India - Agricultural Extension, Development and Research Projects

Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No. 6281 PROJECT PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT INDIA ORISSA AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 682-IN) MADHYA PRADESH AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RESEARCH PROJECT (CREDIT 712-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 728-IN) COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT (CREDIT 862-IN) June 25, 1986 Operations Evaluatiot. Department 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. FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY THE WORL SANK Washington, D.C. 20433 U.SA. Office of Drector-Geeral Opeatmns Evaluation June 25, 1986 MEMORANDUM TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS AND THE PRESIDENT SUBJECT: Project Performance Audit Report: INDIt - Orissa Agricultural Development Project (Credit 682-IN) - Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Extension and Research Project (Credit 712-IN) - Assam Agricultural Development Project (Credit 728-IN) - Composite Agricultural Extension Project (Credit 862-IN) Attached for information is a copy of a report entitled "?roject Performance Audit Report - INDIA Orissa Agricultural Development Project (Credit 682-IN), Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Extension and Research Project (Credit 712-IN), Assam Agricultural Development Project (Credit 728-IN), Composite Agricultural Extension Project (Credit 862-IN)" prepared by the Operations Evaluation Department. -tachimen t This document has a restrcted 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. FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY ABBREVIATIONS AADP - Assam Agricultural Development Project AAU - Assam Agricultural University ADA - Additional Director of Agriculture ADAO - Assistant District Agricultural Officer AEO - Agricultural Extension Officer AO - Agricultural Officer APC - Agricultural Production Commissioner ARDC - Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation ASDAO - Assistant Subdivisional Agricultural Officer ASMIDC - Assam Minor Irrigation Development Corporation CAEP - Consolidated Agricultural Extension Project CAO - Chief Agricultural Officer DA - Director of Agriculture DAO - District Agricultural Officer DCD - Department of Community Development DLTC - District Level Technical Committee DOA - Department of Agriculture DOE - Directorate of Extension, GOI DTW - Deep Tubewell EEI - Extension Education Institute FTS - Field Trial Stations GAU - Gujurat Agricultural University GDP - Gross Domestic Product GOA - Government of Assam GOG - Government of Gujarat GOH - Government of Haryana GOI - Government of India GOK - Government of Karnakata HAU - Haryana Agricultural University HYV - High Yield Variety ICAR - Indian Council for Agricultural Research ID - Irrigation Department IDA - International Development Association ICRISAT - International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics IRDP - Integrated Rural Development Program LLP - Low Lift Pump JDA - Joint Director of Agriculture M&E - Monitoring and Evaluation NAEP - National Agricultural Extension Project NARP - National Agricultural Research Project NDO - New Delhi Office OED - Operations Evaluation Department PCR - Project Completion Report PD - Panchayat Department PPAR - Project Performance Audit Report PWD - Public Works Department This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their oicial duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization. ABBREVIATIONS (Cont'd) RARS - Regional Agricultural Research Station SAU - State Agricultural University SDAO - Subdivisional Agricultural Officer SLTC - State Level Technical Committee SMS - Subject Matter Specialist STW - Shallow Tubewell T&V - Training and Visit System of Extension TO - Technical Officer UAS - University of Agricultural Sciences, Karnataka USAID - United States Agency for International Development VEW - Village Extension Worker VLW - Village Level Worker WB - World Bank ZRAC - Zonal Research Advisory Committee WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 1 hectare (ha) = 2.47 acres 1 kilometer (k) = 0.62 miles 1 square kilometer (km2) = 0.39 square miles 1 kilogram M 2.2 pounds 1 metric ton = 2,205 pounds 1 liter = 1,057 US quarts PROJECT PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT INDIA ORISSA AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 682-IN) MADHYA PRADESH AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RESEARCH PROJECT (CREDIT 712-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 728-IN) COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT (CREDIT 862-IN) TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. Preface .......................................................... i Basic Data Sheet (Credit 682-IN) ................................... 11 Basic Data Sheet (Credit 712-IN) .................................. iv Basic Data Sheet (Credit 728-IN) .................. v Basic Data Sheet (Credit 862-IN) ................................... vi Evaluation Summary ............................................. vii PROJECT PERFORMANCE AUDIT MEMORANDUM I* SUMMARY . ............... .................... 1 Background ............................................... I The Projects ........................................... 3 Projects' Implementation ............................. 6 Projects' Impact ..................... ................ 10 II. MAIN ISSUES ........................... 13 A. Maximizing Benefits of Extension Services ............ 13 B. Refining the System ................................. 16 C. Sustainability .................................. 18 ANNEX 1: Yields and Uptake of Technology in Haryana State ......... 23 Appendices I: Letter from Ministry of Finance, Government of India.. 29 II: Telex from Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India ................................. 30 PROJECT COMPLETION REPORTS A. Orissa Agricultural Development Project (Credit 682-IN) I. Background ........................................... 32 II. Project Formulation .................................. 34 III. Project Implementation ............................... 51 IV. Impact Assessment ................................. 66 V. Bank Performance ..................................... 73 Schedules .......................................................... 77 End Tables ......................................................... 83 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd) Page No. B. Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Extension and Research Project (Credit 712-IN) I. Bpckground ...................... 96 II. Project Formulation .................................. 98 III. Project Implementation ............................... 110 IV. Impact Assessment ......o............................ 122 V. Bank Performance ..................................... 127 Schedules .......................................................... 131 End Tables ......................................................... 133 C. Assam Agricultural Development Project (Credit 728-IN) I. Introduction ..................................... 147 II. The Agriculturdl Sector .............................. 148 III. Project Formulation .................................. 150 IV. Implementation and Operating Performance ............. 154 V. Project Costs and Financing .......................... 165 VI. Assessment of Impact ................................. 168 VII. Bank Performance ..................................... 171 VIII. Conclusions ......................................... 172 Appendix ..................................................*....... 175 Tables ...... . ................................... .........oo.. 177 D. Composite Agricultural Extension Project (Credit 862-IN) I. Introduction ........................................ 217 II. The Agricultural Sector .............................. 218 III. Project Formulation .................................. 224 IV. Implementation and Operating Performance ............. 228 V. Financial Performance ................................ 235 VI. Institutional Performance and Development ............ 237 VII. Assessment of Impact ................................. 243 VIII. Bank Performance ..................................... 247 IX. Conclusions .......................................... 248 Tables ............................................................. 251 Maps IBRD 19637 PROJECT PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT INDIA ORISSA AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 682-IN) MADHYA PRADESH AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RESEARCH PROJECT (CREDIT 712-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PRr;ECT (CREDIT 728-IN) COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT (CREDIT 862-IN) PREFACE This is a performance audit of four agricultural extension projects in India: Orissa Agricultural Development Project, for which Credit 682-IN was approved on February 22, 1977 in the sum of US$ 20 million and closed on June 30, 1984, final disbursement taking place on January 25, 1985; Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Extension and Research Project for which Credit 712-IN was approved on May 12, 1977 in the sum of US$ 10 million and closed on September 30, 1983 with final disbursement taking place on May 18, 1984; Assam Agricultural Development Project for which Credit 728-IN was approved on December 12, 1978 in the sum of US$ 8 million and closed fully disbursed on March 31, 1985; and Composite Agricultural Extension Project for which Credit 862-IN was approved on December 12, 1978 in the sum of US$ 25 million and closed fully disbursed on June 30, 1985. The four projects covering six states in India have been covered in a single audit because they provide the first opportunity to evaluate, on a larger scale, the performance of the training and visit system. Following the positive experience with this approach in a Turkish irrigation project and successfully introduced in three Indian irrigation projects, several projects focussing on improved research and extension activities were approved in rapid succession for various Indian states. These four projects are the first generation of such projects aimed at reorganizing research and extension services statewide. The audit report consists of an audit memorandum prepared by the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) and four completion reports (PCRs), all of which have been prepared by the South Asia Regional Office. The PPAM is based on a review of the four appraisal reports, the respective President's reports as well as the relevant credit agreements. Review of Bank files for all projects have been undertaken and staff associated with the four projects in headquarters and in the New Delhi Office have been interviewed. An OED mission visited India in December 1985. The mission visited five of the six states - a field visit to Assam could not be undertaken due to statewide elections convened on December 16, 1985. The mission held discussions with officials of the Government of India and the state governments of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka. Field trips to visit the respective project's areas and to interview participating farmers were undertaken and the information obtained during the mission was used to test the validity of the conclusion of the PCRs. - ii - The PPAM considers that the PCR9 cover adequately the projects' salient features and concurs with the PCRs' conclusions that the impact of the training and visit system has been positive. In addition to summarizing the objectives and results of the projects, the PPAM expands upon ways in which the benefits of the extension services can be maximized, the manner in which the training and visit system can be refined, and sustainability of future operations. A copy of the draft report was sent to the Borrower on March 7, 1986 for comments. Comments received from Government of India have been incorporated into the report and are reproduced in Appendices I-II. The valuable assistance provided by the Government of India and the state governments of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka is gratefully acknowledged. - tit - PROJECT PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT INDIA nRISSA AGRICULTURAL DEVELOP4ENT PROJECT (CREDIT 682-IN) BASIC DATA SHEET KEY PROJECT DATA Appraisal Actual or Actual a s of Estimate Eatimated Actual Appraisal Estimate Total Pr^ject Cost (USS million) 40.0 15.1 71.0 Credit Amount (USS million) 20.0 I8.7 43.5 Amount Cancelled (USS million) 1.3 Date of Roard Approval '12/22/77 (12/22/77 100.0 Date of Etfectiveness 06/28/77 06/28/77 100.0 Closing Date 12/91/83 06/30/84 Institutional Performance Capacity of extension and research institutions strengthened considerably during project period Number of Beneficiciartes Directlv & indtrectly 3.4 million fare families plus 400,000 people through additional on-farm employment STAFF INPUT FY76 FY77 FY78 FY79 FYAn FYRI FY82 FY83 FY84 FY85 Negotiations - 3.7 - - - - - - - - Identification/ Preparation 56.8 12.1 - - - - - - - - Appraisal 1.5 52.0 - - - - - - - - Supervision - .7 3.9 14.6 9.6 9.4 6.4 13.2 12.2 2.7 TOTAL 95.3 68.7 3.9 14.6 9.6 9.4 .4 13.2 12.2 2.7 CIULATIVE DISBURSEMENTS PY78 PY79 FY80 FY81 FY92 FY83 FY84 Appraisal .sttmate (tOSS million) 1.2 6.7 11.3 15.4 18.6 - - Actual (USS million) - 2.6 6.8 13.0 15.2 36.4 18.7 Actual as X of Estimate - '14 hot 84 821 R21 93.5t Date of Final Disbursement 01/21/85 MISSION DATA Date No. of Specialitations Performance Tvpes of Mission (No./Yr.) Persons Represented/a Ratig/b Trend/ _roblems/d Identification Preparation 11/75 4 a,c,h - - - 02/76 5(FAO/CP) a,c,h - - Appraisal 05/76 10 a,h,e,d,e,f,h - - - Supervision 1 08/77 I d - - * Supervision I 10/77 1 e - - - SAperviaton III 10/77 2 h - - - Supervision IV 01/78 1 h - - - Supervision V 06/79 I h 2 2 P Supervision VI 08/78 I d - - - Supervision VII 09/78 2 e - - - Supervision VTTI 12/78 1 b 2 1 M Supervision IX 10/79 5 b,d.e.h I 1 4 Supervision X 10/80 1 a 2 2 1 Supervision XI 07/83 2 h,h 1 2 N Supervision XTI 02/82 2 b,h 2 2 M Supervision XIII 07/82 4 d,e 2 1 4 Supervision XIV 03/83 2 d I I M Completion OTHER PROJECT DATA fiscal Year April I - 'arch 31 Borrower Government of India Name of Currency (abbreviation) Indian Rupees (Rs.) Executing Agency Government of Orissa Currency Exchange Rate: Appraisal Year Average 1977 USS 1.00 - Rs. 9.00 follow-on Project: Intervening Years Average 1977-82 USS 1.00 - Re. 8.63 - Name National Agricultural Completion Year Average 1984 USS 1.00 * Rs.10.17 Extension Project I (Ro.) - Credit Number 1523-IN Amount (USSm) 39.1 Approval Date 10/02/84 /a a - agriculturalist; b * agricultural specialist; c - economist; d - exte.aslon specialist; e - research specialist; f - trataint specialist; g * monitoring/evaluation specialist; b * other lb I - Problem Free or 4inor Problems; 2 * Moderate Problems; 3 - Major Problems. 7c I * Improving; 2 * Stationary; 3 - Deteriorating. 77 F - Financial; 4 * Managerial; T * Technical; P * Political; 0 - Other. - it - PROJECT PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT INDIA MADHYA PRADESH AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RES.ARCH PROJECT (CREDIT 712-IN) BASIC DATA SHEET KEY PROJECT DATA Appraisal Actual or Actual so I of Estimate Estimated Actual Appraisal Estimate Total Project Cost (US$ million) 20.# 18.4 89.0 Credit Amount (INS at iI ton) 10.0 9.? 97.11 hoeunt c4ncelled (US million) 0.3 Date of .s,ard Approval 03/12/17 Ili/12/77 100.0 Date of Etfeetiveness 0831/77 09/02/77 - Closing Date 09/30/83 39/30/83 Institutional Performane. Institutional capacity of extension and reqearoh strengthened considerably during project Nub#r of lenetfeltari Directly 6 indirectly about 2 miltin farming families STAW INPUT FY71 FY78 FY79 FY80 FY81 FY82 FY83 FY84 FY85 Negotiations 6.4 - - - - Identification/Preparation - Appraisal 2.1 - - - - Supervision 7.1t 12.8 18.3 .4 13,9 7.8 6.8 5.4 2.6 ToTAL 15.7 12.8 18.3 5.4 13.9 7.8 6.8 8.4 2.6 CUMULATIVE DISBURSEMENTS FY78 FY79 FY80 FY81 FY82 FY83 Appraisal Estimate (Us$ million) 0.6 3.3 b.7 8.1 10.0 10.0 Actual (USS million) - 0.3 2.3 4.7 6.4 9.7 Actual .4 It of Estimate - 9% 14t 54% 646 97t Date of final Wtsbur%ement 03/11/84 MISSION DATA Date No. of Speciaizations Performance Types of mission (to./Yr.) Persons Represented/a Rating/h Tred/e Probleae/d Identifteation Prepareton 01/76 1 - * Apt,. 4sal 19/76 6 a,b,c,d,e - - Supervision 1 05/77 1 a,h,i 1 Supervision It Ob/18 2 b,d I 2 - Superviton (11 09/78 3 d'h 2 2 M Ssperviston IV 04/79 1 h - - - Supervision V 06/79 3 A,6d 2 3 M Supervision VI 01/80 4 b.d,,e 2 2 T Supirvision VIL 10/8o 2 h,d 2 2 T Supervioan VIII 44/81 2 h,d 2 1 - Superviston IX 09/81 3 h,4,c - Supervision X 03/82 3 h,d,h I 2 - Supervision Xl 01/83 4 d,e.g I I - Supervision XI1 04/83 1 f - - Completion OTHER PROJECT DATA Borrower Government of India Exectting Agency Government of Madhyq Pradesht Follow-on Project: - Name Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Extenion - Credit Number 138-IN - Amount (USS millton) 37.0 - Approval D3te 04/23/81 Fiscal Year April I March 31 '4ame of Currency (abbreviation) Indian Rupees (Ra.) Currency Exchange Rate: Appraisal Year Average 1977 USS 1.00 - Ra. 9.00 Intervening Years Average 1977-1983 US$ 1.00 - Re. 8.63 Completion Year Average 1984 US$ 1.00 * R.10.17 a a* agriculturalist; b - agrictt,sral economist; c * economist; 4 * extension spect. ist; e * research specialist; f * training specialist; g * monitoring/evaluation spectalt4t; h *other /b I Problem Free or Minor Problem; 2 * Moderate Problems; 3 - Major Problems. I * Improving; 2 * Stationary; 3 * Deteriorating, F Financial; X * Managerial; T * Technical; P - Political; 0 - Other. *v*- PROJECT PKRFONANCK A19)t? REPO1T INDIA ASSAM AGiRCt'I.TPRAL DEVRLOP11MT PROUICT REDIT728-IN) R C ATA S11RT KEY PROJECT DATA Appraital Actual or Actual as I of Estimate atimated Actual k Aea st Estimate Tot%l Project Cost (S$ Million) th.4 ll.h Crodit Amount (114S miIton) X'n F.,) 9ate of tNO Approval 1/ oh/31/77 late of Ytfectivenesas 14/31/77 n9/10/77 (lin4ing Date 113/1181 (13/1181 Institutional Porforsiance Capacity of extension & reavareh institutins strenikthened Con30111fr4h1V dUrinli proifet pOt1d. Nomher of DonefloWiit shout I million farm families STAFF INPITT FY77 FY7R Y7/ /An 7T ?Y%I PRI rr14 "AS 4egottation4 . ndentif/t/ton' Preparationf9xnso e tr h Appraisal 1d.4urin r Supervision e.n 7. 2S. .1 1.a 1i.1 t11.1 .7 TOTAL 1iv78 59 81 08 1.7 I7 1.*l' . CU#MULATIVE DISRUIRSHM4ENTq FY71 FY79 FY8O FY81 PYR2 FY83 FYR4 FY8S Appraisal EstiMato (19 Million) A.1 1.4 4. 7 0 A.* kctual (11511 mtiton) 0.2 nft 1, .( .4 2.9 4.o 6.1 8,n Actual As % of F.tit"te 67t 32. 221 34% 16% 511t 7ht I Oll %t.te of Final finhursement illlit/$% MISSION DATA lAt* Njo. of 80pe8iAl ations Performane Typs of %ission (M4o./Yr.) Persona Eepresentd/& Rat inst/h Tr_end/c Probl@ms/d Identification Preparation Appraisal Supervision n1/77 2 die I . %upervision 11 n7/AiK 2 C'd I I 14 Supervision Ill 7.1/79 2 cA 1 I I F Supervision IV PY/74 4 d,Y.h 7 2 T Supervision V S/Al c,d,e 1 2 PT Supervision VI H/l /. d ?.h 2 1 HT Supervision VI t 45/72 2 d I MT Supervision ViII t 0182 2 dh 2 7. Supervision IX 09/83 3 ci 2 1 0 Supervision o 02/o4 I aid 2 1 0 Supervision X1 09/A7 2 a,e 2 1 Supervision XI 1/81 5 a,hi, 2 1 T Completion OTHER PitOJnCT DATA Mtrrot-or G.overnment of India Execu.ing Wiey Government of Assam poleit-on Project - Ne National Aricultural Ftension Project Ill - Credit sn er Appraised Only Fiscal Year April I - 'larch 31 Name of Currency (abbreviation) Indian Rupees (R2.) Currency 9xchenge Rate: Appraisal Year Average 1917 US$ 1.00 - Its. 9,00 Intervening Years Average 1477-14A3 UllS 1.00 - Its. 8.611 Completion Year Average 1984 USS 100 - *a a - agriculturalist; h - agricultural economist; c P economist; d * extension specialist e - research specialist; f - tra5inIng specialist; g monitoring/evaluation specialist; h C other ( Arrigption/hydroloyv) lb I - Problem Free or Minor Proble; 2 - Moderate Problems; I Major Problem. I a mproving% 2 Stationary; 3 - Uleter1orsti0tit. F F * Financial; 4 a Manaierial T * Technical: P * Political; A - Other. - vt - PROJECT PERFORMANC AUDIT REPORT INDIA COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT C8'OIT 862-IN) BASIC DATA SHEET KEY PKQJECT DATA Appraisal Actual or Actual as X of Estimate Estimated Actual Appraisal Estimate Total Project Cost (US$ million) 53.4 77.5 105.6 Credit Amount (US$ million) 25.0 25.0 10 . o Date of Board Approval 12/12/78 12/12/78 100.0 Date of Effectiveness 04/01/79 12/14/79 Closing Date 12/31/84 06/30/85 ln4titutional Performance: Capacity of exten.tioc 6 research institutions strengthened considerably during the project period. Number of Benefictaries; Directly and indirectly, about 7.0 a farm families. STAFF INPUT FY78 FY79 FY80 FY81 FY82 FY83 FY84 FY85 Negotiations - 18.4 - - - * * Identification/Preparation 11.4 2.6 - - - - - Appraisal 27.8 33.3 - - * * Supervision - $2.3 35.1 64.3 55.9 70.9 59.8 79.5 ToTAL 39.2 106.6 35.1 64.3 55.9 70.9 59.8 79.5 CUMULATIVE DISBURSEMENTS FY79 FY80 FY81 FY82 PY83 FY84 FY85 Appraisal Estimate (US$ aillion) 0.5 4.5 9.0 14.5 19.5 24.0 25.0 Actual (US$ aillion) - 3.4 8.4 12.4 16.1 21.1 25.0 Actual as X of Estimate - 76% 94% 86Z 832 88% 100% Date of Final Disbursement 05/28/85 MISS1UN DATA Date No. of Specializations Performance Types of Mission (Mo./Yr.) Persons Represented Rating a Trend Lb Problems /c Identification Preparation Appraisal Supervision 1 05/79 3 Breakdown not 2 1 TMF Supervision 11 12/79 2 provided in PCR 2 1 MT Supervision III 08/80 2 but of total 27 2 1 TM Supervision IV 10/80 2 persons, 5 are - * Supervision V 04/81 2 agronomists, 4 2 1 14T Supervision VI 12/81 3 economists, and 2 1 MT Supervision VII 03/82 2 16 extension 2 2/3 XT Supervision VI1 12/82 2 specialists 2 2 HT Supervision IX 06/83 2 2 1 MT Supervision X 12/83 2 2 1 To Supervision X1 05/84 5 1 1 T Completion OTHER PROJECT DATA Borrower Government of India Executing Agencies Govercments of Gujarat, Haryana 6 Karnataka Follow-on Project; - Name National Agricultural Extension Project II - Credit Number 1569-IN - Amount (US$ million) 49.0 - ..proval Date 03/26/85 Fiscal Year April 1 - March 31 Name of Currency (abbreviation) Indian Rupees (Rs.) Currency Exchange Rate: Appraisal Year Average 1977 US$ 1.00 * Re. 9.00 Intervening Years Average 1977-1983 US$ 1.00 - Ra. 8.63 Completion Year Average 1984 US$ 1.00 - R.10.17 I * Problem Free or Minor Problems; 2 - Moderate Problems; 3 - Major Problems. ts I Inproving; 2 - Stationary; 3 * Deteriorating. lc P * financial; 8 * Managerial; T - Technical; P * Political; 0 * Other. - vii - PROJECT PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT INDIA ORISSA AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 682-IN) MADHYA PRADESH AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RESEARCH PROJECT (CREDIT 712-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 728-IN) COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT (CREDIT 862-IN) EVALUATION SUMMARY Introduction Following the successful introduction of the training and visit extension methodology in India in three Bank-assisted irrigation projects I the Government of India (GOI) embarked upon a series of projects in the mid seventies with the objective of reorganizing the extension services in all states of India. Extension was seen as requiring considerable strengthening given government policy which recognized that while there was considerable scope for increasing production in irrigated zeas, a thrust was needed to increase productivity in the rainfed areas, where cultivation of oilseeds, pulses, and coarse grains predominates. This was supported by the Bank which considered that the green revolution would continue to spread in irrigated areas where risks are lower and benefits are easily attainable. However, strengthened extension and research support would be essential to increase productivity under rainfed conditions. Objectives The principal goal of these four projects covering six states was to provide a sound foundation for the long-term development of extension services based upon the training & visit methodology. This would be accomplished by amalgamating existing crop/area specific programs and creating a unified service with a single line of control emanating from the Director of Agriculture at the state level directly to the field. Extension staff would receive regular training by technical staff who in turn would receive training on the messages of improved recommendations developed at the regional research stations. Extension staff would also close the link by feeding back problems encountered at the farm level in applying these improved practices. The projects would provide the necessary supporting infrastructure to facilitate regular farm visits. Monitoring and evaluation would be introduced to assist in measuring the impact of the reorganized services on improving agricultural productivity. I/ The Rajasthan Canal Command Area Development Project (Credit 502-IN), the Chambal (Rajasthan) Cormand Area Development Project (Loan 1011-IN) and the Chambal (Madhya Pradesh) Command Area Development Project (Credit 562-IN). - viii - Implementation Experience Extension services in all states have been reorganized in accord- ance with the methodology laid down in the training and visit system., The system is well known at state, district and field levels. Operational pro- blems, encountered from the beginning, are still evident at projects comple- tion, particularly staffing vacancies and the lack of an uninterrupted line of technical command. Substantial delays occurred in respect of civil works; there were considerable shortfalls in the numbers of houses constructed, all vehicles were procured as planned. Overall, training extended was less than expected, but some training programs developed during implementation- although somewhat at variance from appraisal expectations-proved of great value. Implementation of the agricultural research components encountered mixed results, but there is no doubt that the link between research and extension has been forged in varying degrees as between states, which in turn is generating a demand for locally relevant messages to extend to farmers. Monitoring and evaluation activities have varied between states, but gene- rally have made rapid progress, benefiting from substantial Bank supervision and technical assistance. Final project costs are above appraisal estimates for the Composite project, below in the case of Assam, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. Two experienced cancellations of US$1.3 million (Orissa) and US$0.3 million (Madhya Pradesh). Only one project closed on time, two closed six months late, while the fourth (Assam) closed two years behind schedule. All have been followed by repeater projects. Results No economic rate of return calculation was prepared for these pre4- ects at appraisal or at completion. Data on yields and production are collected by state agencies and often vary if more than one agency is responsible for data collection. Some trends can be observed over the project period, however, yield increases were recorded in Assam for cash crops while decreases occured in foodgrains. In Orissa, there was a large increase in yields of pulses and oilseeds much less in the case of cereals while in Madhya Pradesh, yields are higher for wheat in the project area but low for rice. In the Composite project, yields of major cereal crops increased in Gujarat and Haryana but fell significantly in Karnataka although yield increases were registered for the cotton crop in the latter state. To measure the extent to which these recorded yield increases can be attributed to project supported extension services,monitoring and evaluation units have employed two basic criteria: in quantitative terms, by examining the awareness among farmers of the training and visit system and in qualitative terms, by measuring the degree of technology uptake by farmers. Overall it can be said that, with the exception of Gujarat, farmer awareness is high for all projects, but uptake of technology varies much more widely between states and even more so between districts within states. - ix - Sustainability The training and visit system has proved an appropriate mechanism for increasing agricultural productivity under existing Indian agricultural conditions. It has worked effectively in irrigated areas and this series of p.ojects has demonstrated that it can also be appropriate to increasing pro- ductivity in dryland areas, which are now receiving priority by 001. The greatest constraint to sustainability is in respect of the operational pro- blems which have been clearly identified, but which prevent the service from working at optimal capacity. Continued strong government commitment particu- larly at the state level will be needed to ensure that these problems are effectively tackled under the auspices of the respective follow-on projects. Findings and Lessons Overall, following a longer period than envisaged at appraisal, the training and visit system has proven its merits in the Indian context. Con- ceptually it fits well with the existing framework of government services in India and the system has contributed to turning a service of limited effec- tiveness in regard to improving agricultural production into a more disci- plined and supportive organization (PPAK para 33). Maximizing the benefits of the extension system will require better synchronization of the activities of the supporting services, particularly in respect of input supplies and marketing (PPAM paras 35-42). Possible improvements to the training and visit system relate to a continued and expanded commitment by the Bank to a longer supervision input (PPAM para 43); the need to focus more selectively on the most important crops grown by farmers rather than trying to cover all aspects of all crops (PPAM para 44); improving supervision activities in the field (PPAM para 49); recruiting village level workers more in keeping with the socio-cultural characteristics of actual farming systems rather than according to predetermined categories (PPAM para 50). Anecdotal evidence suggest that the benefits of the training and visit system in terms of increased output even in dryland areas is considerably in excess of the costs of providing such services; a special study on the impact of the training and visit system on production increases under rainfed conditions with particular emphasis on the generation of government/community revenues arising from such increased production would be warranted (PPAM paras 55-56). The expertise which has been developed under the auspices of this first generation of extension projects could be utilized in the form of technical assistance to the many other Bank-supported training & visit projects now being introduced beyond the South Asia region (PPAM para 58). - 1 - PROJECT PERFORMANCE AUDIT MEMORANDUM INDIA ORISSA AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 682-IN) MADHYA PRADESH AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RESEARCH PROJECT (CREDIT 712-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (CREDIT 728-IN) COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT (CREDIT 862-IN) I. SUMMARY Background 1. Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy: at the time these four projects were appraised in the mid seventies, agriculture comprised 45% of GDP, engaged about 70% of the total labor force, and provided the base for about 60% of India's export earnings. Investment in agriculture is important for both increasing productivity and alleviating poverty: average per capita income in the rural areas in 1976 was US$70 compared to per capita GNP of US$150. Government policies have highlighted these twin goals. During the decade prior to these projects, successive five-year development plans gave priority to agriculture, foodgrain produc- tion in particular. As a result India's production of rice and wheat espe- cially increased substantially during the period. Incremental production can be attributed to several factors: the green revolution which introduced the technical packages consisting of high-yielding varieties (HYVS) together with fertilizer, the expansion of irrigation facilities (large irrigation schemes as well as tubewell irrigation), the availability of agricultural credit without usury interest rates and finally the activities of extension services. 2. The Bank was involved, at varying degrees, in supporting these factors leading to higher production. Large-scale irrigation projects together with small tubewell irrigation schemes were financed either through discrete projects or through large-scale agricultural credit programs. Provision of better seeds of HYVs were supported through seeds projects and fertilizer application through agricultural credit and fertilizer industry projects. The benefits of such investments were largely to be seen in the irrigated areas particularly in the northern states. At an early stage it was recognized by the Bank that the green revolution would continue to spread without major support of extension as demonstrated in the state of Punjab where use of modern inputs and yields match those of the best North American and European countries. Production of foodgrains increased by 6.3% p.a. in Punjab and 4.5% p.a. in Haryana between 1961-81. Yields under rainfed condi- tions showed little improvement over the period: overall foodgrain produc- tion increased at a annual rate of only about 2.3% (equal to the population growth) while production of important cash crops such as cotton, sugar and oilseeds fell over the period. Moreover, since only 34% of the gross culti- vable area in India is irrigated, it was recognized by the Bank that there was an enormous potential for increasing output of other important crops, especially oilseeds and pulses. In analyzing the approaches which would lead - 2 - to increased production of these crops, weaknesses in the existing agricul- tural and extension services became apparent. Research passed little or no direct information on to farmers on perceived priority issues and problems and extension staff were largely ineffective in promoting improved tech- nologies. This was largely due to two factors. First, although training for extension workers in agriculture and community development had been introduced in the 1950s with the establishment of 100 training centres, responsibility passed to the state governments in 1960 with quality control ostensibly being exercised by three Education Extension Institutes supervised by GOI. Second, there was no direct link between the Director of Agriculture and the last man in the field. Technical responsibility for agricultural extension was diffused below the district level with field staff being viewed as aulti-purpose workers responsible for all aspects of community develop- ment, of which agriculture was only one part. By the mid seventies, field staff were not allocating the 75-80% of time prescribed for agricultural activities; mobility in the field was circumscribed; crop and/or area- specific programs had proliferated; linkages with research were tenuous. 3. Following the positive experience with the training and visit (T&V) approach in a Turkish irrigation projectl/, the Bank introduced the T&V system into India. The essence of the system is frequent and regular farm visits to selected farmers by full-time, adequately trained professional extension personnel with the expectation that the farmers contacted will then implement some of the village extension worker's (VEW) recommendations on their fields which will then be seen by and discussed with other f-rmers. An implicit assumption is the need to have messages containing imp,oved tech- nologies and practices, suitably adapted to the range of local conditions and cropping patterns, to deliver to farmers. This in turn demands regular training of extension staff, through frequent workshops, as well as their developing close linkages with research both to acquire knowledge of the technology available and to facilitate the resolution of problems as they arise at the farm level by providing a link back to the research stations. 4. The T&V system was introduced into India in two distinct phases,2/ beginning with irrigated agriculture with two projects in Chambal in Northern 1/ PPAR Turkey Seyhan Irrigation Project (Stage II) (Loan 587-TU/Credit 143-TU), OED Report No. 2747, dated November 26, 1979 and Impact Evaluation Report No. 5745 dated June 28, 1985. 2/ The Region states: "The introduction of T&V extension in India was really in four, rather than two, stages: (1) introduction on Chambal command areas and the Rajasthan Canal Project, and later as extension components in other irrigation projects; (2) as a component in either multi-component agricultural development projects (e.g., Assam, Orissa, the first West Bengal Credit) or agricultural research and extension projects (Madhya Pradesh I, Rajasthan, West Bengal (690-IN) and Bihar), with the Eastern Region Study playing a key role in both cases..... (3) projects in which extension was the sole component (Composite, Madhya Pradesh II, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh); (4) the 'National' projects, which supported extension as either 'second phase' development or as a first phase (e.g., in Jamu and Kashmir)." - 3 - Madhya Pradesh and in Rajasthan.3/ The experience gained under irrigatei conditions was then applied to rainfed areas, but first on a limited basis. In both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, efforts were made to reorganize exten- sion over a portion of the respective states, in the latter state, in 15 representative districts out of a total of 45. Credit 712-IN, which became effective in September 1977, provided US$10 million to Madhya Pradesh, the largest state in India with a population of approximately 52 million (1981) and with only 9% of the cultivated area under irrigation. Next, the reorga- nized extension services were extended statewide, the first such project beirg Vest Bengal (Credit 690-IN) followed by Orissa, the first in the rice bowl of Eastern India. Credit 682-IN was declared effective in June 1977 and provided US$20 million in the expectation that the reorganized extension would address major constraints in Orissa where, despite its high agricul- tural potential, foodgrain yields were low. Similar constraints were also found in Assam with weak rural institutions and relatively lower social and economic indicators. Credit 782-IN in support of US$8 million was declared effective in September 1977. The Composite Agricultural Extension project (Credit 862-IN) which provided US$53.4 million for the three states of Karnataka, Gujarat and Haryana, was the first to cover more than one state. There was no particular rationale4/ for this--the states are not contiguous, and unlike some states in the East are diverse in their agricultural charac- teristics. Karnataka in the extreme Southwest has a population of 39 mil- lion, 85% of cultivated area is rainfed. It has a relatively even tropical monsoon climate with foodgrains the most important crop and over 1 million ha planted to cotton. Gujarat has a similar sized population of 39 million, but its urbanized/industrial base has boosted per capita income of US$320 above the Indian average of US$260 for 1983. Mixed farming is widely practiced, particularly crop/dairying while cash crop production of cotton and oilseeds is more important than foodgrains. 18% of cultivated area is irrigated. In contrast, Haryana to the North is the most intensely cultivated, 91% of the total surface area, of whic 45% was irrigated in 1977. Haryana is second only to Punjab in yields of foodgrain production with a high level of techno- logical input. The Projects 5. The six states covered have a population of about 200 million, as well as significant variations in agricultural conditions and administrative traditions and practice, thus it is difficult to generalize on project 3/ PPAR India Chambal Command Area Development Project (Rajasthan) (Loan 1011-IN) and Command Area Development Project (Madhya Pradesh) (Credit 562-IN), OED Report No. 4570 dated June 20, 1983 and PPAR India Rajasthan Agricultural Extension and Research Project (Credit 737-IN), OED Report No. 5618 dated May 28, 1985. 4/ The Region has pointed out: "The rationale for three states and a GOI component to be included in the Composite project was that the Bank wanted to limit the number of operations, a decision that resulted in what would have traditionally been a supervision coefficient of three staffweeks p.a. (HQ and field) for the supervision of each state and GOI component: in practice, this coefficient was exceeded." objectives and strategy. However, the overall goal of these projects covering the six states was to lay the groundwork for long-term statewide integrated development of institutions concerned with extension. In the short run, it wLs expected that increased agricultural productivity would be accomplished by basic administrative and technical reform of agricultural extension, in the Departments of Agriculture (DOA) of the respective states. 6. Over a period of five to six years, it was expected that an exten- sion methodology based on the training and visit system would be introduced. The strategy to achieve this would include: (a) reorganization and intensifi- cation of the extension services with the establishment of a single line of command from the state directors of agriculture (DA) to the village extension workers through existing divisional and district offices and the newly creat- ed subdivisional offices; and (b) the transfer of about 80% of existing multipurpose field workers (VLWs) from the Department of Community Develop- ment (DCD) to the Department of Agriculture, thereby enabling them to work full-time on agricultural extension. 7. A satisfactory level of technical support and supervision would be assured through provision for additional staffing. The strategy to accom- plish this would require: (a) new recruitment at the field level in order to attain staffing patterns laid down by T&V with sufficient VEWs available to interact directly with about 102 of all crop farmers; and (b) introducing subject matter specialists (SMSs) at the state, district and subdivisional levels to assure a satisfactory standard of technical supervision. 8. Supporting infrastructure necessary to facilitate regular and frequent farm visits by extension staff, e.g., housing, offices--particularly for the newly created subdivisional level, and equipment, would be provided. The projects would finance additional motor vehicles at state, district and subdivisional levels, with field staff being eligible for loans to purchase motorcycles and bicycles. 9. A variety of training activities would be undertaken of which the most important was expected to be the routine fortnightly training of the VEWs by the SMSs. Field staff would also be required to undergo preservice training and additional courses would be provided on a seasonal basis. -enior staff, including SMSs, would receive training both at SAU5/ and at other institutions, e.g , ICRISAT. 10. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) would be introduced with units established at the respective state level Ministry of Agriculture or Depart- ment of Agriculture. These would provide data for both management informa- tion and long-term policy planning. 5/ At the time these projects were appraised, SAU comprised 21 universities in 16 states as well as the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, all of which had been developed with the objective of establishing a system of scientific education which would serve the needs of the farming community. - 5 - 11. There were additional objectives not common to all projects. First, in the case of the three projects supporting the individual states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Assam, applied and adaptive research was to be strengthened for the purposes of focussing the research effort specifically towards: (a) the needs of micro-ecological zones; (b) on-farm issues; and (c) improving the coordination between research and extension. The strategy to accomplish a reorientation of the research program towards the first two would be effected by decentralization which, in the case of Madhya Pradesh, would take the form of development and upgrading of both five existing college stations to regional research stations and seven substations; in the case of Orissa, upgrading two existing applied research stations and the establishment of two new stations and thirteen adaptive research stations; in the case of Assam, coverage would be increased with the strengthening of two research stations and one substation for applied research and the network of nine adaptive research stations. Improved coordination between research and extension (as well as for other supporting services) would be addressed by technical committees, at both the state and district level as well as zonal workshops, to provide a meeting point for the SAU system and the respective DOAs. Under the Composite project, improvement in research was expected to be taken up by the concurrent and parallel National Agricultural Research Project (Credit 855-IN) whose objectives were to strengthen the SAU's ability to conduct locally relevant research. 12. Second, the Composite project would strengthen the Directorate of Extension (DOE) at GOI level so that individual state extension efforts in all the ongoing IDA-financed extension projects would be effectively super- vised thereby permitting Bank supervision effort to focus more on technical assistance and policy issues. The strategy would include strengthening the Department's Field Extension Unit, charged with both assisting states in project implementation, particularly in respect of specialized technical problems, and monitoring and evaluation. Additionally an Administrative Unit would also receive sapport which would, inter alia, be responsible for reporting to IDA on procurement, civil works, expenditures, audits and progress reports. A Training Unit would provide leadership and guidance to states in their task of training extension personnel while a Farm Information Unit would assist in the production of training materials not easily under- taken on a state-by-state basis. 13. Third, the project in Orissa covered a range of additional components: improved farm implements, tubewell technology, groundwater surveys/monitoring, land survey and records, farm management and a data collection unit together comprising 41.6% of total project costs; all components involving several different agencies. Assam also provided support (6% of project costs) to strengthen the irrigation department for groundwater development. 14. The projects were to be administered by the respective state DOAs. Within each state, newly created positions of Additional Directors of Agriculture (ADA) Extension, would have responsibility for day-to-day admin- istration and control of the extension services, supported by the existing administrative structures. - 6 - 15, Details of projects' completion and costs, the latter to be shared between IDA, state and central governments, are given in the respective PCRs. The major portion of the costs of all four projects would be for incremental staff salaries and the provision of offices and vehicles. Principal beneficiaries of the projects were expected to be almost all of the 3.4 million farm families in Orissa where approximately 75% of all farmers have holdings of less than 2 ha; all of the 1.9 million farm families in Assam where 70% of farmers have less than 1 ha; the 2.1 million farm families who comprise the 15 of Madhya Pradesh's 45 districts where almost 50% of farmers have holdings under 2 ha; 6.8 million farm families in the states of Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana of which about 46% have farms of less that 2 ha. No economic rates of return were calculated fo the four projects due first to the essentially institution-building characteristics of the projects and second, to the difficulty of disaggregating benefits directly attributed to extension alone and not to other supporting activities. Projects' Implementation 16. Implementation followed a similar pattern for all projects. Key indicators in the PCRs provide details of the respective projects' achieve- ments against targets set at appraisal for staff positions, training, civil works, vehicles, etc. 17. Startup was rapid in all states except Karnataka, in large part due to the fact that existing staff in the respective DOA Headquarte:s were given this responsibility prior to effectiveness, funded retroactively. Thus for most states, during the first years farm families were grouped into 'circles' of about 700 rainfed or about 400 irrigated farmers 10% of which were selected, according to specific criteria, as contact farmers to be visited fortnightly by their VEW. No difficulty was reported in obtaining volunteers as contact farmers, those interviewed stated they welcomed first access to the new technology. Field level staff were redeployed from the DCD as planned and recruitment of new staff commenced. 18. In general, this early momentum was not sustained. In the case of Assam, the setback was due to political disturbances which affected project implementation for three years between 1980-83. Projects in all six states, however, have been simultaneously and continuously affected by: (a) staffing vacancies at all levels; and (b) lack of a single line of command between the Director of Agriculture and the VEW. These two factors in particular have affected implementation of the extension methodology and are an indication of the degree of institutional change required in the introduction of such a system. At audit, only 50% of VEWs were on site in Karnataka (78% at project completion), in Gyujarat the staffing shortfall was 40% (9% at project completion), while serious vacancies also exist in that state (33% positions vacant) and in Orissa (31% vacant) at the SMS level. Reasons for staff shortages vary. In the case of the VEWs, this has been due largely to their reluctance to transfer from being multipurpose workers (VLWs) which provide greater opportunities for both income generating activities and promotion. In 1982 many VEWs transfered back to community development activities with the introduction of the integrated rural development (IRD) projects, in some states up to 80% returned to their former departments. The rapid growth of - 7 - IRD activities was unforeseen at preparation of these projects; many DOAs encouraged ex-VLWs to transfer back to their parent departments to enable younger and better trained staff to be recruited. In Karnataka the validity of transfer of VLWs from DCD to the DOA has been and continues to be chal- lenged through the court system with the result that the filling of the vacant positions is in abeyance. Other staff categories suffered vacancies due to (a) constitutional requirements in respect of affirmative action programs, which require a certain percentage of positions to be kept cpen for up to two years--for example, in Haryana, 46 of the 186 CAO positions were for 'reserved categories' and remained unfilled for years, (b) frequent staff transfers which is a practice followed in all states and, (c) the difficul- ties of extending the T&V system statewide into marginal tribal areas, as was the case in Orissa. 19. The creation of a single line of command between the Director of Agriculture and the last man in the field has not yet been fully imple- mented. In all states the staff at field and subdivisional levels continue to be responsible in the first instance to local authorities, whose power traditionally rests at the district level. The district collector has overriding responsibility for all staff at the district level; agricultural staff are only technically responsible to the agricultural officers at the district level. The constraints of such a situation have been noted in other projects6/ and result in diffusion of effort when staff and/or vehicles are diverted to other assignments considered as having greater priority by the local authorities. In Madhya Pradesh, for example, M&E surveys found that 50% of VEWs' time was spent on non-extension activities, although it is likely that such activities are agriculturally related in that most are allocated by DOA staff. Both these factors, staff vacancies and no guaranteed link down the technical chain of command have affected the institutional effectiveness of the extension services. 20. All projects experienced long delays in completion of civil works which resulted in delays in disbursements. Reasons ranged from difficulties in obtaining contractors willing to work in remote areasl/ (Karnataka) to site disputes (Madhya Pradesh) and cement shortages (Orissa and Gujarat). Haryana was particularly affected: after three years only 6 of the 557 houses for VEWs had been built and only 192 were finished at project completion. Moreover, there have been complaints that such houses are too small (although the housing sizes were based on staff categories under state government 6/ See PPAR Tanzania Geita Cotton Project (Credit 454-TA); National Maize Project (Credit 606-TA); Tabora Rural Development Project (Credit 703-TA); Tobacco Processing Project (Credit 658-TA); Tobacco Handling Project (Credit 802-TA): Cashewnut Development Project (Loan 1014-TA); OED Report No. 5197, dated July 12, 1984. 7/ This situation has been encountered in other projects, see, in particu- lar, Thailand Northeast Rural Development Project (Loan 1198-TH) OED Report No. 5990, dated December 27, 1985; and Mexico Integrated Rural Development Project Papaloapan Basin (Loan 1053-ME), OED Report No. 5760, dated June 28, 1985. - 8 - regulations) and are now planned for office use instead. Concern was also expressed to the audit mission as to the poor quality of such dwellings. In three of the six states reviewed (Assam, Gujarat and Orissa) essentially all planned new construction was completed, and in one (Karnataka) 82% of houses and 40*f of officea were completed. Haryana and Madhya Pradesh achievements in house construction were modest compared with SAR targets. All vehicles were procured as planned; the uptake of loans for the purchase of bicycles and motorcycles was considerably lower than expected under the Composite project, where except for Karnataka, full-cost loans were unavailable, but in line with targets in Orissa largely because the latter increased the amount of loan size in 1979. 21. Infrastructure for training facilities was renovated/completed as planned in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh although suffered from delays. Training in many of the states has suffered staffing shortages, but the system is now in place. The PCR for the Composite project states that the SAR was deficient in not specifying how the training program was to be imple- mented. In fact the training which evolved in all projects, while different from that envisaged, has proved appropriate, and the introduction ,f the monthly workshop, which was not envisaged at appraisal, has proved of great value. 22. Implementation of the agricuitural research components under the individual states' projects has had mixed results. Supervision reports constantly referred to deficiencies in the technological package: criticism concerned the messages beipg too general for rainfed crops (Gujarat); not sufficiently relevant (Haryana); the poor quality of technology being extended to farmers was described as one of two most intransigent problems (Composite Project); not enough attention being given to developing packages for dryland areas (Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa); insufficient low-cost alternatives available (Karnataka and Haryana). Accomplishments in respect of improving the coordination between research and extension are more apparent. In the Composite project, the technical committees were only convened late in the project, but with the development of the monthly workshops this mechanism has provided a relevant and useful forum for contact between the two. The projects have also been instrumental in providing a mechanism for getting research scientists out to farmers' fields and thus should help in overcoming some of the constraints noted above. The monthly workshops have had the benefit of substantial Bank supervision in the form of technical assistance. Their usefulness is such that states are convening these at the regional (Haryana) and even district (Karnataka) level. Efforts still have to be made at higher levels to ensure coordination between the SAU and the respective extension systems. In the Composite project in particular where no specific institutional links were provided for at appraisal, such coordination has been difficult to effect. 23. Monitoring and evaluation activities have generally been established as planned and have benefited from considerable technical support from the Bank; the system has become operational much more rapidly when compared to other countries first setting up such activities. While problems have been encountered, particularly in respect of staffing and logistical - 9 - support, routine analysis work and special studies have been undertaken. In some states it is evident that management is well aware of the usefulness of the function but in other states results were not being as fully utilized because disagreements had been voiced as to the validity of the findings (Gujarat) or there is weak government support (Orissa). 24. Progress in the Directorate of Extension component in the Composite project was slow; supervision of all projects has throughout been undertaken by the Bank although DOE staff participated in some Bank missions. Nor is there any evidence that the particular responsibilities accorded to DOE at the project design stage are being carried out. Th.s was particularly noticeable in respect of DOE's special responsibility for ensuring that women farmers8/ are adequately reached by the extension services. The mission observed that in some states women farmers frequently play an equal if not the major role to that of men, and yet are not being adequately reached by the extension services. In the case of India, this will require more attention to recruiting women VEWs and contact farmers. Some progress has been made in Karnataka, but this is being carried out under the auspices of a bilateral donor program for training of women and youth. The in-house consultancy scheme, which could prove a useful mechanism in circulating lessons and experiences among the sta as (since agriculture is a state responsibility there is seldom opportunity for senior officers to work or be seconded to other states) has been slow to develop but is now considered to be one of DOE's more useful programs. 25, In Assam, it became evident that the groundwater component did not reflect either the priorities of the irrigation department or of the farmers themselves. The multicomponent, area dcvelopment approach in Orissa proved to be a mistake, burdening already weak institutions with a complicated project which in turn was difficult to supervise and suffered accordingly. However, this approach was quite different from the other three projects; differences which reflect, to a large extent, the way in which Bank thinking on how to handle extension reform, and institutional change more generally, underwent change with experience. 26. Actual costs for the projects are detailed in the respective project completion reports. There was a reallocation of funds to Gujarat for overruns on incremental staff and civil works, which could be accom- plished under the Composite project by utilizing funds underspent by the remaining two states. Underruns were also reported for Orissa (US$1.3 million cancelled), largely due to savings on exchange rates. Karnataka experienced extremely severe cost overruns in respect of the incremental staffing component with actual expenditure on incremental staff, training (which in other states was generally underspent) incremental operating costs 8/ The Region states: "It is difficult to have DOAs focus on women when, with the exception of Kerala, almost every single non-clerical staff member is a man. We worked quite closely with the Danida effort in Karnataka because we felt the degree of emphasis needed to broach the problem could best come from outside the perspective of our projects." - 10 - (also underspent in Madhya Pradesh) and monitoring and evaluation all combined together at Rs 378 million compared to a total of Rs 110 million at appraisal. No satisfactory explanation is available--Gujarat and Orissa also experienced overruns largely because of an increase in base salaries after project appraisal, but none were of the magnitude of Karnataka. In the case of Madhya Pradesh, cost overrans for civil works have been compensated for by savings in equipment and vehicles; there has been a substantial underrun on training, although continued training costs were not always disaggregated from other expenditures. 27. Details of the dates of project completion can be found in the PCRs. Madhya Pradesh was the only project to close on time; both tbA Comp- osite project and Orissa experienced delays of six months while Assam closed two years behind schedule. In keeping with the long term nature of institu- tional development all have been followed by repeater projects. In Madhya Pradesh, the only project of the four which did not reorganize statewide at inception, a second and overlapping project was signed in 1981 (Credit 1138-IN) which expanded the T&V system to the remaining districts of the state. Madhya Pradesh and Orissa together with Rajasthan were subsequently supported by the National Agricultural Extension Project, Phase 1 (NAEP I, Credit 1523-IN), which was signed in October 1984, while Karnataka, Gujarat and Haryana similarly have a follow-on project with NAEP II which also includes Jammu and Kashmir and was signed in March 1985 (Credit 1569-IN). Assam will receive additional support under the auspices of NAEP III which has been appraised. Projects' Impact 28. No economic rates of return were calculated for these essentially institution-building projects; assessment of projects' outcome must therefore necessarily be judgmental while determining effectiveness in terms of in- creased production must take account of the fact that extension is only one of the links in the chain of supporting services to farmers and thus caus- ality is hard to establish. 