. Johnson (IFAD); and Mr. Floirat (consultant).  - 2 - the project implementation period. We note that the separation of the input distribution system from extension activities, as well as the establishment of a cost recovery margin on inputs, are gmong the important innovations introduced by this project. Also important have been the increased involvement of farmers or farmers' groups in the distribution system at village level. 1.2. Descri2tIOn gfthe Eroject aunarv Descrition The project comprises the following elements: Farming and Livestock Extension (i) full extension services to 22,000 new farmers and continuing, on a reduced basis, extension services for the 18,000 farmers already reached in order to further increase fooderop and cotton production; (ii) a program of adaptivc research; (iii) integratio, of livestock messages into the general extension messages; Village Group Develogment (iv) an increase in the number of village groups from 106 to 300, in order to continue developing farmers' responsibility for their own affairs; SuLr2lies and Credit (v) continuation of input supply and credit services, with village level administration being undertaken by village groups; (vi) production of improved seeds for sorghum, maize, groundnuts and rice at a seed farm to be established and through contract farmers; Lroiect Management. Staff Training and Monitoring (vii) providing vehicles and a house for the management unit; technical assistance; training for Voltaic Staff; ar-d establishing a monitoring capability; Regional Training and Support (viii) continuing the regional training center at Bobo-Dioulasso, particularly in its training role for project staff;  - 3 - Extension for Newly-Settled Pastoralists (ix) continuing for three years the extension activities for newly- settled pastoralists in the Samorogouan area; Studies and Elements to be Approved (x) undertaking studies and establishing a mechanism for appraising and implementing small subprojects to be identified and approved during the course of project execution. II. TECHNICAL EXECUTION OF THE PROJECT 2.1. Signing and Entry into Effect of Various Agreements The IDA credit agreement (1285-Bur) was signed on August 26, 1982, providing for retroactive financing of expenses after June 30, 1982. It should be noted that the difficulty of pre-financing of expenses by the Government of Burkina Faso was not really settled, since the initial deposit that was supposed to solve the problem was not received until July 1983, because of the delayed entry into effect of the credit. The IFAD credit agreement (no. 102 BUR) was signed on February 2, 1983. The agreement for the opening of credit no. 58 24 00 82 080 with the CCCE was signed on March 16, 1983. This agreement grants CFAF 424,700,000 for expenditures for the first three years of the CRPA of Hauts-Bassins. Since this amount was still not fully used as of the end of 1988, no supplementary financing has been granted, despite the cost overruns for certain entries, which the CCCE refused to finance using the balances remaining under other entries. FAC financing was obtained in the form of agreement 314/C/DPL/82/VOL of December 6, 1982, followed by agreement 239/C/DPL/84/VOL of August 4, 1985. (This financing was in the amount of CFAF 200 million and CFAF 100 million, respectively, but each agreement provided funds for actions to be carried out by the CRPA of both Hauts-Bassins and Boucle du Mouhoun. i/ 2.2. Proiect Start-Up Modeled on the existing organization of the CRPA, the project's organization was immediately able to make use of the staff that was already in place and who were in all ways highly important. The project organization also benefitted from the existing infrastructure and available facilities. The fact that the Director of the CRPA was at the same time the Project Director doubtlessly facilitated start-up of the project, particularly because the technical assistants provided under the agreements were very quickly assigned to their positions. 2/ Formerly Volta Noire  - 4 - This technical assistance mechanism remained relatively stable over the period of the project, and as a result it was able to fully perform the function assigned to it. 2.3. Extension Component Having been introduced under the PDA-OV, the 'Training and Visit" extension system was modified several times during the PDA-HB. During the 1982-1983 growing season, each extension agent provided instruction, within his cultivation zone, to 144 farmArs organized into 18 groups, each comprising 8 farmers (1 contact farmer and 7 student farmers). The agent's schedule was based on a fortnightly rotation. Of the ten working days each fortnight, eight were devoted to extension activities, one to the agent's own training, and one to other activities. At the end of this season, it was found that the fortnightly rotation was too short and it was changed to three weeks. The system operated in this manner over the course of the three following seasons up to 1985-1986 (see tables 1 and 2, Annex 2). The 1986-1987 growing season was marked by introduction of the Agricultural Extension Reinforcement Pilot Operation. The goal of this operation was to improve agricultural extension services