29. Data on production and yields are collected at the state level and in some states there are two or three separate agencies involved. Production figures have generally not been used because there have been changes in cropping patterns in all projects but information on all crops cultivated within the project areas is not available. Yield figures have to be inter- preted with caution in part due to wide variations in climatic conditions from year to year--which can be offset by using a five year rolling average--and in part due to variations in data as between different agencies (Orissa and Madhya Pradesh). Given these reservations, over the projects' period taking a five year rolling aver. -, yield increases have been recorded for cash crops in Assam (oilseeds, jute, sugarcane), decreases being observed for foodgrains. In Orissa, yield data indicates large increases in respect of pulses and oilseeds, small positive changes for cereals. In Madhya Pradesh, yields are higher for wheat in the project area, slightly less so for maize and gram and with little change recorded for rice. In the Composite project, yields of major cereals increased in Gujarat, that for rice remained the same and fell in the case of groundnuts; in Haryana, - 11 - cercals increased, gram fell heavily while in Karnataka, yields of cotton rose substantially but fell in respect of cereals. Overall the average yields of higher value crops increased in the four projects and in addition to yield increases, there is evidence in all states of changes in cropping patterns: a shift to cash crops together with greater emphasis tL rabi crops in Assam, the introduction of summer groundnut in Gujarat, sunflower in Karnataka in dryland areas, soybean in Madhya Pradesh. 30,, In order to obtain some indication as to the extent to which these recorded yield increases can be attributed to the newly reorganized extension system, the findings of the monitoring and evaluation units are relevant. Units, which were established in all projects, cbose two major indicators for this purpose. First, the degree of awareness of the T&V system among contact farmers as tiell as follow farmers, since the core of the system is that farmers should pass on the training which they themselves have received. Second, the rate of adoption of messages both by contact farmers and follow farmers. Certain caveats regarding the use of the monitoring an6 evaluation data are in order. First, only limited data is available since the projects have been in operation for a short while. Second, some questions have been raised as to technical limitations of some surveys undertaken and well as gaps in the data, While the performance between the respective states units has varied considerably, it is of interest that the comprehensive PCRs have attached importance to their findings. 31. Monitoring and evaluation found that farmer awareness is high, with the exception of Gujarat, although the frequency of visits according to the T&V system (i.e., two in a four week period) is often only around 60% and in one project (Haryana) has been steadily declining.9/ On the other hand, evidence from this latter state in particular suggests that follow farmers are themselves seeking out contact farmers for information. Uptake of tech- nology varies much more widely between the respective states - ranging from very low in Orissa for almost all recommendations to high in Haryana. It is evident from the monitoring and evaluation reports that. in most of the states, low cost recommendations, particularly use of improved variety of seed and timely sowing/transplanting have been more widely applied than seed treatment and basal application of fertilizer. This however is in keeping with the early objectives of the projects which recommended that extension should, in the first instance, concentrate on low cost technology. A recent study (reference footnote 9) showed that VEWs become increasingly important sources of information the more expensive or complicated an agricultural practice becomes. Since Haryana has the most comprehensive monitoring and evaluation data of all the six states on the adoption of improved practices, the audit has compared the proportion of contact/follow farmers fully adopting these recommendations (i.e., applying three quarters of the recommended practices over three quarters of the cropped area) to recorded yield increases for the five major crops of the state (Annex 1), The 9/ A study based upon M&E reports from seven states, however, found that about 85% of contact farmers were v!.sited at least once in a four week period. G. Feder, R. Slade, A. Sundaram, "The Training and Visit Extension System, An Analysis of Operations and Effects" SWP #719. r 12 - analysis illustrates there is a relationship between yields either holding steady or increasing somewhat and the numbers of farmers adopting low cost recommendations, conversely where few or no practices are employed, produc- tivity is low. This corresponds to a finding of the Staff Working Paper on the training and visit extension system (footnote 9) that yields in farms relying on the VEWs as the main source of information are higher than in farms that rely on other sources of information. The tables also illustrate that use of high cost inputs is gradually increasing, the most promising being the use of plant protection measures on the cotton crop. Unfortu- nately, corresponding yield figures for these latter seasons is as yet unavailable but conclusions of the M&E surveys have been constantly stressing these aspect3 in their seasonal reviews. Of interest also is the fact that the gap in adoption of practices between contact and follow farmers has narrowed significantly for all crops over the 4/5 seasons surveyed illustrat- ing that the message is percolating down to the field level. 32. Thus although it is early to measure impact from this first genera- tion of extension projects, available data as well as field observations by the mission suggest that by providing financial and technical assistance to what was clearly a weak link in the chain of supporting services to farmers, these projects have had a positive impact on increasing agricultural produc- tivity and output. 33. In conclusion, the systematic routine and procedures which constit- ute the T&V system are conceptually well suited to the hierarchical, bureau- cratic system which characterizes government service in India. This is not to say that the system is inflexible-it has proved able to adapt in the light of emerging requirements, for example, in respect of the training programs with the introduction of the monthly workshops, the gradual movement towards increasing emphasis on research in varying agro-climatic zones. Moreover, the reorganization of services has, for the first time, matched manpower to programs--no longer is there a plethora of interventions at the farm level according to crops, areas, etc. At the same time, the system has helped turn attention back to the role of agriculture at the local level at a time when there is a general recognition that greater attention has to be given to increased productivity in the rainfed areas. In this respect, the audit concludes that with the stage of agricultural ievelopment to be found in India today the extension system now in place provides an appropriate and sound infrastructure for overcoming constraintslu/ and is thus well suited both to the country and to its existing stage of development. 10/ The Region also points out: "Experiments in health services, irrigation water management and rural credit management in India, as well as some local and administrative changes in state government general administra- tion, also owe much to experience with extension. The attempts by some states (e.g., Orissa) to reconvert extension to a multi-function system are due as much to the success of the system as to its shortcomings." - 13 - IT. MAIN ISSUES 34. Since India's agricultural potential still remains to a large extent underutilized due to insufficient knowledge and inappropriate tech- nologies applied by the majority of farmers, the tasks of the extension service to increase production remain formidable. The following sections deal with how to maximize the benefits of extension, possible improvements to the T&V system as practiced in India, and sustainability. A. Maximizing Benefits of Extension Services 35. Previous audits of Bank-assisted agricultural projects found that appraisal of crop, livestock, irrigation projects--to name only a few-- followed a holistic approach. For example, appraisal of an irrigation project would not be confined to evaluating the engineering and production aspects, but would also assess the availability of agricultural research results, the existence of adequate extension services, provision of credit, organization of input supplies and marketing, problems of transport, storage, processing, etc. By assisting only two links, as was the case with these projects, the comprehensiveness of the above-mentioned approach was no longer employed. 36. Following a period of limited Bank support to agricultural develop- ment in India during the fifties and early sixties, the situation changed in the late sixties and seventies when increasing numbers of irrigation and agricultural credit projects received Bank assistance. In the case of the latter, only limited attention was paid to the interdependence of agricul- tural credit with other supporting services.11/ Input suppliers received some support through the national seeds projects and a series of fertilizer industries projects albeit without any apparent linkage with other "support- ing services" projects. The same can be said about later projects focusing on wholesale marketing or strengthening of cooperatives marketing/process- ing/storage. 37. The absence of a comprehensive approach, i.e., synchronizing activities of the supporting services, was found by the audit to limit the usefulness of research/extension in some of the states visited. In Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, farmers and extension agents complained about diffi- culties in obtaining fertilizer at the right time, in adequate quantities and at the right places. Even more difficult was the supply of pesticides where frequent bottlenecks led o farmers being unable to follow the extension 11/ Agricultural Credit Projects: A Review of Recent Experience in India, OED Report No. 3415 dated April 8, 1981. - 14 - recommendations. Another input in chronic short supply has been rhyzobium cultures. Adequate supplies of HYV seeds, however, are available. This supply situation is reflected by a M&E survey in Madhya Pradesh which found that of all surveyed farmers, graded improved seeds were being used on 27% of cropped areas, but only on 8% of cropped areas were rhyzobium cultures for leguminous seeds being used. Rhyzobium cultures are not however as important in the cropping system in India as are other inputs. The possibility of severe variations in input supply has also been raised in other studies.12/ 38. In Orissa complaints were voiced about inadequate marketing and processing facilities. While extension efforts to promote soya bean produc- tion in Madhya Pradesh were highly successful since it filled a niche in the agro-ecological system, a similar campaign failed in Orissa, largely due to lack of marketing, storage and processing facilities. Similar experiences were noted in the same state in regard to maize production and the marketing of fruit, mainly citrus and other higher-value crops produced in the tribal areas. Assam also suffered from lack of commercial network for input delivery; the 700 cooperatives in the state have traditionally not engaged in this activity and are not encouraged to do so by the state government. In contrast, imaginative use has been made of the existing cooperatives for animal/dairy production in Gujarat for both contacting farmers and supplying inputs. 39. Credit has also been noted as a constraint. Farmers in the tribal areas of Orissa, according to information received from extension staff, are still in the bondage of money lenders charging interest rates of up to 150%, while in Assam there are few bank branches in the rural areas. In Karnataka, state officials indicated that the major factor limiting the rapid adoption of the package was lack of credit. In Karnataka and in Madhya Pradesh, low-cost recommendations of the extension services have been largely adopted, but there is much less progress in respect of inputs such as basal dose fertilizer, zinc sulphate, weedicides and seed treatment. According to a recent study3/, non-adoption of low cost practices for most crops is due to lack of technical information and non-availability of inputs, while cost, risk of adverse weather, poor input supply are the principal explanations for non-adoption of higher cost practices. In Haryana, however, the surveys found that there was no difference in adoption rates for high cost inputs as 12/ Reference cited in footnote 13. 13/ "Training and Visit Extension in India, Empirical Evidence from Monitor- ing and Evaluation" R.H. Slade, R.K. Chhikara and G. Feder. - 15 - between large and small farmers suggesting that economic reasons may not be the principal reason for non adoption. This is in contrast to Orissa where M&E surveys indicated that adoption rates of high-cost recommendations varied with the size of holding. 40. The heart of the T&V system, namely to establish a firm link between research and extension, clearly demonstrates the needs and advantages of close cooperation between the supporting services. However, better coordination, in some instances beginning at the development planning level will be required to maximize the benefit of each of the supporting services. Just as the link with research has made that service more responsive to on- farm problems and situations, so there is now a need for other services to become more responsive to the present and potential needs of farmers. The coordination, in the audit's view, has to reach down to the village extension worker who needs to be the link not only providing farmers with research results/recommendations and feedback on farm problems to research stations, but also to establish a priority link with input suppliers. This has also been confirmed by evaluation surveys in the Composite project which found that the commercial delivery system for inputs, credit and marketing, especially at the village level, was regarded by farmers as very important. By exclusively concentrating on extension activities there is no guarantee that the recommended inputs will be available. Since the extension service knows well ahead of time which inputs, especially agrochemicals, it is recommending it would be the task of the VEW to give an indication of likely requirements in his working area.14/ Although project design expected that such coordination of services would be accomplished through the respective project coordination committees, these in fact rarely convened or concen- trated on issues such as civil works (Madhya Pradesh) or field trial programs (Assam). 41. In the audit's view, such coordination of activities between extension and the remaining supporting services is likely, in many instances, to result in the thriving private sector then responding to the increased demand. Only secondarily does the audit consider that project design for research and extension projects be modified to include components to overcome constraints in other supporting services - too many projects have failed precisely because they have been overburdened at the design stage with an ambitious range of components. In cases, however, where there is a clearly identified bottleneck this may be tackled either through a follow-on project or as part of a discrete project. Again, the emphasis, in a country such as India, should be towards providing the necessary support only to the extent necessary to facilitate private sector intervention, OED has found that there are few examples where public sector involvement in the supply of inputs has worked successfully. 14/ The VEW is also in a good position to supply information on other potential supply bottlenecks which could be useful in compiling an inventory of needs at the state planning level. For example, in Gujarat, and to a lesser extent Haryana, a constraint continuously cited by farmers is lack of electricity, clearly exacerbated by the very rapid development of tubewells in both states over the past decade. - 16 - 42. An example where there is a good balancel1/ between the supporting services provided not only by the state but also by the competitive and active private sector is Haryana which has one of the most intensive systems of agricultural input delivery in India. This is clearly of considerable benefit to farmers as can be seen in the higher than average per capita incomes of this essentially agricultural state, which is due largely to the high level of input supply, technology of production and an excellent marketing system. B. Refining the System 43. A longer supervision input is required on behalf of the Bank. Based on experience gained through extension projects in other countries, the Bank could and should provide guidance. It should be noted that the New Delhi Office in cooperation with highly qualified local and expatriate con- sultants is providing excellent technical assistance. These services, for instance participation in monthly workshopsL6/ may exceed the standard manpower input authorized by the Bank's budgetary provisions. Considering the vastness of India's sub-continent, the large numbers of extension staff in different states, as well as the diversity of India's agricultural activities, a more flexible and generous time frame for supervision activities is warranted until GOI develops the capability to undertake super- vision responsibilities for project implementation as was expected in the original project design. 44. The above mentioned diversity of production poses another problem. Even the smallest farmer produces an array of grains (rice, wheat, sorghum, etc.), pulses (grain, lentils, peas, beans, etc.), oil seeds (castor, mustard, soybean, etc.), vegetables and spices. At present there is a tendency to cover aspects of all crops. Monthly work programs for VEWs contain more than thirty points of discussion with contact farmers. This allows for only minimal coverage fc the time available and exceeds by far the absorptive capabilities of small farmers. 15/ The Regions points out: "One fact often overlooked is that coordination only works if the services involved are themselves able to operate efficiently and are held accountable for their responsibilities. One reason that farmers are urging a greater role for extension in input coordination...is that extension's reach,...outstrips that of other support services. It was always intended that once extension services became better established, similar attention would be given to the objectives, management, and operation of other support services (as was done with research). Our recent involvement with rural credit supply and improved seeds (in the context of preparation of a National Seeds III project) is an indication of this strategy." 16/ Recently Bank supervision participating in those workshops drew attention to the need for analyzing the reasons why farmers accepted and later rejected specific extension messages or never accepted certain recommendations. - 17 - 45. There is a need to determine extension priorities according to mini-ecological zones which have the same meteorological/pedological charac- teristics. Available processing/storage facilities would be other factors determining the crop format extension activities. While VEWs and their supervising officers as well as the SMSs should be in a position to answer all questions asked by farmers, the initiative of promoting innovations or new technologies in a given year should be restricted to a few recommenda- tions so to not overburden the farmers. 46. Concentration of extension advice is also warranted in light of experience gained in regard to acceptability of recommendations. Generaliz- ing somewhat, it is apparent that past extension advice could be grouped into four broad categories: (a) Seeds - including introduction of improved, clean, well germinating varieties and needing rates; (b) fertilization aspects, including use and dosage of fertilizer and biological manure; (c) use of agro-chemicals for pest and disease control; herbicide application; rhyzobium innoculation; and (d) husbandry practices, new crop rotation, land tillage and seedbed preparation. 47. When analyzing the extension impact on each of the four broad cate- gories it was found that the greatest success of the extension service is in regard to the first category and the least in respect of the fourth. This may well be a result of extension staff having relatively less training in this category. Fertilization (ii) was more readily followed than plant pro- tection (iii), but this was mainly due to input supply problems mentioned in paras 37-40 above. 48. Concentration on the fourth category in the future is warranted. All the areas visited showed extremely poor seedbed preparation when tradi- tional implements were used. Heavy soils produce large clods when plowed with the traditional hook plow. Wooden harrows with only one row of widely spaced teeth are unsuitable for breaking up the clods. Because of this, germination of crops is spotty and there is less likelihood that the benefits of fertilization and plant control measures will be maximized: plant popula- tion never reaches optimum stands, It has to be recognized that underfed bullocks and wooden implements will not resolve this problem. More research, technical as well as sociological will be required. 49. The success or failure of the T&V system hinges to a large extent on proper supervision. The audit found that there is scope for improving supervision activities in the field.17/ While visits with contact farmers 17/ A finding also of the Slade/Chhikara/Feder Study (reference footnote 13), which noted that visit frequency particularly to follow farmers would benefit from improved supervision. - 18 - seem to be adequate, field work is often undertaken in villages rather than on farmers' fields. In part it is explained by the frequent "over extension" of VEWs in terms of the original definition of one VEW to 800 or 400 farmers. Most complained that the number of villages and contact farmers is too large and sometimes, for instance in Orissa's tribal areas, distances between villages are far and therefore VEWs have only limited time to spend with farmers. In addition, there is pressure to adjust staff farm ratios in light of new census data. The system is still geared to the needs of the bureaucracy rather than that of farmers in respect of late starting times, meetings frequently held in villages, etc. 50. The audit also finds that there is a nced to recruit village exten- sion workers more in response to the socio-cultural characteristics of the actual farming systems at the district level iather than according to prede- termined categories.18/ For example, as in any other country of the world, India has farms managed and operated by women. Under standard sociological conditions these women are presently not reached by extension activities. There is a need to identify progressive farmers and integrate them more in the extension approach where they could serve as demonstration farmers. However, this would also require provisions of buses to ease mobility. Farmers from villages without "progressive farmers" should receive opportuni- ties to visit more distant farms which are distinguished by improved tech- nologies, high yields and probably higher standards of living which when seen by other farmers could provide additional incentives. 51. Research in the states visited has benefited from the projects, particularly in respect of the links which have been created with extension as well as with the farmers. Within the existing constitutional framework, states are directly responsible for the control of research. This is also in keeping with the government's ongoing strategy to decentralize research and develop programs suited to specific agro-ecological conditions. However, supervision and coordination of research programs at the national level by the institution responsible for this task, the Indian Council for Agricul- tural Research (ICAR), needs to be improved. 52. One shortcoming of the projects in regard to research is the inade- quate provision of funds for domestic travel of research scientists. In the case of Orissa for instance, largely due to a budget crisis in the univer- sity, researchers had to rely on vehicles provided by the USAID mission. Once the USAID program was terminated, scientists found it difficult to secure transport to villages where their presence would be required to resolve urgent disease/pest problems for example. 18/ In this context, the Region has also pointed out: "there is need to consider specific, specially staffed and funded interventions. Our coordination with DANIDA in Karnataka on women is an experiment on these lines. We do not believe NAEP will provide the needed flexibility for successful intervention in these more intractable areas. Encouragement of NGOs, able SAUs, private local consultants and the like, to be more active in experimentation could result in significant useful refinements in extension systems." - 19 - C. Sustainability 53. It is generally recognized that the quality of extension work in each state improved over the project life; projects' experience to date suggests that sustainability of the T&V system will depend to a large extent on overcoming the operational problems. The question of the costs of such a system, at completion, is less of an issue. 54. The operational problems detailed above were, for the most part, identified early by the rigorous and systematic Bank supervision undertaken largely by New Delhi Office. Moreover, these problems have been clearly communicated to government at both the central and state levels following supervision missions. A recent study19/ also concluded that "there is clear evidence that operational standards, as neasured by M&E studies, have not consistently improved and in some states they have recently declined." Despite this, however, little progress has been made in the resolution of these problems which, if continued unchecked, could affect the sustainability of the system. Analysis of these problems indicates that while some of these concern the need to improve the quality of supervision overall, which can probably be overcome with more effectively focussed training, more intrac- table are those arising as a result of the challenge of the system to existing hierachical structures. This particularly in respect of the transfer of VLWs from the DCD and the continuing pressure by local authori- ties for their involvement in non-extension activities. An alternative solution may be that instead of trying to change the ebb and flow of politi- cal power at the grass roots level by the formalized means of a strict hierarchical line of technical command from the state to the field level, the same results may be accomplished by greater efforts to convinc! the local authorities in particular of the benefits to be obtained from an efficient and effective extension system. Since there is considerable commitment in India at the national, state and local levels to agricultural development, it seems possible that with some effort a stronger constituency could be developed at the district level for improving the efficiency of the T&V system, the concept of which is generally well accepted. 55. There have been political/bureaucratic challenges to the usefulness of the extension system, a form of protest against what is regarded as undue Bank pressure. The large numbers of extension staff and the costs of the service are cited while at the same time questions are raised as to the validity of the conclusions that production increases are to a certain degree attributable to the work of the extension staff. Although this point of view was expressed by only a minority of officials interviewed, it would nevertheless call for a special study20/ on the impact of the T&V system on 19/ Reference footnote 13. 20/ Similar to that which has been undertaken for Haryana. G. Feder, L. Lau, R. Slade "The Impact of Agricultural Extension, A Case Study of the T&V System in Haryana, India." SWP #756. - 20 - production increases in dryland conditions.21/ The study should focus on the generation of government/state/community revenues due to increased produc- tion. 56. One example from Madhya Pradesh may he illustrative. Soybean pro- duction is comparatively new in the state and has been promoted from the beginning by the extension service. Government officials estimate that production in the districts covered by the project reached approximately 400,000 tons in 1984-85. The salaries of project-induced incremental staff represent about 2% of the gross value of this crop alone. Considering that other crops showed significant yield increases due to extension-recommended introduction of new varieties, use of fertilizer, etc., it can be clearly seen that jovernment fiscal revenues due to increased aarket volume must be in excess cf expenditures for extension. Furthermore, a review of the incre- mental recurrent project costs in Assam illustrate that these are relatively small as compared to current overall and recurrent DOA budgets. The 1984 Assam state agricultural budget expects incremental recurrent costs at year 5 for the second phase project for extension staff, training, and adaptive research to constitute 8% of DOA's total budget. 57. The projects' experience suggests that sustainability in respect of research is relatively well assured. There is considerable awareness on the part of both ICAR and ICRISAT, a CGIAR member, regarding the need to develop suitable technologies for both dryland agriculture. To date ICAR has concen- trated more on soil and moisture conservation through watershed development projects which is appropriate given the inherent high cost of such undertak- ings. Those visited in the projects' areas have made a promising start, are generating demand for new crop technologies; efforts must be made to ensure adequate handover provisions when the schemes are entrusted to the local communities. Innovative work in respect of developing location-specific technology22/ is being undertaken in parts of Karnataka where ICRISAT is developing cropping recommendations for areas of approximately 100 ha around rain gauge stations where rainfall records for the past 50 years are avail- able. There is a need to focus research within the SAU system more towards developing packages for dryland conditions; the audit considers that there is still insufficient awareness in some state universities of the importance of this priority. In the past the concentration of effort in financial, physi- cal and human resources terms has been towards irrigated agriculture, but this is gradually changing. There can be no doubt that as a result of the 21/ The Region considers such a study should also cover rainfed areas. 22/ Location specific technology becomes even more important in the India context when it is recalled that agriculture in many states is charac- terized by the wide range of physical resource base available to farmers from entirely rainfed to tubewell irrigated, subsistence to highly in- tensive double cropping rotations, etc. - 21 - activities of a strengthened and more focussed extension service, this has generated a demand for locally appropriate research.23/ 58. The Bank is now supporting research and extension projects in coun- tries and regions outside of South Asia, based upon the T&V system as it has been crafted in India. Mention must be made of the expertise which has been developed in the fashioning of this system since there are potential benefits to be gained for the sustainability and replicability of the T&V system else- where. Considerable expertise has developed at the state level on how the system should operate in practice. Such expertise could play a useful role in other Bank projects24/ first at project startup when the T&V system is relatively new, but has to be sufficiently well understood to allow the system to be adapted to local conditions, and second, for project supervi- sion. Consideration should be given to establishing a cadre of senior officers nearing retirement who could undertake consultancies short-term working three to six months at the project level and longer-term based in Bank regional offices, undertaking the type of supervision which has been so successfully operated out of the New Delhi Office.25/ 23/ The Region states: "The true benefits of extension reform and its sustainability are most likely to be ensured if similar institutional strengthening is undertaken in three key areas: the state departments of agriculture, the teaching activities of SAUs (and, later, other agricultural training in institutions), and other farmer support services (especially input supply). Systematic analysis of constraints in these fields and the implementation of programs designed to overcome them will help ensure continued development of the Indian agriculture sector and the efficient use of sectoral resources." 24/ Indian extension staff have been used elsewhere in South Asia, EMENA, East Asia and East Africa. 25/ The Region points out that such supervision has depended very much on the support provided by Bank Headquarters and NDO local staff. 2Q- s 9€'à - 23 - ANNEX 1 Page I ANNEX 1 YIELDS AND UPTAKE OF TECHNOLOGY IN HARYANA STATE Monitoring and evaluation units were set up in the respective Departments of Agriculture in order to assess the functioning and impact of the reorganized extension services on agricultural productivity. The most active unit has been that in Haryana which has conducted 17 monitoring/moni- toring and evaluation surveys covering both the rabi and kharif seasons. Particular attention in the surveys was given to the effectiveness of the functioning of the VEWs and the degree of acceptance of important farm prac- tices among a sample of both contact and follow farmers. These two aspects of the operation of the T&V Extension System, together with the issue of the role of extension agents relative to other sources of information, also pro- vided the core for analysis undertaken of monitoring and evaluation in twelve states in addition to Haryana.1/ The following tables have been extracted by the audit from these M&E reports. They provide information on adoption of the principal recom- mended practices for the five major crops over the kharif and rabi se-sons between 1981/82 and 1984/5 and compare these findings to yields between 1977-83. It should be noted that Haryana is not the best state with which to measure the impact of reorganized extension on dryland agriculture, since 55% of the state is classified as irrigated, while of the farmers surveyed, 85% of both contact and follow farmers in both the kharif and rabi seasons stated that more than half of their land is irrigated. Nevertheless the audit con- siders that the findings are of interest in that general trends can be noted. 1/ G. Feder, R. Slade, A. Sundaram, "The Training and Visit Extension System, an Analysis of Operations and Effects." SWP #719. -24 - ANNEX 1 Page 2 Table 1 KHARIF SEASON RICE Yields: Rolling average - 1975-79: 100 1979-83: 103 Contact and Follow Farmers Fully Adopting Recommended Practices (%) Practice 1977 1982 1983 1984 1985 Improved variety CF/a 91 96 90 93 of seed FF7 79 97 92 90 Timeliness of CF 83 81 85 84 transplanting FF 73 80 79 86 Fertilizer Basal CF 43 34 45 53 Dose (Nitrogen) FF 21 31 32 51 Average yield (kg/ha) 2605 2604 2485 /a CF - Contact Farmer 7 FF - Follow Farmer This table clearly shows that the use of low cost practices have been generally accepted by all farmers. Use of fertilizer at the time of sowing remained low in the first two seasons surveyed when average yields also declined. Fertilizer use has increased during the latter two seasons for which yield data is unavailable. The gap in application of practices between the contact farmers and follow farmers which is evident in the first season surveyed was largely closed by the second season. Sources: 1. "An Evaluation Study to Assess the Extent of Adoption of Improved Agricultural Practices and Yield Response, Kharif" for the years 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1984/85. Report Series 24, 28, 31, 34. 2. Project Completion Report, Haryana Component, FAO, (Draft) - 25 - ANNEX 1 Page 3 Table 2 KHARIF SEASON BAJRA Yields: Rolling average - 1975-79: 100 1979-83: 122 Contact and Follow Farmers Fully Adopting Recommended Practices (%) Practice 1977 1982 1983 1984 1985 Improved variety CF/a 75 82 88 88 of seed FF7- 62 62 84 85 Timely sowing CF 88 86 97 100 FF 68 73 98 99 Seed Treatment CF 25 17 43 48 FF 23 13 33 34 Fertilizer application CF 5 4 4 5 (Basal)(Nitrogen) FF 2 2 4 3 Average yield (kg/ha) 321 646 656 /a CF - Contact Farmer 7-b FF - Follow Farmer Average yields of baira, which is the second most important crop in the kharif season, have increased substantially over the project period and have clearly responded to the low cost recommendations: utilization of high yielding varieties and timeliness of sowing. Fertilizer use - both basal and as a top dressing - is negligible; seed treatment has increased considerably in the past two seasons. The gap in application of recommended practices as between contact farmers and follow farmers again narrowed as in the case of padi but over a longer time period. Sources: Table 1, op cit - 26- NNEX 1 Page 4 Table 3 KHARIF SEASON COTTON Yields: Rolling average - 1975-79: 100 1979-83: 100 Contact and Follow Farmers Fully Adopting Recommended Practices (%) Practice 1977 1982 1983 1984 1985 Improved variety CF/a 73 68 63 77 of seed FF7- 48 51 58 77 Timely sowing CF 80 87 96 98 FF 62 82 98 98 Seed Treatment CF 47 48 44 55 FF 23 38 35 47 Fertilizer application CF 10 7 5 5 (Basal) FF 2 5 5 5 Plant Protection CF 37 43 33 68 FF 28 29 24 67 Average yield (kg/ha) 298 360 238 /a CF - Contact Farmer 7- FF - Follow Farmer Cotton is the next most important crop after fodder in terms of area cultivated and is the most important cash crop of the kharif season. Average annual yields have, however, shown little if any improvement between project inception and the 1983 season. Adoption of the most important recommendation - plant protection measures - has increased sharply in the last season perhaps as a result of previous evaluation studies which concluded that much more attention needed to be paid to this practice. And again, as in the case of the other crops, the gap between contact/follow farmer at the start of the surveys has been eliminated almost entirely. Sources: Table 1, op cir - 27 - ANNEX 1 Page 5 Table 4 RABI SEASON WHEAT Yields: Rolling average - 1975-79: 100 1979-83: 113 Contact and Follow Farmers Fully Adopting Recommended Practices (%) Practice 1977 1982 1983 1984 Improved variety CF/a 92 95 99 of seed FFT 94 92 99 Timely sowing CF 83 87 95 FF 71 86 96 Seed Treatment CF 21 35 34 FF 19 22 22 Application of CF 40 33 35 fertilizer (Basal) FF 26 24 30 Average yield (kg/ha) 2099 2526 2499 /a CF - Contact Farmer 7- FF - Follow Farmer Wheat is the most important rabi crop and is widely grown through- out the state. Yields have improved over the period but there remains a marked distinction between the use of low and high cost practices - particu- larly fertilizer as a basal dressing and seed treatment despite the fact that this is an assured crop. However, 80% of contact farmers and 75% of follow farmers are applying nitrogen as a top dressing in the 1984 season compared to 66% and 60% respectively in the 1982 season. Sources: 1. "An Evaluation Report on the Functioning of Reorganized Agricul- tural Extension Project in Haryana, Rabi" for the years 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84. Report Series 26, 30, 33. 2. Project Completion Report, Haryana Component, FAO. (Draft) -28 - ANNEX 1 Page 6 Table 5 RABI SEASON GRAM Yields: Rolling average - 1975-79: 100 1979-83: 63 Contact and Follow Farmers Fully Adopting Recommended Practices (%) Practice 1977 1982 1983 1984 Improved variety CF/a 14 39 42 of seed FF7 12 23 30 Timely sowing CF 95 93 96 FF 79 77 86 Seed Treatment CF 10 17 26 FF 4 9 12 Phosphatic CF 11 16 17 fertilizer FF 6 13 13 Average yield (kg/ha) 860 555 487 /a CF - Contact Farmer 7b FF - Follow Farmer Gram is also an important rabi crop, widely grown in the dry south- western part of the state. Productivity has been falling over the life of the project and the above table illustrates that few farmers are following any of the important practices - innoculation of seed with rhyzobium culture, use of phosphatic fertilizer and adoption of improved varieties; nor has there been any significant change over the three seasons. The explanation is clear however, gram being a high risk crop, farmers are unwilling to apply high cost recommendations. Sources: Table 4, op cit COHENTS RECEIVED FROM - 29 - APNIX I MINISTRY OF FINANCE GOV NOF INDIA Shri Prithvi Singh, Director Tele : 3015610. -wfi 29A rqAmII Government of India (Bharat Sarkar) Ministry of Finance (Vitta Mantralaya) Department of Economic Affairs (Arthik Karya Vibhag) ;r( fkFff-/ New Delht th, 21 Anril. 1986 Dear Mr. Watanabe, Kindly refer to your letter dated the 7th March, 1986 addressed to Shri J.L. Bajaj, Joint Secretary of this Department forwarding a copy of the PPAR in respect of Para. 55 Orissa Agricultural Development Project (Credit 682-IN), amended Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Extension & Research Project Credit 712-IN), Assam Agricultural Development Project Credit 728-IN) and Composite Agricultural Extension Project Credit 862-Il) and inviting our comments thereon. 2. As regards para 55 of the Report, we feel that making a pointed reference to politicians and government officials is not necessary and may, thereofore, be deleted. However, the suggestion for a study on the impact of T&V system on production increase in dryland conditions made in this para could form part of concluding portion of para 56. With regards, Y099a sinc oely, MIr. Yukinori Watanabe, Director, Operations Evaluation Depart 2ent, The World Bank, 1818 H Street, N W Washington, D C 20433 U.S .A. OECO -30- APPENDIX II COWMENTS RECEIVED FRO1 MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE GOVERMCT OF INDIA TXH0976 NDN2t.5 NS4t0/22 URNX CY INND 042 NEWIFLHI ITO 42/40 22 1115 IN GOVT ETATE MR YUKINDRI WATANABE DIRFECT')R IPERAriONS EVALUAION DFPAkTMENT WORLORANK WASHINGTON 11C 20433USA PLEAS REFFR TO YOUR t.F*I1fk OF MARH-/ 1906 WE HAV REVIEWkD AND FOU ND THF DRAFT OF THE PROJECT PERFORMANCE AUIT REPORT SATES1-TORY K k NAIR AGkINDIA COL 204.4.3 MARH-/ 1986 =05220916 ALI RTD FROJM*#0EDM NNNN - 31 - ORISSA AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (Cr. 682-IN) PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT GeneraL AgricuLture Division South Asia Projects Department - 32 - INDIA ORISSA AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Credit 682-IN PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT I. BACKGROUND Introduction 1.01 The Orissa Agricultural Development Project (OADP) was appraised in May/June 1976, became effective June 28, 1977 and was scheduled to be com- pleted by June 30, 1983. Although a multi-component project, a major focus was on re-organization of extension and research, and it was one of the first Bank assisted projects to support the Training and Visit (T&V) extension methodology on a statewide basis in India. Since the signing of the credit, 13 projects with a similar focus on extension re-organization have been appraised, approved and implemented, and the Government of India (001), several State Governments and the Bank are currently working together to formulate a National Agricultural Extension Project (NAEP). A subproject of NAEP would continue extension improvements in Orissa State. The OADP should be viewed, therefore, as a pilot project offering valuable lessons to a much broader program of support for extention and research re-organization in India. Agriculture in India 1.02 India has a population of about 717 million (1982) which is growing at an annual rate of roundly 2%. Since 1960, per capita income has risen at an annual rate of 1.3% and reached US$260 in 1981/82. 1/ Agriculture is the dominant sector of the economy and contributes about 45% of GNP, engages 70% of the labor force and provides the basis for roughly 60% of India's exports. 1.03 Inspite of these modest income increases and the presence of public services, living conditions have changed little for the vast majority of urban and rural poor, who comprise around 50% of total population. Develop- ment plans put priority on alleviating poverty and creating employment, especially in rural areas, and GOI has sought to raise food production through increased use of fertilizers, agro-chemicals &nd improved seed varieties, supported by strengthened agricultural credit and irrigation development. More recently, it has looked towards improvements in extension and applied research. 1/ World Development Report 1984. - 33 - Agriculture in Orissa 1.04 Orissa has a population of 26.4 million (1981 census), of which 14% are scheduled caste and 22.5% are scheduled tribes; in five of Orissa's 13 administrative districts, these scheduled groups comprise a majority of the population. Over 75% of the population depends on agriculture which accounts for 60% of the State's income. Per capita income is around 75% of the national average. 1.05 Average holding size is 1.6 ha, but land holding distribution is markedly skewed with 47% of holdings being less than 1 ha and 93% less than 4 ha. Table 1: LAND HOLDING BY FARMER AND AREA Holding Size % Farmers % Area Type in Hectares Involved Involved Small below 1 ha 47 15 Semi-medium 1-4 ha 46 53 Medium 4-10 ha 6 23 Large 10 and above 1 9 Source: Orissa Agricultural Statistics 1980/81, DAFP. 1.06 Of the 15.5 million ha land in Orissa, 39% (6 million ha) is under cultivation (forest covers 43% and other uses 18%) and 80% of cultivated land is rainfed. The Orissa uplands, which comprise about half the cultivable lands, are of poor quality, have low water retention and are prone to drought. A moderately productive alluvial plain, and lower land highly suitable for paddy, make up the remainder of farmland; farmers often own land in different land classes, which ensures against crop failures but makes for fragmented holdings. Distribution of crops focuses heavily on rice, with pulses making up the next largest proportion trailed by oilseeds and a mix- ture of other cereals. - 34 - Table 2: PERCENTAGE OF CULTIVATED LAND UNDER MAJOR FOODCROPS /a Crops 1978-79 Percentage 1981-82 Percentage Rice 67.5 55 (Autumn rice) (12) (12) (Winter rice) (53) (41) (Summer rice) (2.5) ( 2) Wheat 1 1 Maize 2 2 Other Cereals 8 6 Pulses 15 24.5 Oilseeds 6 11 Sugar Cane 0.5 0.5 Total 100% 100% /a Source: National Agricultural Extension Project, Orissa Subproject, 7/18/83; based on pp. 56-57. 1.07 Average rainfall is 1,500 mm, but about 80% of this falls during the June-September monsoon and there are broad annual fluctuations and frequent occurrence of natural calamities. While rainfed agriculture is particularly susceptible to environmental risk, irrigated agriculture is also severely constrained by irregular water supplies, water logging and flood damage, and there are frequent salinity problems associated with the coastal saline belt. Coupled with the relatively small size and fragmentation of holdings, and the concentration of scheduled tribes and castes, makes agricultural development particularly complex, and extension and research have a difficult task in covering the farm population and addressing other quite diverse conditions and needs. PCR Infirmation Sources 1.08 Sources used for the PCR include the State component of the Eastern Region Foodgrains Production Review (Report No. 972 N-IN), the OADP Appraisal Report (1301-IN), supervision reports, correspondence files and discussions with Bank staff. Specific field visits in connection with the PCR were conducted June 1983 and February 1984. The source of all tabulatd data is identified in footnotes. II. PROJECT FORMULATION Origin 2.01 Although regarded as the country's "rice bowl" foodgrain yields in India's Eastern Region have been generally much lower than those achieved in other states and production has barely kept pace with population increases. However, Fifth Plan agricultural production targets for the Region were to provide around half of all the increased foodgrain production during the Plan period, although it was recognized that, because of the severe constraints - 35 - to develipment in the region, a concentrated effort would be needed to real- ize its full potential. 2.02 In November 1974, GOI and the Bank agreed to undertake a joint review of the Eastern Region to assess agricultural potential, identify critical constraints and ascertain the opportunities for accelerated foodgrain produc- tion. The Region's claim for priority attention was accepted by the Bank in its April 1975 Economic Report (691-IN), and the first of the Eastern Region Foodgrain Production Reviews was held in Orissa in September/October 1975 and the findings published in February 1976 (972A-IN). 2.03 Although a Command Area Development and Irrigation Project was under preparation, and was subsequently appraised in 1976/77, there had been a lag in Bank Group support to agriculture in Orissa since the 1961/62 Salandi Irrigation Project (Credit 14-IN), except indirectly through the Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC) line of credit. During this period, however, the T&V system of extension organization had been introduced in northern Madhya Pradesh (Chambal Command Area Development Project, Cr. 562-IN, effective September 1975) and Rajasthan (Canal Command Area Develop- ment Project, Cr. 502-IN, effective December 1974). Identification, Preparation and Appraisal 2.04 The Orissa Foodgrains Production Review drew up outline proposals for a Short Term Action Program in foodgrain production and identified the com- ponents for which IDA financing could be considered. Preparation was sub- sequently undertaken by a Government of Orissa (OO) working group assisted by Bank staff, the FAO/IBRD Cooperative Program and consultants. In May/June 1976, an IDA appraisal mission, comprising 10 staff members and consultants in a number of different disciplines, conducted in-depth studies in 12 dif- ferent agricultural subject areas. The appraisal report (1301A-IN) compris- ing a main text and 34 annexes, plus a supplement elaborating 6 of the annexes, was issued in February 1977. 2.05 Since GOI officials and the Bank were anxious to step up Bank Group lending for agriculture in the State, the project concept received strong support; actually substantial re-organization of the extension service was already being implemented at the time of appraisal. 2.06 The time interval between identification and appraisal was short (7 months), and there was a clear linkage between the regional sector study and the resulting project proposals. Despite the short time interval, however, each planning stage was performed with a high degree of detail and analysis. To some extent, this reflects the circumstances of a time when new avenues for Bank Group funding for agriculture were being actively pursued, the aggregate lending portfolio was more limited and the institutional experience in alternative lending strategies had yet to be gained. The concept of integrated agricultural development was also popular elsewhere in the world and there was more liberal international transfer and application of ideas until the specific needs and constraints in each country could be put more clearly into perspective. Although Bank Group support to Indian agriculture later evolved into a range of projects each focussing on a narrower and more - 36 - prioritized spectrum of development issues, the multi-component approach adopted in the OADP played an important part in this evolution. Overall Goals and Objectives 2.07 Development Strategy. The development strategy proposed for Orissa was explicitly defined in the Eastern Region Foodgrain Production Review report (972A-IN), and involved a broad based attack on the major constraints which had led to the State's sluggish growth record: "The strategy has to clearly differentiate between those constraints (such as climate and small size of holdings) which cannot be removed, and those (such as technology, ignorance, infrastructure and services) which can be relieved over time. (The strategy) must find ways to adapt to irremovable constraints while seeking to eliminate these movable constraints". 2.08 In listing the four pre-requisites for development which must be included in the strategy (technology, transfer of knowledge, supporting services and incentive structure), the report emphasized that it may be appropriate to initially concentrated efforts on one or two of these factors, but in general development could only be sustained if all were provided for. In defining a short term action program for the State, the report identified the following projects for possible Bank Group financing: Project I: AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION 1. Agricultural Extension and Adaptive Research 2. Farm Inputs and Services - Fertilizer Promotion - Seed Supply - Co-op Storage Program - Farm Implements - Agro-Service Centers 3. Minor Flow Irrigation 4. Public Lift Irrigation Development 5. Institutional Improvements - Planning and Statistics - Groundwater Survey and Monitoring - Land Records and Survey Activities 6. Initial Support for Tribal Areas Development Project II: IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE 1. Medium Flow Irrigation 2. Drainage and Flood Control 3. Command Area Development 2.09 Coverage. OADP preparation and appraisal was concerned specifically with the Agricultural Intensification Project, although scope and coverage was scaled down considerably. The resulting project was described as: - 37 - "A package of complementary components aimed at achieving early and sustained improvement in agriculture production, particularly foodgrains. This would be accomplished mainly by re-organizing and strengthening the extension service, to bring improved agricultural practices statewide; and by strengthening and reorienting related research. At the same time, associated input supply would be improved. The base wculd be laid for longer term improvements in ground water development and credit supply through surveys, monitoring, shallow tubewell technology, and new and improved land transfer and survey systems, which would also help land consolidation to improve farm efficiency. Agricultural statistics and data processing would be strengthened to improve agricultural planning for GOI and OO, and for evaluating project progress and effect". 2.10 Expected Outcomes. The appraisal report analyzed the opportunities for improving yields of paddy, ragi, wheat, maize, groundnuts and pulses, and technical packages were prepared for each of these crops along with expected adoption rates in the pre and terminal years of the project. Although an indicative estimate of expected foodgrain production increases during the project was calculated (see below) this does not provide a basis for measur- ing actual performance against expectations, nor was it used in cost/benefit analysis. Instead, and as is the currently accepted procedure for agricul- tural extension projects in India, economic analysis of the investment proposals was limited to calculating the incremental benefits necessary to achieve an economic rate of return equal to the opportunity cost of capital. 2.11 Translated in terms of the yield increment of paddy (the major crop) using a derived economic price for 1985, the "break-even" yield increment amounted to 7.7 kg/ha when expressed over the entire estimated paddy area of 4.5 M ha or 60 kg/ha if only contact farmers and an additional 5% were to benefit; the appraisal team anticipated that the annual statewise yields would, in fact, increase by around 300 kg/ha or 32% by year 8. As an indicator of absolute quantities, the report anticipated that production of cereals, pulses and oilseeds would increase by around 2.25 million tons by full development (year 8). Expected impact on farm incomes was indicated in a series of case study models, and the project was expected to provide an additional 400,000 man years of on-farm employment by full development as well as creating new jobs in ancillary industries. 2.12 Although specifically directed to the cropping sub-sectors, the project's statewide coverage and its involvement in the entire crop extension activity, as well as a major proportion of applied crop research, means that not only would any accelerated increase in crop production in the State during the life of the project be a fair indicator of project impact, but also that a major proportion of this accelerated increase would be a direct result of project induced change. However, precise disaggregation of produc- tion increase into project and non-project induced elements is fraught with difficulty as also is precise measurement of any aggregate production increase which has occurred. It is a subject that is dealt with in more detail later in the report (Chapter IV). - 38 - Project Description 2.13 Outline. The project components, outlined in para 2.09 and described in detail below, were included as 10 specific lines of investment support. Although the report did not explicitly attempt to prioritize the development constraints that had been identified in terms of investment cost, the rela- tive importance of each component was as follows: Table 3: SUMMARY ALLOCATION OF PROJECT COSTS US$1000 % % Agricultural Extension 10,563 34.9 ) Research Support 4,902 16.2 ) 54.7 Extension Training 1,081 3.6 ) Cooperative Training 1,133 3.7 Farm Implements 763 2.5 Tubewell Technology 153 .5 Groundwater survey/monitoring 1,733 5.7 ) Land Survey and Records 5,150 17.0 ) 38.6 Farm Management Data Unit 859 2.8 ) Statistics and Data Processing 3,943 13.0 ) Base Costs (excluding contingencies) 30,280 99.9 2.14 Although a multi-component project, extension and research support are the major focus of investments accounting for 55% of base costs or 89% of the development and training components. The high allocation to survey work is particularly significant, accounting for 39% of base costs; around half involves collection and processing of farm management and production data which would have direct relevance in subsequent assessment of project impact. Project economic analysis excluded all survey components, cooperative train- ing and tubewell technology from its cost stream. 2.15 Agricultural Extension. Prior to the project, agricultural extension at farm level was a responsibility of multi-purpose Village Level Workers (VLW) employed by, or seconded to, the Department of Community Development and Social Welfare (DCDSW). This was broadly similar to the service and administrative structure (known as the Block Development Program) which existed elsewhere in India and has been described in detail in the appraisal report. An efficient mechanism for technological transfer was recognized as an essential prerequisite for accelerated agricultural growth and a number of fundamental weaknesses were found within the existing system: (i) Although VLW were supposed to spend around 80% of their time on extension activities, in practice the time spent was nearer 25% and was largely confined to work of a distributive or reporting nature. (ii) This low tiae allocation was additionally impaired by the poor qualifications and training of many VLW which limited theit ability to effect technology transfer, as well as the dilution caused by a multiplicity of schemes for which they were the ultimate field level functionaries. - 39 - (iii) A consequence of the structure was that lines of communication, administration and supervision were complex and diffuse which not only jeopardized the chances of departmental programs to be properly implemented, but also resulted in insufficient atten- tion being given to logistics of program implementation at field level. (iv) In addition to these problems of staff control, the technical staff establishment in the various tiers between state and village was insufficiently balanced to enable effective back-up and supervision to take place. 2.16 A further problem was the organizational structure of the Department of Agriculture and Food Production (DAFP) which differed from the basic administrative structure of the State. The latter comprised 13 Revenue Districts, each headed by a Collector, which were further subdivided into 314 Development Blocks (20-30 per District) with each Block comprising 100-200 villages and headed by a Block Development Officer (BDO). In contrast, DAPP administration divided the State into 6 Ranges and 30 Agricultural Districts which did not coincide with the state administrative boundaries as there were 2-3 Revenue Districts in each Range while each of the 13 Revenue Districts contained 2-3 Agricultural Ditricts. 2.17 Each of the Agricultural Districts was headed by a District Agricul- tural Officer (DAO) responsible for all DAFP programs including extension, seed multiplication and input distribution activities. Under the Block Development Program, which had been in operation for the past 20 years, each of the 314 Blocks had 10 VLW from DCDSW along with up to 6 additional VLW and less trained Demonstrators seconded from DAFP and involved in a number of special schemes. Each Block had one or two Agricultural Extension Officer (AEO) from DCDSW with one other seconded from DAFP. Apart from the split responsibilities in extension activities, the VLW received their pay from the BDO and while DAFP staff were expected to guide and supervise their work in agriculture they could not exercise any administrative control over them. 2.18 The Block Development Program, which was in many ways well suited to the circumstances which had existed in India 20 years previously, was becom- ing increasingly strained with the increased tempo of development activity in more recent years, and it is a measure of the State's recognition of this, and of its support for the OADP, that considerable reforms were already underway at the time of appraisal. This involved the transfer of some 2,500 or 70% of total VLW into a separate extension service under DAFP and incor- porating another 3,100 from various defunct DAFP special schemes. It was the express wish of GOO that project supported re-organization should extend statewide to avoid the problem of operating different systems concurrently and because it was felt that farmers would benefit more from early partial coverage than by waiting for full coverage until all staff were fully trained and qualified. 2.19 Project proposals were, therefore, essentially geared to supporting and consolidating the changes that were already being initiated, and to developing the extension service into a well trained, highly motivated and - 40 - technically competent organization. The focus was very much on optimal utilization of existing field staff, with additional staffing restricted to improvements in balance, supervision and technical support. Internal struc- ture and operation were designed according to T&V methodology which was described in detail in the report and wbich is now a feature of Bank Group supported extension projects in India. In addition to incremental staffing costs, the project included support for a wide range of audio-visual aids and equipment and for greatly improved transportation and mobility of extension staff, including loans for motorcycles and bicycles for AEO level downward. Other motivational and incentive measures, such as improved travel allowan- ces, were also included, and provision was made for incremental housing at Range, District and Village locations (for around 35% of field staff) and additional office accommodation in the 10 new Ranges as well as 6 of the existing Districts where facilities were absent or deficient. 