through: - improving or reorganizing the training network; - establishing a multi-disciplinary team of specialized technicians within the training organizations; - reinforcing and formalizing contacts with agronomic research; - intensifying staff training; and - improving contacts between extension agents and farmers. Reorganization of the training network has consisted of dividing up the agricultural sectors into Departmental Agricultural Offices, which in turn are divided into Agricultural Training Units (see table 3, Annex 2). The latter agent's schedule covers the entire year (dry season and rainy season) and is divided into fortnightly group activities and the activities of monitoring and visiting individual farms. The fortnight comprises eight days in the field, one day of training, and one day of office work. Each agent works with eight groups of 50 to 60 farmers. Each group sets up a training field of 0.75 hectares, with three crops (vegetables, cereals, cotton). The demonstrations of methods and results are carried out using the training field during the fortnightly activities (see table 4, Annex 2), followed by micro-plots at the individual farms. All the simple technical messages (seeding in lines, tillage, etc., see table 7, Annex 2) are now familiar to the majority of farmers because they have been included in the package of extension messages for many years. Some messages, nonetheless, have a low acceptance rate (see table 7, Annex 2),  - 5 - either due to a lack of material means to apply them, or due to lack of interest in them. The ATGs on the training fields are still not followed up by the farmers themselves. This lack of continuity in the participants' attendance poses the question of the value of the messages being disseminated. Increasing awareness and dialogue should allow the real problems actually experienced on the farms to be brought out and understanding of the reasons behind this or that farming practice. It remains clear that extension activities will attain optimal efficiency only by addressing the real concerns of the farmer. The micro-lots as they are currently designed are not intirely satisfactory. Rather than using these parcels to teach a message or part of a message, it would be preferable to apply on them the entire package of technical messages concerning a given crop: each message should be considered as part of a whole. This would justify a greater number of micro-lots. Even if demonstration days perhaps do not sufficiently reflect the farming operation in its entirety -- whereas the training organization intervenes in all the farm's areas of activity -- the demonstration days organized at the farms remain an important agricultural extension tool (see table 6, Annex 2). By the end of the project, 76 percent of the farms had been reached by the extension system. As expected, the number of trainers has been progressively reduced from 125 to 100 (and even to just 96 today). IDA had given its approval for 15 village group organizers to be included in the project instead of five, on the condition that the number of trainers be reduced. With regard to the subsector chiefs, far from being reduced from 25 to 10, their number grew first to 26 (which is the number of administrative departments of the two provinces of the CRPA) and finally to 30, four of these departments being divided into two SDAs each. The rate of acceptance of a message (see table 7, Annex 2) is defined as (AD + ND) divided E x 100 where AD is the total number of former users of the practice; ND " n n new users of the practice; and E n" n n " farms. The messages that suffer the highest rates of loss of interest are those which the farmers do not have the means of putting into practice or do not perceive a real need for (end-of-season plowing, improved seeds, crop rotation, crop patterns, construction of manure sheds, construction of wintering manure pens, care, nutrition and maintenance of draft oxen, etc.). Participation of farmstead heads is decreasing. They are being replaced by workers who have no decision-making power on the farm.  - 6 - To address this situation, an extension system needs to be organized that would allow instruction to differ depending on the expertise of the attendees and the needs actually perceived by farmers. 2.4. Adaptive Research Component This component effectively got under way during the 1984-1985 growing season. The activities involve adaptive research carried out either at the PAPEM or on the farm. The PAPEM, which was created in 1983, was established in Kourouma (N'Dorola sector) and covers an area of 30 hectares. Soil analysis showed that PAPEM soils were very poor in organic matter, total nitrogen and total phosphorus, and the pH varies from 5.8 to 6.1. These soils are very heavy in the first 30 centimeters and have a sandy-silty texture, which becomes silty-clayey at deeper levels. The staff working at the PAPEM comprises the officer in charge of the Adaptive Research component, the PAPEM officer, and six temporary workers, including a guard-herdsman in addition to a laborer who is hired whenever needed. Research partners, of course, participated in setting out the procedures and in setting up certain tests.