2.20 The number of Village Agricultural Workers (the term VLW was changed to VAW) allowed an average ratio of 1:600 farming families. An Additional Director of Agriculture (ADA Extension) would head the service at HQ level. The number of Ranges, each headed by a Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA), would be increased from 6 to 13, and would approximately coincide with Revenue Districts. Agricultural District staffing would be strengthened, for supervisory purposes, by adding 60 Additional District Agricultural Officers (ADAO), while a more substantive staff increase was proposed for Subject Matter Specialists (SMS) from 3 in each of the 6 Ranges to 5 in each of the 13 Ranges; 1/ from year 3 onwards, district level SMS would also be added, to a maximum of 3 per District, in disciplines which reflect the specific needs of each District. Full development extension staff proposals are shown below: Table 4: OADP EXTENSION STAFFING Range District Field Level Deputy Directors of Agriculture 13 District Agricultural Officer 30 Additional Dist. Agri. Officer 60 Subject Matter Specialist 65 90 /a Agriculture Extension Officer 700 Village Agricultural Worker 5600 Training Officer 13 a From year 3. 2.21 Agricultural Research. At the time of project identification, High Yielding Variety (HYV) use, fertilizer consumption and crop yields in Orissa state were among the lowest in the country. While inadequate extension was identified as a primary cause of this disparity, weaknesses in research were also strongly highlighted. The Foodgrain Production Review report made 1/ Covering agronomy, plant protection, farm mechanization, water management and farm management. - 41 - specific reference to the need for improved varietal research, particularly for areas subject to flooding, and for research in pest resistance; to the need for a major program of applied research and specific adaptation of technology and management practices to reflect the State's widely varying ecological conditions; and to the need for attention to the smallest farmers who may be below the threshold of development under present technology. 2.22 In its analysis of available technology, the appraisal report con- sidered that many of the DAFP recommendations for maximizing production were impractical for wide acceptance, being far beyond the farmers' financial resources and present technical capability. Under the project, it was intended to use a modified approach by gradually introducing improved cul- tural practices, requiring only modest financial outlay, which would act as a catalyst to encourage subsequent changes to short-term HYV plus fertilizers. Cropping packages reflecting this approach were prepared for paddy, maize, ragi, wheat, groundnut and pulses. While the inference within the report was that sufficient existing technology, albeit with adaptation, was available for immediate transfer through a revitalized extension service, sustained development, even during the life of the project and particularly in the rainfed areas, would depend increasingly on the findings of a much strengthened program of applied and adaptive research. 2.23 There were two major institutions conducting research in Orissa: the Central Rice Research Instit4te (CRRI) which has an All-India brief; and the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) which, since its establishment in 1962, has had principal responsibility for all state- specific agricultural research. OUAT was then operating seven research stations, including its main station on the Bhubaneshwar campus. These were formerly under the control of DAFP, which continued to undertake a modest amount of adaptive research work on its own departmental farms. In their review of existing State programs and facilities, the appraisal report high- lighted a number of fundamental weaknesses: (i) Severe shortage of research funds and inadequately equipped facilities at the existing stations. (ii) Inadequate staffing at the main station at Bhubaneshwar due primarily to the dual responsibilities for teaching and research which not only severely limited the time spent on research but also encouraged discipline oriented study geared to higher academic degree requirements. (iii) Serious staffing constraints at outstations due to temporary appointments and restricted operating funds. (iv) Inadequate cooperation with extension and coordination of research between the disciplines within the agricultural faculty as well as between the research stations and with other State, national and international institutions. (v) Inadequate field-orientation of the extension research program, and inadequate coverage of applied and adaptive research in the State's different agro-ecological regions. - 42 - 2.24 Project proposals were geared primarily towards three goals: (i) Extending and strengthening the coverage of applied and adaptive research in the State. (ii) Re-orienting the focus of research toward practical farm-level issues. (iii) Improving the coordination between extension and research, and between the various disciplines within OUAT. In terms of outcomes, the proposals were primarily to ensure continual feed- back of farm level problems from extension to research, along with iden- tification, testing and adaptation of technology to allow sustained transfer of practical and viable recommendations back to farmers. Specific reference was made to the high degree of environmental risk experienced by rice growers in the rainfed kharif season to the extent that only 10% of area was planted to HYV rice during this period compared with 80-90% coverage in the irrigated rabi season. The combination of extension and research improvements were expected to result in an increase in average yield of kharif rainfed rice from 0.76 tons/ha (1975) to 1.5 tons/ha, and irrigated rice from 1.28 tons/ha to 2 tons/ha, after 5 years of project development. 2.25 Improved research coverage would be accomplished by providing improved facilities and staffing at two existing OUAT Applied Research Sta- tions, to cover the Coastal Zone and Central Plateau Table lands, and estab- lishing two new stations to cover the Eastern Chat Highland Zone and the Northern Plateau Undulating Lands. In addition, 13 Adaptive Research Sta- tions, under DAFP, would be established to cover each of the 13 new extension Ranges. A summary of locations and investment components is given in Schedule 1. Improvements in research focus would be accomplished by intro- ducing a multidisciplinary team approach to research, using permanently appointed staff, with those at the main station (Bhubaneshwar) having only incidental teaching duties. In addition, program orientation would be geared specifically to farm level issues as highlighted previously. An outline of the proposed research program is given in End Schedule 2. 2.26 Improved research coordination would be primarily accomplished through a new Research Coordination Unit. Research programs would be com- piled in advance of kharif and rabi seasons and ratified during half yearly state level meetings, while research results for each year would be compiled into technical reports and circulated. In order to foster close links between research and extension, senior research staff on Adaptive Research Stations would be seconded from OUAT but responsible to the Range DDA. All research staff would be actively associated with extension training and the three outlying Applied Research Stations would each be equipped with a 24 bed dormitory to permit periodic visits by extension staff. 2.27 Extension Training. In addition to routine in-service training which is an inherent feature of the T&V System, the appraisal report addressed the need for much improved basic extension training facilities to account for normal staff wastage (about 5% per annum), to upgrade around 2,500 poorly - 43 - trained staff, and to provide refresher courses to many existing staff who had received their basic training more than a decade earlier before major advances in HYV and irrigation technology had occurred. The ongoing transfer of VLW from DCDSW to DAFP also included transfer of three Extension Training Centers (at Bhubaneshwar, Gopalpur and Balangir). Built in the 1950s for a much smaller function than was now required, these centers were particularly deficient in classroom accommodation, and were inadequately staffed with a lack of practical orientation in the training curricula. 2.28 Quantified training needs amounted to 330 VAW for annual preservice training (to replace normal wastage) plus up-grading of 13,000 old VLW and 1,200 sub-overseers and field demonstrators. In addition, new technology, changes in policy and interests in new crops and cultural practices would call for short specialized in-service training courses as well as short courses for contact farmers and rural leaders. To cater for these needs, the project would support expansion and upgrading of the three existing Centers and construction of one additional center to give a combined capacity for 720 students. This would be accompanied by a reduction in the period of formal pre-service training from 2 years to 1 year which would be supplemented by the regular training they would receive in the field under the T&V program. Introduction of the latter was expected to achieve a marked improvement in the status of VAW, leading to an increase in the number of applicants for training and a higher standard of trainee selection. Coupled with the planned increase in schooling requirements from 10 to 12 years, trainees were expected to have a much better science background than had previously been the case. 2.29 Similarly, up-grading Higher Courses for older VAW would be shortened from 1 year to eight months, while four-month courses, designed to suit the needs of different categories, would be provided for sub-overseers and demon- strators. This latter program would be completed in 3 1/2 years after which facilities would be available for refresher and associated courses. Upgrad- ing courses would be completed after 5 years. Upgrading and expansion of the training facilities included support for extra training staff and 20 man- months of teachers training at courses elsewhere in India in adult education and agricultural teaching methods. The trainees' stipend would also be increased. 2.30 The heavy demand for SMS, which was an important component of exten- sion reorganization, would be phased over a 5 year period. While some dis- trict level SMS would be promoted from existing AEO, the majority would be young M.Sc graduates with up to one year's practical experience on research stations. Range SMS, who would require greater technical background in their respective fields, would receive supplementary training and study visits to research centers elsewhere in India. Funds for 80 manmonths were included for this. Training staff were also expected to work actively with SMS and extension supervisors in design, coordination and conduct of the T&V training component. 2.31 In recognition of the important role of women, both in family deci- sion-making and agricultural production, a specific sub-component for train- ing rural women was included. Pre-project activity was handled at field level by one DCDSW-employed gramsevika (women village level worker) per Block - 44 - each working through 20-30 womens clubs which they had established throughout their areas. Although constrained by inadequate mobility, support and super- vision, their effectiveness in four of the 13 Revenue Districts had been greatly increased by providing peripatetic training teams, each comprising a Women's Training Officer, two Demonstrators and a training aids vehicle. This training program involved training camps of two to five days duration for womens clubs. Under the project, an additional 10 teams would be provided (one per Range) to strengthen the impact of existing gramsevikas who would help plan the programs and provide necessary follow-up after the train- ing courses. 2.32 Cooperative Development and Training. Project development projec- tions anticipated an increase in average State fertilizer use from 7.4 kg/ha of nutrients in 1975/76 to 24.6 kg/ha by 1983/84, and the appraisal undertook a detailed study of the input delivery systems so as to assess their capacity to service these needs. Although ex-factory supply was not an immediate problem, a number of constraints were identified in connection with Govern- ment input policy and in the cooperative system which was expected to handle around half of the incremental supply. Proposals were initially drawn up for assisting in cooperative storage and dist ibution using the National Coopera- tive Development Corporation (NCDC) as the financing agency. This, however, would have been a new channel for Bank Group funds and since delays were likely, it was agreed to transfer this component to a subsequent all-India project to be prepared by NCDC. Weaknesses were also identified within the institutional credit system in Orissa, but remedial measures and support were already provided for through Bank Group financing to ARDC. Similarly, improved seed supply would be supported under the GOI/Bank assisted National Seeds Program. 2.33 A particular problem within many of the State's 3324 Primary Cooperative Societies (PACS) was the limited management ability of PACS secretaries along with insufficient turnover to sustain viability, itself a consequence of poor management. Attention was therefore focussed on the need for better training of PACS secretaries to increase their operational effec- tiveness and enable the societies to cope with the rapid growth in farmers' demand for service which the program was expected to generate. Qualitative and quantitative training needs were high, for not only had the cooperative movement grown rapidly in recent years with new and broader responsibilities being assigned to it, but general development of business and industry in Orissa was creating its own demand for trained managers, book-keepers and accountants which was siphoning off trained cooperative staff. The appraisal also found that the existing training institutions were grossly inadequate for the training function now demanded of them. Along with the needs for greatly improved facilities, there was a need to decentralize training, to train instructors and develop new curricula, and to increase the in-service training performed by supervisory staff. Although the Registrar of Coopera- tives had overall responsibility for staff training policy, there was no specialized unit within the Department of Cooperatives upon which respon- sibility for implementing training policy could be focussed. 2.34 Project support was therefore included for constructing permanent facilities for the Cooperative Training College at Bhubaneshwar and the Cooperative Training Center at Bargarh which had hitherto been housed in - 45 - rented accommodation. The existing Training Center at Gopalpur would also be renovated and expanded. The new facilities at Bhubaneshwar, with a maximum training capacity of 1,440 manmonths per annum, would be sufficient for the pre and inservice requirements of Senior Level Cooperative staff, while the two other centers, with a combined capacity of 2880 man months per annum, would be sufficient to meet a 10% wastage from the ranks of existing inspec- tors, supervisors, junior managers and accountants. Training requirements of the existing 3324 PACS secretaries would become the responsibility of the 17 Central Cooperative Banks (CCB) and simple hostel accommodation (for 24 students) and classroom facilities would be constructed at each with a full time instructor seconded from the Department of Cooperatives. Training courses, which would involve CCB staff, would include a period of appren- ticeship in the banks with supervised on-the-job instruction in practical aspects of book-keeping and simple accounting. CCB would also be able to use these units for training their own staff. 2.35 This new and practical orientation of PACS secretary training was considered to be of fundamentallimportance; and provision was made for a series of regional seminars at which CCB managers and the instructors would be able to discuss the objectives, content and implementation of their train- ing programs. Establishment of the training facilities would be phased over three years so that all CCBs would not be required to assume this new respon- sibility at the same time. Overall program planning, coordination and the day-to-day logistics of implementation would be the responsibility of a Training Officer at the Department of Cooperatives headquarters under the Registrar of Cooperatives. The appraisal report also included specific policy recommendations for alleviating a number of other constraints within the State level input delivery system. 2.36 Farm Implements. Despite pervasive landlessness, unemployment and poverty, the appraisal report drew attention to serious seasonal labor bot- tlenecks and the consequent effect of these on crop performance due to delayed planting, poor land preparation and weed competition. Even on farms already practicing ox cultivation, the traditional country plow was rated an inefficient implement requiring many passes to produce a seed bed and achieving poor weed control due to inadequate soil inversion. A considerable amount of work had already been carried out by the Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) and DAFP in research, testing and production of improved animal drawn equipment and there were estimated to be around 80,000 improved plows, around 3% of total, in use at the time. Trial results showed the improved plow capable of reducing land preparation time by around 50% while simple seeding attachments for line sowing enabled easier weed control and a 20-30% saving in seed. Better inversion coupled with line sowing could also replace the practice of cross plowing (behushoning) broadcast rice which results in a serious reduction in plant population. Substantial farmer benefits were shown in case study budgets; although mention was made of certain mouldboard limitations in loamy and sandy soils. 2.37 At time of appraisal, improved plows were being produced by the DAFP Agricultural Engineering Section (5,500 per annum) and the Industrial Development Corporation at Hirakund (500 pa) although several private enterpreneurs in Orissa were also marketing cast iron mouldboard plows (6,000 - 46 - in 1975/76). DAFP, which organized distribution and marketing through exten- sion Block officers as well as through village stores via the Agro-Industries Corporation (AIC), was also involved in development and manufacture of other intermediate technology implements and equipment. Although annual demand could not easily be predicted, the appraisal report anticipated that his would be high and could be in the order of 50,000 cultivation units (plow, plate weeder and rake weeder), 100,000 seeding attachments and 2,500 disc harrows, cultivators, seed drills and wheel hoes by year 4. While short and medium term loan facilities to assist farmers purchases should be available from institutional sources, there was a marked discrepancy between current supply and anticipated demand. Project support was accordingly provided for the following: (i) Improving research and development capacity to ensure a continuous pipeline of improved implements suitable for a wide range of soil conditions. (ii) Encouraging awareness and demand for improved implements through an intensification of demonstration activities. (iii) Expanding the state's production and supply capacity to cater for anticipated demand. (iv) Creating a sound distribution and marketing network to allow easier access by farmers throughout the state. 2.38 The project would establish a Research and Design Unit at the OUAT College of Agricultural Engineering with support for incremental workshop equipment, transport and staffing costs; the Unit's research responsibilities are summarized in Schedule 2. Similar investment components would also enable DAFP manufacturing capacity to increase to 14,000 plows per annum and to support development of implement manufacturing processes and fabrication of prototypes prior to field testing and trials. DAFP mobile demonstration units would also be expanded and equipped to cover the 13 new agricultural ranges and would work closely with SMS in farm machinery and assist in exten- sion field training. Each unit would be expected to conduct 150 demonstra- tions per year covering about 30,000 farmers per range. 2.39 The balance of supply needs was expected to come from an expansion of IDC production capacity using DAFP specifications, and from the private trade. The precise nature of overall marketing and distribution arrangements envisioned is unclear in the report, for while AIC was expected to assume responsibility for this, including quality contro. of DAFP production, sales outlets would involve AIC and DAFP, accounting for 40% of sales, while cooperatives and the private trade would handle the remaining 60%. Although AIC sales staffing would be strengthened for this role, all costs, along with those of IDC and private manufacture, would be met from existing sources of institutional finances outside of the Project and would be covered through sales mark-up and commission charges. Although there was already close liaison between OUAT, DAFP and AIC in the field of agricultural implements, a formal coordinating committee was to be set up to oversee the farm implement component. - 47 - 2.40 Shallow Tubewell Technology. This was essentially a research and testing component, not specifically itemized during identification, but included during appraisal in anticipation of the ARDC program which was to include credit for some 200,000 dug wells over the coming 5 years. The basic objective was to undertake research, design, installation and field testing of alternative types of shallow tubewells which, under favorable geological conditions, could be considerably cheaper than conventional dugwells and yet still make use of locally available materials. The development of low, efficient pumping equipment was also a primary goal. A summary of the program, which included installation of 96 test and demonstration wells, is given in Schedule 2. This component, which was to be completed in the first 3 years of the project, would be implemented by Orissa Lift Irrigation Cor- poration (OLIC) with project support for staff, materials, equipment and operating costs. 2.41 Groundwater Survey and Monitoring. The Short Term Action Program of the Orissa Foodgrain Production Review anticipated substantial expansion in groundwater development and identified the need to urgently increase Goo's capacity to undertake groundwater survey and monitoring activities. A sub- sequent working group, formed by ARDC and GOI, drew up proposals for a program of groundwater development (to be indirectly supported by IDA Credit 540-IN) which would increase the annual groundwater extraction by 240,000 ha while longer term projections contemplated an annual draft approaching 2 million ha. To assure orderly development of the groundwater resources and avoid over-exploitation in local areas, a five year program of investigation and monitoring surveys was included under the project. This would involve: (i) Installing instrumentation for collecting rainfall and run-off data at 92 stations throughout the State to allow evaluation and assessment of groundwater recharge. (ii) Installing 65 especially designed monitoring wells throughout the State to determine seasonal and annual fluctuations of the water table and the pressure surface of confined aquifers. (iii) Conducting an inventory of existin3 wells to provide a basis for evaluating the effects of program implementation. (iv) Conducting a comprehensive survey and laboratory analysis of surface and groundwater quality. 2.42 These data would provide the basis for a continuous planning and evaluation function which would ensure that the substantiable potential from area to area is properly assessed, and permit orderly and phased development in groundwater exploitation including evaluation of intensity, spacing and cost effectiveness of options. A central Data Bank would be established at each of four Regional headquarters with data and information filled in a manner which is readily retrievable and available for use. The ORLC was to be responsible for carrying out the program, and the project included support fot incremental staffing costs and purchase of equipment and materials including drilling rigs, monitoring and recording instrumentation, survey equipment and laboratory testing apparatus. Total cost amounted to around 1% of OLIC's Planned Investment in groundwater development. - 48 - 2.43 Land Survey and Land Records. A serious deficiency in land records and a complete absence of maps for many villages was highlighted both in identification and appraisal. Even where records did exist, the system for retrieval and updating were both cumbersome and time consuming. The agricul- tural significance of this deficiency was described as follows: (i) An authentic land record is essential to protect the rights of cultivators and to encourage term investments. (ii) Many credit agencies require land as a collateral for medium and long term lending and require a certificate of freedom from encumbrance which has to cover a minimum of 13 years. (iii) Land reform measures, such as land consolidation, acquisition of land for development purpose, conversion of share croppers to full ownership and land ceiling legislation are delayed or prevented. 2.44 Although a program of cadastral surveys and preparation of a complete Record of Rights had been started in 1958, due to funding shortages this was not expected to be completed until 1984. An improved system of card index- ing, which had reduced search and issue time from six days to one hour, had also been introduced, although confined to one district in the State. In order to hasten these developments, the project included support which would bring forward completion of the land survey program to 1981/82, and accelerate coverage of the new land record indexing system over the entire state, including retrospective coverage of land transactions during the previous 13 years. Project funding was included for additional staff, vehicles and equipment, including card index cabinets, plus construction of 14 record rooms at important local centers, 47 rural record rooms at key towns, and two new registration offices, one each at Sambalpur and Bolangir. Provision was also made for three man weeks of consulting time to study the card indexing system operating in Dhenkanal and to suggest improvements. 2.45 Farm Management Data Unit. The Orissa Foodgrain Production Review drew attention to a serious deficiency in the specialized functions associated with agriculture development planning and strategy formulation. Specific reference was made to: (i) lack of confidence in the available statistics of production and yields as a planning tool; (ii) the absence of up-to-date information on costs of production, farm budgets and other basic economic data; (iii) a general absence of economic analytical techniques either at the sector level or in project preparation; (iv) an apparent reluctance to face up to economic reality by allocating scarce resources to priority projects, with the result that resources are unduly dispersed; - 49 - (v) pricing policies which were almost certainly counter-productive (e.g., water charges); and (vi) the widespread use of subsidies for which no economic justification has been propounded. 2.46 These deficiencies were further highlighted during appraisal along with the need to generate suitable and reliable information for monitoring and evaluating project performance. Substantial project support was included for the Bureau of Economics and Statistics (BES) in connection with the basic area, yield and production statistics (see below). However, the appraisal report highlighted the need for a wide spectrum of additional farm management data for agricultural policy and planning for use in extension service train- ing, and for monitoring and evaluating the extension service and new research technology. This work was to be conducted by a new Farm Management Data Unit (FMDU) within the OUAT Department of Agricultural Economics. Basic data would be collected from a sample of 1,500 farms, stratified to cover a range of (but not all) farming systems in the state. This would be supplemented by additional budgetary data synthesized from the expanded adaptive research program. Data collection, involving whole farm business recording, was to be based on monthly visits by primary investigators, and project costs covered all vehicles, equipment and additional staff, including 105 field enumerators. A pilot test of methodology would be carried out in two to three districts, and five months of FAO technical assistance was to be provided for this. 2.47 Agricultural Statistics and Data Processing. At the time of project appraisal, three GOO agencies were involved in collecting and processing agricultural statistics. DAFP was responsible for all crop forecasts (includ- ing rice, potato and jute) and for estimates of area under jute and for area, yield and production statistics for 33 minor crops. BES was responsible for estimates of area, yield and production of rice and potatoes, and for estimates of the average yield of jute. The Orissa Revenue Department was responsible for conducting the 1970/71 large-scale census of agriculture; this was to be repeated every 5 years but would be superceded by the Timely Reporting System recommended by GOI for all India and expected to begin in 1976. The latter is now the established basis for ensuring commonality between basic agricultural statistics throughout India although the manner in which data are collected varies from State to State. 2.48 DAFP data compilation was carried out by VLW using an administrative reporting system which the appraisal team found to be "poorly supervised, highly subjective and biased, subject to progressive error and unreliable for agricultural planning". Following the transfer of VLW to specific extension duties, this system and previous forms of VLW agricultural survey work were to be discontinued in favor of a comprehensive, scientifically-based system of compiling and enumeration to be carried out by BES. The latter would commence in 1976 covering a statistically determined sample of 3,100 villages (6% of total but rising to 10. 15 and 20% in subsequent years) during the kharif season and a further 460 villages in intensively irrigated blocks during the rabi season. A substantial increase in BES staff was required to undertake this workload, and project support was included for all additional - 50 - staff costs (including an extra 984 field enumerators) plus supporting vehicles and survey, office and data processing equipment. 2.49 Project Organization and Management. The proposed or&anizational and staffing changes referred to in previous sub-sections were intended as per- manent institutional arrangements focussed on existing institutions. In many cases, however, considerable reorganization and strengthening was required, particularly with extension, although this was already underway at time of appraisal. Of the components involving specific project support for addi- tional staff and facilities, the organizational and management arrangements were to fall into 2 broad categories: (i) Strengthening on existing structure (or ongoing program of reorganization) as in the case of: Agricultural Extension Applied Research Adaptive Research Extension Training Training of Senior Level Cooperative Staff Farm Implement Manufacture and Distribution Shallow Tubewell Technology Groundwater Survey and Monitoring Land Survey and Records Agricultural Statistics and Data Processing; and (ii) establishing a new and specialized unit within aa existing department, which was the case with: The Research Coordination Unit Cooperative Training at PCS Level The Farm Implement Research and Design Unit Farm Management Data Unit. 2.50 Beyond this, the main organizational and management requirement was to ensure adequate coordination between components and sound policy direction at State level. This would be achieved through a new Policy, Planning and Coordination Unit (PPCU), directly responsible to the Agricultural Production Commissioner and headed by an Officer on Special Duty with the rank of Addi- tional Secretary. The unit, which would also be responsible for any future Bank assisted projects, would comprise three cells: Project Preparation; Monitoring and Evaluation; and Policy and Planning. The Project did not include financial support for the unit, and it was to receive a small staff through transfer from similar duties with the Commissioner and DAFP. Terms of reference for PPCU were agreed at appraisal and are summarized in Schedule 3. 2.51 Below the level of PPCU, and in addition to the directly funded units already referred to, three additional, but non-funded, bodies were assigned specific duties in project implementation: - A Buildings Implementation Unit; to be established with respon- sibility for implementing all project civil works. - 51 - - An Adaptive Research and Extension Advising Panel; already established with responsibility for evaluating research results and formulating extension recommendations and related service support programs. - A Farm Implements Committee; to be established with DAFP, OUAT and AIC representatives to supervise design and distribution of farm implements. III. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION Implementation Schedule 3.01 Start Up. The credit became effective on schedule. Since a number of important organizational changes had started at time of appraisal, this aspect of the project had already gained momentum. However, formal implemen- tation was delayed by the requirements for Cabinet approval; this was finally obtained in February 1978. 3.02 Revision. No formal changes were made in project design during implementation, although a number of minor changes were made in certa'n expenditure items detailed at appraisal, and in extension staffing which is discussed below. GOI requested the Bank to extend the credit closing date to 6/30/84. 3.03 Overall Performance. While overall physical performance has been good, particularly in comparison with many other projects in India, progress against appraisal targets has been behind schedule for all components, and there remain a number of staffing shortfalls, some serious, which continue to impede progress. As of March 1983 cumulative project expenditure was around 95% of the appraisal total and at February 28, 1985, 7.5% of the credit was still to be disbursed. Due primarily to changes in the dollar exchange rate, around US$1.3 million would remain undisbursed. 3.04 Summary indicators of physical performance are given in End Table 2. Although most physical targets have now been achieved, operational delays have meant that the development impact of many project components is yet to be fully realized. To a large extent, this situation reflects general over optimism at time of appraisal and the difficulty of fully appreciating the administrative and procedural delays of Government. Nevertheless, at project completion, there was every reason to believe that impact targets would eventually be achieved and that a firm structural and institutional founda- tion for future development had been achieved. However, budgeting problems led to the cessation of all the OUAT based components and there have been moves to revert the administrative control over AEO and VAW to BDOs. Although both problems have been resolved, they are a timely reminder of difficulties inherent in maintaining support for project activities after project completion. - 52 - Performance Against Objectives 3.05 Agricultural Extension. The project aimed at increasing agricultural production and one of the package of complementary components was to reor- ganize and strengthen extension. Due to the momentum and support already well established at time of appraisal, structural reorganization of the extension service proceeded smoothly and rapidly. Staffing shortfalls have been the most serious problem and are in many ways a consequence of immediate state-wide coverage. This approach, however, has avoided the administrative complication of going for slower geographical coverage. The staffing problem was particularly severe in the cases of SMS, and in all staff positions in the more distant and tribal areas. Delay in house construction due to late sanctioning, site disputes and cement shortages, which initially prevented many VAW from residing in their area of operation, were largely overcome, although work on 52 staff quarters was still to be started as at September 1983. COO approved an increased amount for motorcycle loans in 1979 and most of the loan quota for motorcycles and bicycles had been taken up by 1982 (which is unusual in India). 3.06 During the first year of the project, following delineation of the VAW and AEO circles, some adjustment in staff numbers was found necessary. At village level, due to variation in population density and in order to avoid circle boundaries crossing Block boundaries, tte. total number of VAW was increased from 5,600 to 5,911 to which was added a 10% leave reserve (total 6,502). Other supervisory and support staff were increased in propor- tion; the revised numbers are shown in Table 2. Some changes were also made in SMS positions primarily to ensure satisfactory technical back-up in agronomy and plant protection. The availability of SMS was underestimated at appraisal and shortages at this level have been a continuing problem. As of November 1983, the overall vacancy rate against revised targets was still 30% although numbers in post were 90% of appraisal targets. 3.07 OADP has been one of the most successful projects in India in terms of T&V operation, and the fact that the service is still operating below potential is largely a reflection of the time it will take to change attitudes, both within and outside the service, from the fundamentally dif- ferent approach of the previous structure. Apart from the direct consequence of staffing shortfalls, operation initially suffered from poor supervision, and poor quality of the fortnightly training sessions. 1/ This situation, however, has steadily improved, with sound direction from DAFP, coupled with specialized training and workshops; in 1982 all AEO participated in 5 day courses in extension methodology and Orissa was one of the first States to undertake this program. 3.08 More persistent operational problems concern the technology that is being extended to farmers (for which the service, in part because of its organizational strength, is ultimately dependent on research), and the con- tinuing involvement of field staff in non-T&V activities (for which the service is still subject to considerable outside pressure). The former 1/ In the absence of SMS, ABO had to assume much of the training workload. - 53 - problem is most conspicuous in the rainfed and tribal areas where appropriate research technology is still very much in short supply, but elsewhere it has also proved difficult to wean extension and research staff (see below) away from general recommendations and high input/cost technology. However, there is clear evidence that not only is the service becoming increasingly aware of this problem and taking remedial measures within its own operation, but also it is exerting considerable pressure on the research support network to reorient its research priorities. This is a development of major sig- nificance and underscores an important but frequently overl,oked, trickle-down effect of a strong extension network. For, ultimately, it will be because of pressure and performance accountability that the entire development machinery will become better oriented to the needs of the target beneficiaries. 3.09 The problem of non T&V activities is more intransigent. Firstly, the authority of the collector is such that staff (and vehicles) can be requi- sitioned at short notice from any department as need arises, and this can tie up resources for lengthy periods, irrespective of season. This is not always confined to emergencies, for it also occurs when other programs are given priority and there are insufficient non-extension resources to carry them out; extension is always vulnerable to this because of the close (often unique) field relationship with farmers. Secondly, extension staff are still spending an unsatisfactory amount of time on input supply, particularly of improved seeds. This is largely by default, fo: complementary support serv- ices have not developed in parallel with strengthened extension. In addition to the time involved, this is also a potential brake on development, and greater attention to the management and logistics of these companion delivery systems is now required. Thirdly, the VAW, both for historical reasons and because of other staff not taking up field duties, are still seen by farmers in general, as well as technical representatives of Government, as the party to whom all problems should be addressed. To deny farmers assistance could jeopardize credibility and these pressures will continue until other support services become stronger and divisions of responsibility are both defined and operated in practice. 3.10 Within the field of extension operations, a further problem is the amount of time taken up in program administration, reporting requirements and attending meetings. It is more a problem at district and HQ rather than at ABO or village level and was an important area of concern at appraisal because of the multitude of agricultural programs that were being handled. The report assumed that these would be integrated into a coordinated program but this is taking time to resolve both on account of the manner in which programs are funded, and because planning has been slow to change from its former focus on commodity development programs. The problems are greatest in the case of special programs (for tribal areas and small and marginal farmers) which have a heavy subsidy element; extension staff are directly responsible for certain aspects of these programs and the administration and reporting workload limits the time available both for technical follow-up as well as routine technology dissemination. There is need to pay much greater attention to the resource needs during implementation when designing these programs as well as investigating alternative avenues of support which coull ease the implementation workload (for example, injecting subsidy support at source). Progress in this is already evident in Orissa. There is also a - 54 - need for closer examination of program impact and clearer definition of the functional responsibilities of the agencies involved. 3.11 Agricultural Research. The objective was to set up applied and adaptive agricultural research program which would evaluate improved cultural practices, farming systems and cropping patterns suited to different agro-ecological regions of the state. Most physical construction targets were laboratories, houses, stores, achieved under the project, albeit with delays; the latter was particularly the case of Similiguda (the most isolated applied research station) with delays which were not catered for in the appraisal report. There have been continuing staffing problems, which have delayed program formulation and implementation, and expectations (at appraisal) that strengthened research would generate substantial technology improvements during the life of the project were clearly over-optimistic. The main operational objectives of establishing strong links between exten- sion and research and reorienting research effort towards specific local needs have also proved difficult to accomplish. (Weakness in problem diag- nosis and objective assessment of research priorities was only an aspect of the difficulty in changing from the former focus on multilocational trials, high input technology and a pre- occupation with integrated crops (par- ticularly paddy).] Attainment of a good regional focus has been more dif- ficult at Bhubaneshwar where OUAT departmental priorities also have to be accommodated and research programs still tend to be too heavily discipline oriented. 3.12 At the applied level, the present network provides only partial coverage of the State's highly varied agro-ecology 1/ but further expansion is planned under the National Agricultural Research Project (Credit 855-IN). Added to this is the problem that many of the DAFP adaptive stations do not adequately reflect the environmental conditions and constraints of the immediate loca.ity. Some of these problems are operational (e.g., availability of irrigation facilities which are freely used irrespective of whether the locality is predominantly rainfed) and some are locational (e.g., the absence of topographical situations -- lowland, water-logged, upland etc. within the trial area). 2/ The specific functions of applied and adaptive research have also taken time to get established and the analysis, assessment and reporting procedures for research recommendations has yet to fully evolve. 3.13 Apart from the recent hiatus (para 3.04) the envisaged structure is now in place and should become increasingly effective. Extension/Research linkage at State level is now well established through the Research 1/ OADP appraisal locations were based on four broad physiographic land units, although the state actually comprises 10 distinct agro-climatic zones. 2/ E.g., Keonjhar where all experiments are under irrigation although 94% of the district is rainfed, and where only medium and lowland situations are represented although a large part of the district is rpland. - 55 - Council 1/ and liaison at all levels, backed by substantive supervision support from NDO, is placing increasing pressures on research performance. However, the inherent time lag of research will further delay the outcomes envisaged at appraisal. 3.14 Extension Training. Renovation work on the three Extension Training Centres transferred from DCDSW, including expansion of facilities at Bhubaneshwar, was largely completed by the end of FY81-82. The new centre at Dhenkanal also made use of some existing facilities which were renovated and extended to give dormitory accommodation for 200 students. All teaching staff required at the centres are in place, but none have participated in the specialized training courses envisaged at appraisal. 3.15 The VAW pre-service training course was reduced from two years to one year as planned and a number of revisions were made to the syllabus including incorporation of T&V methodology. No VAW higher courses or in-service train- ing of older VAW have yet started, but up-grading of sub-overseers and field- man demonstrators has been completed. Although no increases have been made in trainee stipends (approval not sanctioned) the number of applicants for pre-service training is high, usually around 10 times the vacant places, although the great majority are from the coastal areas. Because of the large number of staff vacancies in tribal areas and the reluctance of staff from other areas to be transferred, applicant selection is now apportioned dis- trict-wise roughly ac,ording to field staff vacancies. 3.16 As noted previously, the most serious staffing problems have been at the SMS level where postgraduate outturn, particularly in agronomy and plant protection, has been well below project requirements. The M.Sc. qualifica- tion, which was also an appraisal requirement, has been rigorously upheld by Covernment so that it has not been possible to appoint graduates with long field experience and proven competence to fill these positions. An unfor- tunate ramification of this insistence should be mentioned. At District level, ADAO are supposed to guide the work of SMS; but since ADAO have only graduate degrees (and some not even that) SMS have sometimes treated ADAO with professional disregard, causing inevitable Lension. 3.17 A good deal of non-routine training has taken place, more than had been detailed at appraisal. As of March 1983, 880 staff had attended various courses in Orissa, 304 outside the State and 10 overseas, and a VAW refresher course was planned but is yet to start. It is also the case, however, that very little attention has been given to the quality of training, par- ticularly, in terms of course content and ensuring a high standard of train- ing outturn. This is a not uncommon problem particularly during the estab- lishment phase when management staff are (understandably) preoccupied with organizational and quantitative issues; it is partly a reflection of this that the appraisal proposals for training rural women have only been par- tially implemented. A re-emphasis towards quality, backed by a comprehensive manpower development plan, is now accepted, and progress is underway and will be supported under NAEP. 1/ Equivalent to the Research Coordination Unit of appraisal. - 56 - 3.18 Cooperative Training. Most construction work at the CTCs was com- pleted by the end of FY80/81 along with procurement of equipment and furni- ture. Although the Training Officer at the Department of Cooperatives was appointed in 1978, it was not until 1981 that staff vacancies at the CTCs were filled, and training throughout suffered accordingly. Courses throughout the three centres have been running at only 30% of appraisal estimates. Hostel and classroom facilities at 17 CCBs had been constructed by the end of FY81/82 and by December 1983, 2,713 PCS had received training; however, the proposals for apprenticeship training at the CCBs have not been implemented. 3.19 The deficiencies and problems of commercial services support for extension have already been highlighted (para 3.11). Although these were studied in considerable depth at appraisal, the expectation that better training would resolve many of the inherent weaknesses of the cooperative movement has proved an oversimplification. Although the importance of sound and continuous training must not be discounted, and it is still premature to judge the impact of this component on cooperative performance. The whole subject of complementary support services, in which the cooperatives must play an important role, is one of growing concern. However, strengthened extension is now exposing these weaknesses and performance will become increasingly constrained unless there are parallel improvements, particularly in the input delivery system. 3.20 Farm Implements. This component involved three separate institutions and progress varied accordingly. Despite continuous pressure from successive supervision missions, the OUAT Research and Design Unit did not become active until 1982, following appointment of the Chief Research Engineer; although other staffing shortfalls impeded progress, some promising work was initiated until the unit closed in 1983. 1/ Nevertheless a considerable amount of design and testing work was sustained by DAFP, and some prototypes (e.g., a three row seeder) were put into production. 3.21 The DAFP responsibilities were generally well implemented. Mobile Demonstration Units were operating in 10 ranges by 1980 and in all 13 by the end of FY82/83; a total of 2,311 demonstrations were held that year which was well in excess of appraisal targets. DAFP production also exceeded appraisal targets. During FY78/79 production at Bhubaneshwar had increased to 11,890 MP plows per annum and a number of other implements. In addition 500 MP plows were being manufactured at DAFP workshops at Sambalpur (this unit was not referred to in the appraisal report) but there has been no production at the IDC Hirabud workshops. In line with Government policy to encourage commercial production and to refocus DAFP activity on prototype fabrication and back-stop manufacture, the implement unit at Sambalpur was transferred to AIC in 1982. AIC also has contracts with two private manufacturers to whom it provides raw materials and gets back the finished product after paying 1/ See para 3.04; the CRE has now resumed his former employment with AIC. - 57 - conversion charges. DAFP manufacture at Bhubaneshwar has suffered in sub- sequent years from inadequate GOO working capital finance although production rose again in 1981 to reach a peak of 12,400 MP plows in FY82/83. 3.22 AIC performance (not directly supported under the project) has been disappointing. Production at Sambalpur hab now ceased and although it sold 6,000 plows in 1980/81, recent sales have been well below target (1,726 in the first 9 months of 1983 against a target of 10,000 plows). AIC has only 60 sales centres and operates mostly through private agents (around 600). The total volume of sales within the private sector is unknown, but it is active only in the vicinity of main population centres. In the absence of satisfactory alternative distribution channels, DAFP has had to organize its own marketing. 3.23 Tubewell Technology. Work has proceeded slowly but steadily. Cost comparison studies were made of filter point tubewells in the State along with reviews of design criteria followed in Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Certain low cost technology which looked promising at appraisal did not prove cost-effective (e.g., use of coir filters, due to their limited life). Progress on installing demonstration tubewells had been much slower due to delays in procuring the drilling rigs, but all 96 had been installed by the end of FY82/83. A test laboratory was set up to measure pump efficiencies of various makes of pumps. 3.24 Groundwater Survey and Monitoring. This component proceeded smoothly with few delays. By end of 1979 all 92 data stations had been installed and work on all other sub-components was well underway. The number of monitoring wells was increased from 5 to 70 to provide coverage (5 wells) in the saline areas and 69 had been established by the end of 1982. Protective shelters for these (not included at appraisal) were found to be necessary and 66 were constructed by the end of 1983. The inventory of existing wells, however, has been substantially behind schedule due to staff shortages and because of difficulties in getting accurate local information. By the end of 1983, only 166,692 out of an estimated 350,000 existing wells had been covered, and groundwater potential maps and water quality maps had been completed for 244 and 250 respectively of the 314 blocks. Central Data Banks had been estab- lished at Bhubaneshwar and Balangir in 1979. 3.25 Land Survey and Land Records. Progress with land surveys has been slow, and by September 1983 work had been completed in only 38,883 out of 51,909 villages in the State. At time of appraisal, 44% of villages (22,749) had been completed and 45% (23,324) were under survey, and to complete the program by the originally scheduled completion date (1983/84) would have required a total of 993 camps spread over the period 1977/78 through 1982/83. To bring forward completion to 1980/82, an estimated 1,074 camps spread over the period 1977/78 through 1980/81 would have been needed, involving an increase in the number of camps during the same period of 362. 1/ By end FY80/81 1,052 camps had been established against 751 required for the original schedule (and 1,074 for the revised schedule). But by December 31, 1/ Report 1301 A-IN, Annex 9, page 5. - 58 - 1983, a total of 2,050 camps had been held, well in excess of the original estimated requirement. Information on the total number of villages covered was not available in time for inclusion in the PCR. 3.26 Various factors have caused the delays including staffing shortages (no difficulties were foreseen at appraisal), delays in producing adequate maps (funds were subsequently reallocated in 1982 for purchasing two extra mapping presses) and an inaccurate estimation of the time required for each camp to complete its work. The most recent estimate is that the program will not be completed until 1987/88, but since the estimate has consistently increased by one year with each year of project life, it must be treated with some skepticism. Achievements with land records have been more tangible. As of September 1983, 61 record room/offices had been completed and all records up to 1980, including back transfers in all districts, had been completed. The consultancy provision was not utilized, although it was used in Dhenkanal district (para 2.44). 3.27 Farm Management Data Unit. Progress, particularly in terms of appraisal operational objectives, has been slow, for although a number of staff (and most transport and equipment) were in place in 1978 it was not until the full-time Head was appointed in 1982 that the progress received proper direction. Priority was correctly placed on processing the backlog of data and by December 1981 the Unit had published 13 reports. However, in common with other OUAT components, the unit has been "closed" since September 1983 (para 3.04). 3.28 The published reports included a Farm Management Handbook, cost/benefit studies of new techniques under the Adaptive Research Program, as well as studies regarding consumption patterns and cost of production of major crops. In line with appraisal guidelines, the latter have been derived from a stratified sample of 1,500 households but a number of factors have limited the quality of data obtained. FAO technical assistance did not materialize and the sampling procedures adopted in the first 2 years did not generate an adequate sample of farmers growing crops other than paddy or practicing techniques that were of special development significance. A shortage of primary investigators also reduced the actual number of households sampled, and major shortfalls in supervisory staff further reduced the useable sample (due to spoilage) and jeopardized overall quality. 3.29 In addition to these problems, there remains the issue of project monitoring and evaluation in which there has been a little progress. The appraisal report was vague in its delineation of responsibilities, par- ticularly with regard to the role of FMDU, 1/ and the Monitoring and Evalua- tion Cell of PPCU was not provided with any funding support and the respon- sibilities which it was to be given (see End Schedule 4) would seem to be out 1/ In three different locations within the report, FMDU's responsibility was described as: M&E of the extension service; M&E of the agricultural sector; and M&E of the package of practices developed by the extension and research services. All three have significantly different implica- tions. - 59 - of balance with the staffing to be provided (one Research Assistance and a stenographer by permanent transfer from existing positions in Government). An additional weakness (common to many of the extension projects appraised at that time) was that the performance indicators and impact measurements for M&E were poorly specified, and the logistics for data retrieval, analysis and reporting were not properly defined. The M&E Cell (along with the other PPCU Cell) was not established and in the process of trying to get this work started there have been conflicting views from the Bank. 1/ 3.30 In response to growing concern, various manuals on M&E methodology for extension projects have been produced by the Bank 2/ and in 1982, one of the authors of the most recent manual for India visited Orissa to review existing organizations and make recommendations for staffing and institu- tional changes that would seem most suited to fulfilling the M&E requirements for this project and for other agricultural development programs. This report, which recommended transfer of FMDU to DAFP to become a cell within a new Monitoring, Evaluation Planning Unit with much broader responsibilities, has been accepted by Government and will be supported under NAEP. 3.31 Agricultural Statistics and Data Processing. Physical progress went smoothly and largely on schedule. By 1979 sample coverage had reached 15% of villages but subsequent staffing difficulties meant that the target of 20% coverage was not reached until 1981/82. During that year a total of 10,101 villages were covered for area enumeration, and 5,135 villages were covered for crop area enumeration and crop yield cuttings. All transport and equip- ment and provisions in support of the program have been taken up although only recently in the case of data processing equipment. The latter is due primarily to the rapid advances in computer processing technology in the last decade which outdated appraisal proposals and has resulted in conflicting views regarding the most appropriate equipment to purchase. Tenders were invited for Direct Data hntry equipment in 1982, and this equipment was procured in 1983. Some existing staff have been trained and additional staff have been sanctioned by GOI although State Government sanctioning is still awaited. 3.32 Unfortunately, BES survey output is the subject of considerable controversy within the State. This has resulted from the intended transfer of responsibility from DAFP to BES for basic agricultural statistics, and from the very marked differences in the estimates of the two sources, which has caused some embarrassment to Government and much debate regarding which of the two sources is correct. The problem covers all crops other than paddy and potatoes and until such time as the differences can be resolved or validated DAFP will continue to provide the statistics (as detailed in para 2.47). This conflict inevitably introduces yet another element in the 1/ For instance, one mission recommended keeping M&E in FMDU and BES with no new cell (July 22, 1977 memorandum) while others complained that the cell had not been formed. 2/ Experiences with the Monitoring and Evaluation of Training and Visit Extension in India. World Bank Working Paper No. 595, 1983. - 60 - already difficult problem of providing objective and accurate basic statis- tics. In terms of appraisal expectations, it cannot be said that the objec- tives of this component have been fulfilled. Since yield and production statistics must ultimately serve as the measure of project impact, further comment is necessary. 3.33 While it is difficult to draw conclusions (and this report does not attempt to do so) the situation is as follows. DAFP estimates are non-statistical and largely unmeasured (i.e., they rely primarily on eye-estimates) and their accuracy is only that they quantify the collective views of field level agriculturists. Conversely, BES statistics are derived from a statistically designed sample based on direct measurement techniques. The quality of the data is, therefore, a function of: sample size and sam- pling procedures (and can therefore be measured statistically); internal surveying and measuring errors (for which a well designed survey would include its own statistical checks); and the manner in which it is imple- mented (which will depend on good supervision although problems can rarely be completely eliminated). 3.34 The extent of the differences between DAFP and BES data is such that they cannot be explained on purely statistical grounds although some criticisms of the survey program have been made. For the crop cutting sample, the number of crop cuts for any crop is proportional to the predominance of the crop in the cultivated area; this inevitably :esults in a large number of rice cuttings while the yield estimates for other crops are based on a much smaller sample. There have also been no in-built statistical checks of internal sampling errors by way of post enumeration of sub-samples. This is now being rectified through a separate GOI sponsored scheme (Improve- ment of Crop Statistics) in which Statistical Inspectors of the National Sample Survey Organization conduct measurements on a sub-sample of 200 vil- lages. BES supervision ratios (1 Supervisor:5 Amins) are sound but transport is difficult and the workload per Amin is high. (About 7 villages to be covered from plot-to-plot thrice a year as well as crop cuts). In order to "reconcile" differences the State has now organized a program of joint super- vision of data collection by DAFP and BES staff covering around 7% of the sample. 3.35 DAFP and BES statistics are not dissimilar in terms of trend, but there is a marked difference in yield estimates, and an even greater dif- ference in the crop area estimates. In fact, even the net cropped area repo-ted by DAPP and BES is substantially different. The Timely Reporting System referred to in appraisal (para 2.47) is applicable only to land recorded states where basic area statistics are collected by the Land Revenue Departments. Since Orissa is a non land-recorded State, the BES survey is supported by an equivalent GOI sponsored scheme (Establishment of an Agency for Reporting Agricultural Statistics (EARAS)). However, completion of the project supported Land Survey Program will convert Orissa into a land-recorded State and since the program is already over 75% completed the opportunity for validating one of the fundamental differences between DAFP and BES statistics already exists. - 61 - Project Administration 3.36 Project Content. The multi-component approach of OADP cont- ists with most other T&V projects which have focussed now specifically on extension and research, and more recently just extension. To a large extent the range of components was laid down during Bank supported identification and preparation (para 2.08) and reflected the integrated package approach. The advantage of the approach was that it provided greater assurance that complementary serv- ices would develop in parallel, although several of the components (e.g., land survey and records, groundwater surveys, tubewell technology) were not directly important for extension and were added more for the convenience of the investment. The disadvantage was that it added to the overall management demand, especially in the cases of APC and PCC level because of their overall responsibility for coordination. A further problem was that it placed exces- sive demand on supervision (Part V) with the result that most supervision missions were only able to cover a few of the components on each field visit. For these reasons, multi-component projects have been less suited to countries where management responsibilities are channelled through a number of different line departments. For this reason, the range of components has been moderated in more recent projects in India. 3.37 Management Policy and Coordination. In general, the components which involved strengthening an existing structure, albeit with considerable reor- ganization (e.g., extension), have proceeded smoothly. Those which involved creating a new and specialized unit within an existing department have experienced considerable difficulties, and where no funding support was included under the project, few were established. There is no record of the Buildings Implementation Unit and the Farm Implements Committee ever func- tioning and although the Project Coordination Committee was established it met infrequently, and its supporting cells were not formally staffed. Bank experience generally has shown in many projects that committee structures are at best questionaole, for although the need for coordination is undisputed, the structures are often included more out of convenience than as a result of proper analysis. For although poor inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination is a frequent problem, rarely is it caused by the absence of a coordination mechanism and many would claim that coordinating meetings and committees are already excessive; in fact attendance of these was, and remains, a problem for the extension service (para 3.01). Much greater attention needs to be given to accommodating project requirements within existing mechanisms, and for analyzing these mechanisms and suggesting modifications to ensure that they work. Below this level, the main appraisal weakness was in the M&E structure and partly accounts for the slow develop- ment of this component. 3.38 Financial Performance. The closing date of the credit was extended by six months to June 30, 1984. Up to the end of February 1985 disbursements under the credit totalled US$18.7 million leaving a balance of US$1.3 million yet to be drawn. Most of the project works were substantially completed by this time and recent expenditures related mostly to incremental staff costs which were overdisbursed (about 15%) and civil works which were marginally overdisbursed. Apart from unallocated funds of US$2 million which will partly mitigate the overdisbursements, significant savings (US$1.5 million) exist under equipment and vehicles. COO had a proposal to procure some map - 62 - printing presses for Land Survey which would need prior approval by the Bank, although specific proposals had not been submitted at the end of project implementation. 3.39 Expenditure summaries are given in End Table 3. Total project expen- diture up to March 1983 was Rs 339.7 million against the appraisal estimate of Rs 360 million (95%). The slow progress of disbursement is accounted for by high expenditures on incremental staff costs (which were slow disbursing) and a hardening of the exchange rate for the rupee against the dollar. 3.40 Procurement. Procurement of civil works, equipment and vehicles was small in magnitude and works were scattered. As per appraisal expectations goods and works procured after local competitive bidding and under State Government's normal procurement procedures satisfactory to the Association were financed under the project. During implementation no particular dif- ficulties were expressed by the Borrower in following general guidelines of the Bank procurement. 3.41 Reporting. Despite repeated requests, financial reporting require- ments were not met. However, this does not specifically reflect weakness in project administration (nor would good reporting necessarily imply commit- ment) for the project was implemented in 10 different components involving 6 separate institutions/agencies, and there was no systematic procedure for submitting statements of expenditure, certified by the Accountant General, covering all project components. Such certificates were furnished intermit- tently for eight to six components during 1977/78 and 1978/79. Six monthly progress reports were submitted with some (increasing) delays. As for monitoring and evaluation summaries, the reasons for few reports has already been discussed in earlier paragraphs. Institutional Development 3.42 Achievements. Institutional development has been a central feature of the development proposals and in this regard the favorable outcomes and achievements have been highlighted in earlier paragraphs. Although geared to existing institutions, substantial reorganization was involved in many cases; this was necessary in view of the major problems under the former structures, and in extension alone, the jobs of over 6,000 staff were affected and in some cases the jobs changed radically. Despite the complexities of the multi-component approach, most of the proposals have been successfully imple- mented. Of the main components, DAFP responsibilities have lagged behind. The major area of weakness was in Monitoring and Evaluation, an area in which the appraisal report was also weak. Although the Bank has subsequently given much greater attention and guidance to M&E work, it remains an activity that has received little government support in the past and for which the purpose and value is still not widely appreciated. 3.43 When judged strictly in terms of appraisal objectives (Part II) the progress and achievements during implementation (Part III) have in many ways fallen short of expectations. This must be put into perspective, however, for the appraisal report was generally over-optimistic; furthermore, it failed to take account of the many less tangible problems which often only emerged during implementation. Some of these would have been difficult to - 63 - anticipate. Administrative and procedural constraints have taken time to resolve, but more important has been the change in attitude and approach which the proposals have required. Judgement must therefore be made not in terms of what has been achieved but rather in terms of the potential that has been set in motion. In this context, the lead role of a strong technical extension service has been clearly demonstrated. For it has now developed to the stage where it is able to properly identify constraints at farm level and place pressure for performance accountability both within its own operations and on the other support services on which agricultural development also depends. This is a major achievement, and where problems have been iden- tified, they are in many ways a reflection of the strengths of the project as well as its weaknesses. 3.44 Problems. Now that the New Agricultural Extension System has stood the tesL of seven years of implementation, there is clear evidence of its impact (Part IV), and it has received wide support from staff and farmers alike. However a major question is whether the progress achieved will be forstalled, since there remains an undercurrent of pressure for reversion to the former structure. The reasons are almost entirely non-technical, and are partly due to the increasing number of non-agricultural programs that are being channellea into rural areas, which strains the aggregate resources available for implementation. An allied problem is that although extension staff are now technically and adminstratively self contained, they are still subject to considerable outside pressure due to the authority of the Collec- tors who still retain responsibility for confidential reporting on all dis- trict based staff. As a result, extension staff and vehicles are used as spillover resources when other programs are given priority and cannot be handled by non-extension staff. To some extent this has to be accommodated (e.g., emergencies, drought relief) but there is a danger of abuse par- ticularly since extension staff, because of their regular contact with the farming community, are an especially useful resource. Evidence of this already exists and it could increase if rural programs are implemented without due regard to the resources needed to carry them out. 3.45 The transfer of staff from BDO control to DAFP has faced a number of problems. Firstly, the residual responsibilities of the BDO did not decline in proportion to the staff transferred, which partly accounts for the pres- sure for reversion referred to above. Secondly, because of their former responsibilities, transferred VAW were still seen as representatives of government to whom all problems should be addressed and it has proved dif- ficult to curtail non-technical activities without losing credibility. The transfer was meant to make maximum use of available manpower both on grounds of economy and to ensure speedy coverage at village level. With the benefit of hindsight, the alternative of recruiting entirely new staff for technical extension might be judged to have been preferable; although there would have been slower geographical coverage, many of the above problems would have been avoided. 3.46 Apart from the problem of non-agricultural activities referred to above is the extent to which extension staff are to be involved in non-technical activities. Some of these should be avoidable, but others cannot be avoided at present because other services (e.g., input delivery, seed distribution, credit supply) have not developed in parallel with - 64 - strengthened extension. In addition to tying up a considerable proportion of extension staff time they are also becoming an increasingly important con- straint on development; the weakness is in management of the delivery systems at the field 12vel and there is now-an urgent need t.o attend to this. Many other non-technical functions however are not necessarily non-extension functions and even with strengthened support services there will always be a participating role which extension staff must play. It is important, however, that non-technical functions are as far as possible accommodated outside of the main growing season when the needs for technical advice are greatest. This is essentially a planning issue. 3.47 A related and frequently raised irsue is the heavy administrative and reporting workload on field staff, particularly with respect to commodity programs and target campaigns, which further limited the time available for technology dissemination. This has been largely a planning problem because, traditionally, extension had been treated as just one of the many programs handled at DAFP level; although T&V incorporated all field staff into on coordinated program, the original planning approach was slow to adapt. Plan- ning weaknesses still exist, particularly at the technical and operational levels, but there have been positive improvements as extension has begun to be accepted, and planned, as the department's prime operational program through which all other cropping programs must be implemented. Further modifications, with regard to centrally supported programs, are being con- sidered for the Seventh Plan period which would offer States' greater discre- tion in the manner in which funds are utilized at field level. These developments have not absolved field staff of administrative and reporting problems but the workload is mainly carried at the district rather than AEO or village level. Problems are much greater, however, in the backward and tribal areas for which there are special aid schemes with a heavy subsidy element (e.g., Small and Marginal Farmers, Tribal Sub-Plan). The non-technical responsibilities of extension staff are expected to decrease following recent increases in Community Development staff under the BDO, but greater attention should be devoted to impact evaluation in these areas and to ways of streamlining the workload during implementation. 3.48 Extension reorganization has been specifically confined to the crop- ping subsector. This was essential not only because of the overwhelming importance of crops but also because reorganization could easily have been jeopardized if made unnecessarily complex. Any broadening of extension responsibilities must be approached with caution for the service is still vulnerable to outside pressure and companion services in inputs seeds and credit lag behind. However, the interests of other agricultural sub-sectors need to be addressed for it would be financially unfeasible for each sub-sector to operate parallel technical services down to village level; neither would this be technically sound given the on-farm integration that is usually needed. In many cases, the ability of crop trained staff to dissemi- nate technology relating to other subsectors would be limited and respon- sibility for this would not necessarily be desirable. However, the needs and opportunities at farm level will usually be much more localized than is the case with crops, so that in some cases the technical specialization of VAW could reflect this while in other cases the VAW could refer back to specialist staff (with responsibility for implementation) located at a higher level in the structure. This would need to be properly studied as need - 65 - arises and it would be essential that line responsibilities are carefully defined, particularly as many of the sub-sectors fall under different depart- ments of the Agriculture Ministry. 3.49 A further problem, particularly in view of the increases in aggregate staff numbers on the government payroll, is ensuring that staff receive sufficient recurrent funding support. This is still an issue despite the increases made under the Project, and the situation could deteriorate unless an acceptable balance is struck between what the State needs and what it can afford. It is particularly important that travel incentives are maintained and that adequate transport is provided; the latter is not only confined to extension, for with the requisitioning of vehicles by Collectors, extension is also vulnerable to shortages in other departments. There is Also a need to make loans and allowances available to other staff (e.g., SMS) and the sanctioning restrictions for routine extension operations must also be streamlined. 3.50 Finally, now that the basic extension structure is well established, greater attention needs to be given to qualitative improvements. Pre-service and periodic in-service training has not yet received adequate attention and a greater focus is required on manpower development and management training. There is also scope for adjustments within the existing structure whereby backward areas, particularly those where communications, terrain or dispersed settlement pattern make extension contact more difficult, receive higher VAW:farmer ratios at the expense of more progressive areas where technology uptake and farmer:farmer dissemination is more widespread. More widespread use of the media, and greater attention to the role and needs of rural women are other subjects deserving greater attention. These opportunities are now being studied at state level and are to be given greater emphasis in the forthcoming National Agricultural Extension Project. 3.51 Prospects. In terms of its extension achievements, OADP has been one of the most successful projects in India; this is evident both from field observations and from the supporting statistics on agricultural production. Although the achievement owes much to the system that has been introduced, the success with which it has been implemented, and the extent to which this will be sustained, is ultimately determined by Government and commitment at both management and policy levels. This, however, is a measure of both the streagths and weaknesses of the project for the commitment to date is attributable to relatively few key individuals in Government and the project remains vulnerable both to staff changes at these levels and to the need for much broader based support throughout Government. This danger is reflected in the comments of para 3.43 and the period of instability through which the project is presently passing (3.04). However, it is also reflected in many of the problems identified in the previous paragraphs for most could be resolved by decisive Government action but in most cases the action must be initiated at levels above that of DAFP and it has been at DAPP level that much of the attention has been channelled during implementation. Also extending beyond the Department, there is a need for much improved field level management of parallel support services and ensurance that inter-agency coordination mechanisms operate effectively in practice. - 66 - 3.52 Strong project support from NDO has been an important factor in past achievements. It has also identified, and to some extent compensated for, weaknesses in extension support at GOI level; although these problems are being more specifically addressed in the ongoing and upcoming projects, they will also take time resolve. The achievements must not, therefore, mask the vulnerability that persists. Extension reorganization is still institution- ally immature and it is essential that the technical and supervisory support of the Bank is sustained in the future. IV. IMPACT ASSESSMENT Measuring Impact 4.01 Production change is the ultimate measure of project impact but there are many problems associated with the use of production statistics. Firstly the collection and compilation of accurate sample survey data is fraught with difficulty and there are particular reservations about the quality of infor- mation available for Orissa (para 3.32). Secondly, the amount of normal variation within which production change must be identified is extremely high, whereas the increases needed to justify the project are extremely low; 1/ only if project achievements greatly exceed this increase will the changes be identifiable in practice. Thirdly, there is the problem of disag- gregation, for even if production change could be accurately identified, the absolute measure would be attributable to both project and non-project fac- tors. Measurement of a change in production trend (para 2.12) would resolve most, but not all, of these problems, but trend analysis requires measurement over a much longer period to "normalize" inter-year variation due to natural factors and is still subject to the other difficulties listed above. 4.02 Production measures must therefore be used with discretion and will be largely historic. Other indicators must be used as proxy measurements, and while there are few indicators that are satisfactory in isolation, a collective indication of change could be treated with considerable con- fidence. The manual on monitoring and evaluation of extension uses extension:farmer contact and uptake of recommendations as its prime monitor- ing indicators, and differentiates between contact and non-contact farmers in both the monitoring and evaluation surveys thereby allowing measurement of relative production performance which is not directly discernable from the EARAS agricultural statistics. Other indicators can also be used, and the range of measurements, both direct and proxy, that are available for Orissa are reviewed below. Special Surveys 4.03 Extension Operations. The limited progress with M&E work in Orissa has been referred to (para 3.27); and amongst the FMDU reports that are available, note must also be made of certain data weaknesses: the reports 1/ See para 2.11; the "break-even" yield increment, when confined to the paddy area, is only 7.7 kg/ha. - 67 - cover a small select group of contact farmers only (307 for 1979/80 and 268 for 1980/81) due to FMDU staff constraints; the reports cover the kharif season only; there are a few misinterpretations which may have influenced respondents' answers or data analysis (e.g. one report states that "The VAW make visits to the contact farmers regularly once in a week", whereas the visits are fortnightly); and there are numerical inconsistencies, for instance totals of percentages not equalling 100% (the tables below round off report percentages and attempt to justify totals). 4.04 Nevertheless, the reports do provide some interesting information; firstly, they explore whether contact farmers were aware of VAW visits. Table 5: AWARENESS OF VAW VISITS /a Percent Knowing Percent Knowing Farmer Holding Size (ha) Visit 1979-80 Visit 1980-81 0 - 0.5 96 97 0.5 - 1 100 96 1 - 2 97 97 2 - 4 95 96 4 - above 95 93 Total 96 96 /a FMDU Technical Reports No.s 10-1 and 14-2 on "Monitoring and Evaluation of Agricultural Extension Projects in Orissa, Kharif", for 1979-80 and 1980-81, pages 19 and 27 respectively. Overall, nearly all contacts know about the visits, and this supports the impressions gained during supervision missions that the system has taken root and is operating well, although there are arers (inaccessible tribal and hilly areas) where awareness is known to be less satisfactory, though improving. 4.05 Another criterion was to see how often contact farmers attended extension meetings with the VAW (the data show up to three or more meetings possible, presumably because FMDU was assuming meetings were arranged weekly). - 68 - Table 6: NUMBER OF TIMES CONTACT FARMERS ATTENDED EXTENSION VISITS WITH VAW IN FOUR WEEK PERIOD /a A=1979-80 Period; 8=1980-81 Period Farmer No Visits One Visit Two Visits Three or More Visits Holdins Size A B A B A B A B (ha.) ---------------------------%---------------------------- 0 - 0.5 15 33 25 18 54 40 6 9 0.5 - 1 23 18 54 25 7 47 16 10 1 - 2 19 17 57 23 6 39 18 21 2 - 4 14 21 61 22 12 38 13 19 4 - above 15 17 58 24 10 55 17 4 Total 19 20 57 23 8 14 16 43 /a Ibid, pages 24 and 32 respectively. The total number of contact farmers not attending any of the extension visits remained at a fifth in both periods. This is a satisfactory figure, bearing in mind that both the selection of contact farmers and other procedures adopted to contact them were undergoing continuous review as more experience was gained. The number attending two or more visits rose sharply, from 24% in 1979/80 to 57% in 1980/81. One worrisome result is that attendance appears to have dropped for the smallest farmers; the report does not explain why. 4.06 Technology Uptake. The uptake of improved technology is a measure of both the appeal of research recommendations to farmers and the ability of the extension service to transfer this knowledge. It is much less easy to sur- vey, however, since standards are difficult to measure objectively, and use of a new practice does not necessarily mean that the recommendation is being correctly followed. Unfortunately, the FMDU reports did not break down their findings by crop or land type. Since the great majority of farmers have rice (for which available technology is good) and many farmers cultivate a range of land types (among which the appeal of new recommendations may be very different) the results obtained could be very misleading, and should be used for relative rather than absolute judgements. - 69 - Table 7: CONTACT FARMER ADOPTION RATES ON RECOMMENDED PRACTICES FOR KHARIF 1979-80 /a Techniques of Improved Farmer Use of Improved Fertilizer and Cultural Holdins Size Seed Pesticide Applic Standards (ha.) 0 - 0.5 18 28 43 0.5 - 1 13 27 53 1 - 2 18 18 55 2 - 4 30 18 54 4 - above 28 18 50 Total 21 19 52 Table 8: CONTACT FARMER ADOPTION RATES ON RECOMMENDED PRACTICES FOR KHARIF 1980-81 /a Farmer Ferti- Plant Holding Sowing Cultural Use of lizer Irri- Protec- Size Seed Time Standard Weeding Fertilizers Applic. gation tion (ha.) 0 - 0.5 77 87 71 6 55 58 65 45 0.5 - 1 76 92 78 2 71 73 78 69 1 - 2 78 94 81 1 75 75 73 64 2 - 4 78 92 85 - 68 71 76 61 4 - above 83 95 85 - 80 76 69 68 Total 78 92 81 2 71 72 74 63 /a Ibid, page 47 and 64 respectively. Subject to the caveats above, the figures show a positive picture in every- thing but weeding, with considerably increased rates of adoption between 1979/80 and 1980/81. The more detailed breakdown in the latter year shows that adoption rates for recommendations costing money vary with size of holding as would be expected. Production Statistics 4.07 Available Data. The marked differences between BES and DAFP produc- tion statistics have already been noted. As a result, BES statistics have only been formally accepted for rice and potatoes (a minor crop) and the remaining official statistics continue to rely on DAFP data. A serious effort is now being made at State level to reconcile these differences, and BES measurements are being tagged (jointly supervised) by DAFP staff; because of this, it would be inappropriate for the PCR to enter into the controversy, particularly since the BES statistics, other than for rice (and potato), do not span a sufficient number of years to provide an objective assessment of performance (survey results are available up to 1980/81 but do not cover any of the pre-project years -- see para 4.08 below). The analyses below, there- fore, are confined to the officially published statistics by DAFP (which equate to the BES results only in the case of rice). - 70 - 4.08 Production Impact. The official statistics for yields and production are given in End Table 4; these itemize seven important crops in the state along with composite production statistics for cereals, pulses and oilseeds. The most conspicuous feature is the erratic fluctuations between years due to climatic irregularities; annual statistics should therefore be reviewed in conjunction with End Table 5 which contains a record of abnormal weather incidences during the past 20 years. Because the project has covered the entire state from inception, it is not possible to compare project and non-project districts; judgements must, therefore, be made as the basis of comparisons between pre-project and project years, embracing a sufficient spread of years to identify any change in production trend. The three year rolling averages serve to spread the influence of climate and provide easier identification of the trends that have occurred. 4.09 For the three year periods up to the start of the project, the production indices show no significant movement except for pulses which rose sharply in 1977/78. Thereafter, the statistics indicate production increases for pulses and oilseeds that are little short of dramatic. These are in stark cont, ,st with the cereal production index which as remained almost static all )ugh the foodgrain index has moved more sharply due to the compen- sating increases in pulse crops. Nevertheless, rereals are the overwhelm- ingly dominant crop category, of which over 8V% is rice, and it is the failure of the rice crop to increase that accounts for the apparently disap- pointing cereal index. 4.10 Although the fact that rice statistics are compiled (by BES) separately from the other crops may be a contributory factor, a more detailed analysis of rice in End Table 6 reveals a very different, and very favorable, picture of project impact. Unfortunately, the source statistics available for the PCR did not allow calculation for the full span of years, 1/ but the trend is nevertheless clear. During the project there has been a consistent and rapid build-up in the area planted to kharif HYV (33% in 1983) while the rabi area would appear to be almost entirely HYV. In both cases, HYV plant- ings have yielded between 140-200% more than local varieties. Aggregate production, however, has been offset by a marked decline in the total area 1/ The sources available were: the Orissa Agricultural Statistics 1980/81; and the Statement of 6th Plan Achievements. Both are compiled by DAFP from official statistics. The former source contains area, yield and production records from 1960/61 through 1980/81 while the latter spans the period 1978/79 through 1983/84, the last year being a forecast; for the three overlapping years (1978/79 through 1980/81) the figures and forecast are consistent. However, for the preceding years, the former source contains only aggregate production figures for HYV and local rice although area planted is differentiated, as are the area and production figures for summer (rabi) rice. For the latter source, however, the converse is true, although differentiation was subsequently provided by DAFP. The statement of Sixth Plan achievements also records rabi rice as being HYV only although other statistics show that they do, in fact, refer to HYV and local combined. - 71 - planted to rice. Given that it has been a specific objective of the project to encourage farmers, in less suitable areas, to diversify out of rice, the results are entirely consistent with expectations and reflected a commendable achievement by the extension service. 4.11 A further expression of yield trends is given in End Table 7 which spans the five pre-project years and five years since project inception. Yields are expressed as an index using 1972/73 as the base year; in addition, the average (weighted) yields for each period have been calculated along with the percentage change between each period. When yields are viewed in con- junction with production, a clear pattern emerges. A major advance in rice productivity appears to have occurred, particularly for autumn and winter (kharif) rice which together account for around 95% of the gross area planted to the crop. This increase would appear to have been the trigger for diver- sification into other crops. Productivity increase in the case of these other crops has been more variable although project period averages have been depressed by the particularly punitive weather conditions in 1979/80. However, because of the major expansion in area planted, production of the non-rice crops has increased by between 40 and 70% while rice production, despite a fall in area planted of 6%, has also increased by 4%. This is an exemplary achievement. 4.12 The State-wide averages, however, mask a high degree of variability between districts. Unfortunately, the summarized statistics that were avail- able for the PCR do not allow a similar analysis to be conducted on a dis- trict by district basis, but an indicator of variability is given in End Table 8; this shows, for the same range of crops, the percentage difference between the average yields in the two years immediately preceeding the project, and those achieved in 1980/81. In general, research technology is most deficient for the rainfed areas and more difficult to transfer in the case of scheduled castes and tribes; staffing shortfalls under the project have also been more acute in the tribal areas. In general, the results in End Table 8 are consistent with this, although the extent of the variability may also reflect the questionable quality of the statistics, particularly when refined to district level. They nevertheless underscore the importance of the project's research objective of shifting emphasis much more towards the rainfed areas, and towards technology that will have much wider appeal in these backward areas. Given the significant cropping shifts towards pulses and oilseeds, there is also a need to concentrate more strongly in the future on increasing the productivity of these crops. 4.13 Other Indicators. Records of fertilizer consumption are consistent with these production achievements. Fertilizer sales are detailed in End Table 9 and show that consumption has increased by 33% during the project. Gross cropped area has also increased (by 15%) and when account is taken of this, the increase in the per hectare application rate is 15%; however, the 1982/83 per hectare application rate was also 33% higher than the pre-project period average and the application rate has increased regularly over the life of the project. - 72 - 4.14 The increase in area under HYV rice has already been identified. However, this development has not been confined to rice. A summary for five important crops is shown below; results are consistent with the production achievements highlighted earlier. Table 9: AREAS PLANTED TO HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES Year Rice Wheat Maize Jowar Bajra -----------------------ha---------------------- 1975-76 482,167 59,815 29,901 2,389 435 1976-77 557,583 53,199 32,665 4,527 256 1977-78 647,280 66,373 35,662 3,315 192 1978-79 866,032 60,208 35,879 7,896 290 1979-80 941,857 49,466 40,659 4,885 91 1980-81 1,207,170 67,091 54,270 3,517 1,094 1981-82 1,161,890 66,055 62,613 6,265 1,029 Pre-project Average Area 1975-76 and 1976-77 519,875 56,407 31,278 3,458 345 Project Average Area 1980-81 and 1981-82 1,186,530 66,573 58,442 4t891 1,062 Increase between Pre- Project and Project Averages +128% +18% +87% +41% +207% Source: DAFP, Oris3a. Performance Assessment 4.15 All-India Comparisons. Although it has not been possible to make all-India comparisons on the basis of earlier formats, some interesting indicators are possible from summarized statistics. These are shown in End Table 10 and indicate a very favorable general picture although developments would appear to have lagged in the case of summer rice and wheat. Both, however, represent only around 2.7% of gross cropped area (1980/81) and must be seen in the context of the project's primary focus which has been to develop rainfed agriculture. More significant is that during the project period the state appears to have changed from lagging behind the All-India average to now exceeding it. 4.16 Rate of Return. The appraisal report did not include a formal rate of return calculation. Because of this, and since the reasons for not doing so still apply, it would be inappropriate to perform this calculation now; the questionable quality of the available statistics would also make this a largely academic exercise. What is appropriate, however, is to compare the parameters used in the indicative analysis made during appraisal with the achievements that the production statistics appear to indicate. 4.17 The appraisal calculation showed that an increase of 7.7 kg/ha of paddy over the entire pre-project paddy area (4.5 million ha) would make the - 73 - project investments break-even; 1/ this would be equivalent to around 5 kg/ha of rice. During the project period, real prices (in constant terms) have risen by around 150%, 2/ and this would reduce the "break-even" yield increase to around 3.5 kg/ha of rice. To have achieved a 50% rate of return, the corresponding yield increase would need to be around 6.0 kg/ha of rice which is less than 1% of the pre-project average rice yields and is equiv- alent to around 27,000 tons of rice. In fact, yields appear to have incre:sed by around 18% (composite rice average based on 1981/82 areas of kharif and summer rice), and even when account is taken of the decline in area, the production increase of 4% is equivalent to 140,000 tons of rice, over five times the 50% ERR requirement, and that does not take account of the 635,000 tons increase in other foodgrains and oilseeds that has also occurred. Indeed, all of the available evidence is that actual performance has been so substantially in excess of the appraisal ERR figures that, whatever methodological assumptions are used, a calculated actual rate of return would be of such overwhelming magnitude that it would serve only as a statement of the obvious. 4.18 However, a qualification is required, for the appraisal report also expected its ERR figures to be exceeded by a wide margin, and in this respect the achievements might appear to have been less than anticipated. The over- all increase in rice yields is only just over half the figure projected at appraisal (para 2.11) and the iverall increase in cereals, pulses and oilseed production 3/ is around 33% of the appraisal calculation. Against this, however, a number of other factcra must be taken into account. Firstly, the appraisal estimates were be ed ca 1984/85 whereas the performance figures used in the report refer to the period average for 1977/78 through 1981/82. Secondly, the appraisal calculation assumed that net cultivated area would increase by 7.7% whereas between 1974/75 (the appraisal base year) and 1981/82 the increase was 5.8%. More significantly, the appraisal calcula- tions also assumed that the net irrigated area would increase by 75% whereas the actual increase was only 21.5%. Despite the latter, there is every indication that even the loosely defined targets at appraisal will be achieved if current performance is sustained. V. BANK PERFORMANCE Appraisal 5.01 Identification, preparation and appraisal were all performed in considerable detail and the judgements made at that time have generally proved well founded. The overall design and concept of the project were 1/ i.e. would give a rate of return equal to the opportunity cost of capital. 2/ Based on the economic index in the World Bank Report No. 4395-IN April 1983. 3/ Report No. 130-IN, Annex 31, Table 1. - 74 - established at identification and the subsequent missions undertook indepth studies of a broad spectrum of issues which were seen as either current or prospective constraints on agricultural growth. The resulting proposals reflected the popularity at that time of integrated package projects; these have remained so in countries where management responsibility rests with few or a single agency but are less practical where management is shared between a number of line departments, and in this case, made comprehensive supervi- sion virtually impossible (see below). The focus and prioritization in Bank supported projects developed rapidly after that time and later projects have had a much more limited range of components. 5.02 Despite the overall depth of analysis, there were some aspects that were inadequately dealt with. Monitoring and Evaluation was poorly covered and this, to some extent, accounts for the limited progress that has been achieved (para 3.29). There was also insufficient analysis of the institu- tional requirements at HQ level and of the coordinating mechanisms that already existed in the State (para 3.37). The report was generally over-optimistic regarding the speed with which components would reach full development, and hindsight has shown that assumptions regarding the paral- lel development of (non-project) input delivery services were also over-optimistic. In common with other extension projects, there was also insufficient analysis of the reasons why preproject VLW spent so much time on non-agricultural activities; at least this would have shown why it was going to prove so difficult to shake off these activities during implementa- tion. 5.03 Considering that appraisal occurred when T&V was still very much an experimental concept in India, the Bank took a risk by moving so quickly. For the same reason many of the less obvious gaps in project design were those for which only experience could show the significance. The need for ensuring satisfactory grading and reporting responsibilities for staff has been demonstrated. The substantial change in function of AEO within the T&V system was also underestimated, as was the need for parallel changes in the planning approach both within and outside DAFP. The importance of SMS and the skills needed to perform their role has also been demonstrated, for neither SMS nor adaptive research staff were well prepared to begin refining recommendations for different localities. The most important requirement was for agronomy and plant protection SMS and the report underestimated the availability of these skills (or, more correctly, the competing demands for them) rrom formal training institutions. Similarly, experience has shown that, until the system is properly grounded, the need for other SMS technical skills is much less important during the initial phase of development. Experience has also identified the need for strong central support, for which (to some extent) the intensity of Bank supervision has compensated (see below). 5.04 A final, but significant, issue concerns the difficulties that have been experienced by the implementing agencies in obtaining sanctioning for changes in staffing, housing, etc. contained in the appraisal report, par- ticularly in cases where the appraisal proposals have proved unsound in practice. Whether or not this is the intended purpose of the document, in practice implementing agencies have often found themselves stuck with their cost table allocat;ons (particularly the physical entries). This places a - 75 - considerable de facto responsibility on appraisal missions getting their proposals right at the outset. In the same respect, had the cost tables shown existing staff assumptions (by way of a preproject column) as well as incremental requirements, it would have helped clarify to the sanctioning authorities the yearwise total physical and investment requirements. Supervision 5.05 Eighteen supervision missions visited the project at an average interval of around six months. 1/ The size of mission ranged from one to five and averaged about two. In addition, a number of special missions visited the project to provide specific technical assistance. Following each mission, letters summarizing the main findings and indicating corrective actions required were sent to GOI and the State. While supervision by regular Bank staff members did not exceed the Bank-wide average for agricul- tural projects, the use of Bank consultants and, more particularly, local contract staff in NDO pushed up the supervision input considerably. 5.06 The quality and intensity of Bank supervisory and technical support have reflected both a firm commitment to Indian agriculture as well as iden- tified need during implementation. To some extent, the missions compensated for weak administrative and technical support from the GOI level; it became clear from the outset that structural reform would prove less difficult than the changes in attitude and approach which the reform measures required (both within and outside the extension service). 5.07 The Bank staff enjoyed certain comparative advantages over local officials in promoting the extension system. First, they could cross bureaucratic boundaries, where local officials were constrained through fixed organizational channels. Second, because they were outside the bureaucracy, they could often bring a more objective viewpoint and, unlike local offi- cials, were not vulnerable, career-wise, to political and personal pressures. Third, they facilitated a cross fertilization of experience among different districts and states implementing T&V, whereas routine communication between states lacks a strong enough line to have done so. Finally, the Bank could furnish specialized technical expertise (e.g. training methods and curricula) not readily available in government at that time. 5.08 Having the Bank staff work out of a resident mission has also con- tributed significantly to the quality and intensity of support that was possible, both by ensuring continuity and local contact, and, more par- ticularly, through the combination of permanent and local contract staff which has proved so successful in India. The rapport with field staff and senior government officials has been good and, although often critical, the missions have been seen by government to have a positive role. Because the project developments are still institutionally immature, continued support will be needed in the future. 1/ See Basic Data Sheet at the beginning of this report. - 76 - 5.09 Despite the overall high standard of Bank supervision, the focus on individual components was uneven and, in some cases, inadequate. This was a particular problem in the case of OADP for the large number of components (10), which were spread across six separate implementing agencies, made uniform coverage virtually impossible. Actual focus was, in practice, deter- mined largely by personal specialization and judgement of priorities; the missions have been consistently strong in extension and research but coverage of most other components has been below 50% and some received only cursory examination. A further difficulty was caused by confusion over the super- visory roles of NDO and Washington based staff, for NDO was given formal responsibility only for extension and research and its staffing specializa- tions reflected this. Within the area of specific NDO responsibility, ini- tial attention was focussed primarily on structural and organizational issues and ensuring that the operational requirements of the system were fulfilled. Extension training (outside of routine T&V activities) received less atten- tion but in more recent years, much greater focus has been given to this and to other qualitative improvements in the system. - 77 - END SCHEDULE 1 ORISSA: RESEARCH LOCATIONS AND INVESTMENT COMPONENTS APPLIED RESEARCH STATIONS Station Region Area (ha) Bhubaneshwar Coastal Zone 246 Chiplima Central Plateau - Table Land 80 Simliguda Eastern Chat - Highland Zone 100 Keonjhar Northern Plateau - Undulating Land 117 ADAPTIVE RESEARCH FARMS Station/Region 1. Barchana Cuttack 15 2. Sakhigopal Puri 26 3. Balia Balasore 16 4. Golanthara Ganjam 16 Central Plateau Table Land 5. R.E. Farm Bolangir 48 6. Chakuli Sambalpur 22 7. Mahisapat Dhenkanal 40 8. Phulbani Phulbani 26 Northern Plateau - Undulating Land 9. Samakhunta Mayurbhani 28 10. Keonjhar Keonjhar 20 11. Sundargarh Sundargarh 20 Eastern Chat - Highland Zone 12. Simliguda Koraput 804 13. Arkabali Kalahandi 75 Investment Components - civil works at three outlying applied research stations including staff quarters and a 24-bed dormitory; - research farm development at all applied research stations and some adaptive research farms; - equipment, furniture and vehicles; - increase in permanent professional and suppot staff at stations and farms; and - establishment costs of the project during a five-year period. - 78 - END SCHEDULE 2 ORISSA: PLANNED RESEARCH PROGRAMS Applied Research Stations The four stations would work on those crops most important in their respec- tive agroecological regions as follows: - Cultivation Practices. Techniques which improve crop productivity would be emphasized for study. These would include land prepara- tion, time of planting in relation to rainfall patterns, spacing, alternative farming systems and cropping patterns, soil amendments (organic and inorganic), pesticide and herbicide use. Improved water management practices and more effective utilization on dryland farming would also be studied. - Varietal Improvement. Plant breeding, screening, identification and selection of varieties useful to farmers would be intensified for factors relevant to the different agroclimatic regions, seasons, water levels, soil types and resistance to various pests and diseases. - Pest and Disease Control. Studies would be accelerated on pests and diseases which seriously affect crop production in Orissa. Particular emphasis would be placed on rice pests, especially gall midge but also stem borers, leaf hoppers, blast and tungro virus. The epidermiology prophylactic measures for control in nursery beds and rice fields, chemical control where necessary, and screening for resistant or tolerant varieties would be undertaken in joint programs by the entomologists, plant pathologists and crop breeders at the stations. - Economic Studies. Economists-Statisticians at each of the stations would evalute the various cultivation practices, alternative farming systems and cropping patterns developed in the studies outlined above. The economic impact of the various recommendations would be assessed before extension personnel were given the improved practices and/or new crop varieties to present to farmers in the region. Adaptive Research Farms The main function of the Adaptive Research Farms would be to test out, under the existing local conditions of each of the 13 districts, the recommenda- tions from the Applied Research Stations before recommending their use to Extension and farmers. Recommendations would include improved cultivation practices, alternative farming systems, cropping patterns and improved - 79 - varieties. Results obtained would be evaluated by the Economist-Statistician at the Research Coordination Unit in Bhubaneshwar. Farm Implement Research and Design (a) Improvement of omplements being recommended for large-scale adoption, particularly: design improvements to achieve better performance in the mould-board plow, under heavy land conditions, and selection of materials for improved performance at lower cost. (b) Testing and development of other implements in design and prototype stage, particularly: evaluation of disc harrow for second cultivation under dry conditions and for puddling; development and modification of seeding devices; further work on paddy weeders; development of grain and pulse winnowers; water lifting devices; prefabricated structures for use in water management works, particularly for the Irrigation Command Area Development (CDA) program under which struc- tures such as channel lining, drops and diversion boxes are required. (c) Evolving alternative machines and implements suitable for field needs, particularly: design of equipment for fertilizer placement; design of a steel plow for conditions where inversion of soil is not important and of alternative cultivators; design of implements for crops such as sugar cane, potatoes, cotton and maize; development of suitable threshers. Shallow Tubewell Technology The activity, to be conducted over a three-year period, would include: evaluation of locally available, less costly material for casing and screens; review of general design criteria for shallow tubewells; delineation of areas within the State suitable for installation of low cost shallow tubewells; investigation and review of the level of technological development in other countries; design and testing of modified pumping equipment, including engine driven pumps and hand pumps capable of being driven by animals; and installa- tion and operation of some 96 test and demonstration wells incorporating the findings derived from the research and evaluation program. - 80 - END SCHEDULE 3 ORISSA: PROPOSED TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR POLICY PLANNING AND COORDINATION UNIT 1. The Policy Planning and Coordination Unit (PPU) will be directly responsible to the Agricultural Production Commissioner (APC) in a staff relationship. It will be headed by an Officer on Special Duty with the rank of Additional Secretary. He will be assisted by one Economist, one Agricul- turist and a Systems Analyst. The unit will have three cells: (a) Project Preparation; (b) Monitoring and Evaluation; and (c) Policy Planning. 2. The PPU will be responsible not only for the Development Project but for all future projects to be financed by the World Bank including the Area Development and Ground Water Development Projects already appraised and all other Projects that may be sonsored or implemented in future. 3. The respective Secretaries and Heads of Departments will continue to be responsible for project implementation under the general guidelines and supervision of the APC, assisted by PPU. The PPU will not be responsible for implementation but will serve as a contact point between implementation Departments, GOO, GOI and IDA. 4. The PPU's responsibilities for project preparation include, but are not confined to: (a) assisting the APC in the identification of suitable priority agricultural projects; (b) maintaining a schedule of preparation activities to be undertaken by responsible departments and monitoring timely preparation; (c) coordinating and finalizing preparation of Projects on a continuous basis consistent with available data and in accordance with priorities as determined by Government; (d) critically reviewing draft Project Repots and data therein. Arranging inter-departmental dialogue when necessary; (e) consulting with the Finance and Planning Department of GOO - ensuring integration of Project with the Plan and annual budget; - 81 - (f) final drafting of Project Preparation Report; (g) securing clearance of GOO and GOI (including Planning Commission); (h) sonsoring projects through OI; and (i) obtaining such assistance as would be available from OI and IDA for project preparation. 5. The Project Preparation Cell will have two Research Assistants, of whom 3ne would be an Economist, and one a Statistician; also one Stenographer and a Typist. 6. The PPU's responsibilities for project monitoring and evaluation include but are not confined to: (a) establishing project objectives and time tables for implementation; (b) overseeing project implementation according to agreed schedules; (c) establishing adequate reporting procedures to enable performance data on Projects including data provided independently by BSE, OUAT Farm Management Data Unit and DAFP to be completed and analyzed in a systematic manner; (d) assessing project performance against established objectives and need for adjustments of findings and targets; (e) submitting regular reports together with recommendations for action to GOI and IDA; (f) maintaining liaison with the Advisory Panel of Adaptive Research and Extension; (g) coordinating with other Sectoral activities; and (h) reviewing policies, identifying constraints and recommending action; identifying constraints to project implementation and making recommendations for appropriate action to APC. 7. The Monitoring and Evaluatinn Cell will have one Research Assistant, who will be an Economist, and a Stenographer. 8. The PPU's responsibilities for policy Planning will include: (a) analysing resources and potentialities; (b) retrieving data from BSE/OUAT/DAFP; - 82 - (c) based on such data and such analysis and research findings and on information supplied by respective Departments, advising the APC on: - long term policy, such as - cropping, land and water use, grain prices, procurement, storage and marketing, input pricing a distribution; (d) assisting the APC in setting intersectoral priorities. 9. The Cell will have two Research Assistants - of whom one Economist and one Statistician, one Stenographer and a Typist. 10. The Systems Analyst will be attached to Cells "B" & "C", the Agricul- turist to Cells "A" & "C" and the Economist to all three. 11. Staff, if any, engaged in similar activity in the Depart- ment/Directorate will be transferred to this Unit. - 83 - End Table 1 Page 1 Orissa: Appraisal Cost Estimate Thousand Rupees Thousand US Dollars % Foreign Local Foreign Total Local Foreign Total Exchange Extension 91,481 3,584 95,065 10,165 398 10,563 4 Research 41,769 2,349 44,118 4,641 261 4,902 6 Farm Implements 6,254 611 6,865 6,950 68 763 9 Ground Water Survey/ Monitoring 13,324 2,279 15,603 1,480 253 1,733 15 Tubevell Technology 1,256 122 1,378 139 14 153 9 Land Survey & Records 46,067 281 46,348 5,119 31 5,150 1 Cooperative Training 10,096 101 10,197 1,122 11 1,133 1 Basic Extension Training 9,393 336 9,729 1,044 37 1,081 4 Farm Management Data Unit 7,513 218 7,731 835 24 859 3 Ag Statistics & Data Processing 33,833 1,652 35,485 3,759 184 3,943 5 Sub-total 260,986 11,533 272,519 28,999 1,281 30,280 4 Physical Contingencies 11,703 439 12,142 1,300 49 1,349 4 Price Contingencies 72,725 2,614 75,339 8,081 290 8,371 4 Total Project Cost 345,414 14,586 336,000 38,380 1,620 40,000 4 . 84 - End Table 2 Page 1 ORISSA: AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT KEY INDICATORS ON PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION I - Staffing End of Period Covered by Progress Report Target la 11/83 Numbers 3/79 9/79 3/81 9/81 9/82 (Incomplete) A. Extension VAN 6,502 5,265 5,211 5,830 5,832 5,956 6,020 ABO 865 628 603 744 850 815 774 SMS ADAO Level 124 38 11 112 89 87 88 DAOIADAO 92 /c 81 88 80 83 80 Range SMS 78 7c 64 66 59 59 52 DDA 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 Training Officers 13 NA NA NA 1 1 JDA (Training) 1 NA NA NA 1 1 B. Research Professional Staff Bhubaneshwar 12 /b /c 10 10 10 11 Chiplina 9 7c 6 4 7 6 Simliguda 9 /b 7e 7 7 8 7 Keonjhar 11 7c 8 8 6 9 Support Staff Bhubaneshwar 36 /c 29 30 30 30 Chiplima 53 Tc 20 29 29 38 Simliguda 35 7c 21 18 23 24 Keonjhar 41 7c 21 25 18 19 Adaptive Research Farms Research Officers 13 /c 6 11 11 11 Research Assis- 13 7c 13 8 6 3 tants /a Includes staff transferred from community development and other agriculture departments special schemes. /b 6! posts sanctioned. 7c Not identifiable from progress report. - 85 - End Table 2 Page 2 ORISSA: AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT KEY INDICATORS ON PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION II - Vehicles & Equipment End of Period Covered by Progress Report Target Ia 11/83 Numbers 3/79 9/79 3/81 9/81 9/82 (Incomplete) A. Extension 4-ND (District) 135 /b 91 120 120 137 Pickups 26 /a Tb - - - 13 Motorcycles 700 7a T - 426 426 511 Bicycles 2,800 ai 7b - 2,500 2,500 2,500 8. Research Bhubaneshwar /b Tractors 3 3 3 3 3 Pumpset (Diesel) 3 3 3 7 7 Pumpset (Electric) 5 2 2 2 2 Jeeps, Trucks 2 1 2 2 2 Chiplima /b Tractors 2 1 1 1 1 Pumpset (Diesel) 2 2 2 2 2 Generator 1 - - - - Jeep, Truck, Minibus 3 2 2 2 3 Simliguda /b Tractors 4 3 4 4 4 Diesel Pumps 10 /a 6 6 6 6 Generator 1 1 - - 1 Jeeps 3 2 2 2 2 Keonjhar /b Tractors 3 3 3 3 3 Pumpset (Diesel) 5 5 5 5 5 Generator 1 - - 2 - Jeeps 3 2 2 2 2 Adaptive Research Farms /b Tractors 9 - 9 9 9 Seed Processing Equipment 12 - 12 12 12 Laboratory Equipment 13 - 13 13 13 C. Training /b Light Vehicles 4 2 - - - 55-Seater Bus 2 - Women's Training Unit Vehicles 10 /a Target revised during project implementation (original figure shown here). T Not identifiable from progress report. - 86 - End Table 2 Page 3 ORISSA: AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT KEY INDICATORS ON PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION III - Civil Works 1/ Target 1/ End of Period Covered by Progress Report 11/83 Numbers 3/79 5/ 9/79 3/81 9/81 9/82 (Incomplete) A. Extension VAW Houses 2,000 310 902 1,090 1,336 1,588 (363) AEO Houses 250 21 101 128 177 206 (41) District Houses 66 4/ 40 47 52 61 (5) Range Houses 7 4/ 8 8 8 8 District Offices 6 4/ 5 5 5 6 Range Offices 10 4/ 4 9 9 9 (1) B. Research Bhubaneshwar Seeds 2 4/ 2 2 2 Other Construction 6 4/ 3 4 4 Chip1ima Laboratory Buildings 1 4/ 1 1 1 Staff Quarters 87 86 87 87 87 Labour Quarters 50 4/ 50 50 50 Other Construction 7 3 3 3 3 Simliguda Laboratory B*ildings 1 - - - - Staff Quarters 62 19 19 19 19 Other Construction 6 - - - - Keonjhar Laboratory Buildings 1 1/ 1 1 1 Staff Quarters 58 30 49 49 49 Other Construction 6 3 4 4 5 Adaptive Research Farms Staff Quarters 99 1/ 60 81 95 Stores, Office, Shed 13 1/ 5 8 11 C. Training 4/ 2 2 2 Hostels 2 4/ 4 4 4 Classrooms 5 2/ 4/ 1 1 1 Laboratories 3 1/ 7 9 9 3/ Staff Quarters 9 11 Numbers shown are works completed. 1/ Target revised during project implementation (original figure shown here). 31/ Three are new construction and 6 are renovations. 4/ Work in progress. 5/ Net identifiable from progress report. - 87 - End Table 3 ORISSA: AGRICULTURAL DEVELOP4ENT PReJECT (Credit 682-IN) Progress of Expenditure By Components Budget Expenditure S. Appraisal Provision upto No. Component Estimate 1983-84 March 1983 ---------- Rs. Million---------- 1. Agricultural Extension 98.3 9.2 109.2 2. Agricultural Research 48.3 2.8 43.0 3. Extension Training 10.6 1.3 9.3 4. Cooperative Training 10.9 0.8 18.8 5. Land Survey & Records 47.8 15.0 90.5 6. Farm Implements 7.1 1.1 6.4 7. Groundwater Monitoring & STW 18.2 6.5 16.3 8. Farm Management Data Unit 7.8 0.2 3.9 9. Agricultural Statistics 35.7 12.1 42.3 10. Prince Contingencies 75.3 - - Total 360.0 49.0 339.7 By Year Year Appraisal Estimate Budget Provision Actual Expenditure ---------------------------Rs. Million------------------------- 1977-78 82.9 37.2 27.6 1978-79 120.3 66.j 58.8 1979-80 79.4 84.4 66.6 1980-81 38.3 76.6 65.7 1981-82 39.1 53.4 61.8 1982-83 56.2 59.2 Total 360.0 365.3 339.7 - 88 - 7ad Table 4 ORISSA: YIELD AND PRODUCTION OF IMPORTANT CROPS 1975/76 1976/77 1977/78 1978/79 1979/80 1980/81 1981/82 1982/83 1983/84 Provi- Forecast sional Yields ------------------------------------'000 tins----------------------------------- Rice 967 735 981 1,010 710 1,030 926 737 1,164 Ragi 730 548 706 750 540 790 824 820 740 Til 450 390 461 480 260 470 540 540 456 Groundnut 1,230 1,132 1,216 1,330 700 1,340 1,350 1,301 1,548 Maize 984 830 857 930 610 970 1,112 700 1,019 Mustard 470 394 441 450 270 450 490 471 478 Wheat 1,710 1,773 1,886 1,790 1,610 1,820 1,894 1,406 1,909 Production Rice 4,532 3,217 4,319 4,402 2,918 4,301 3,853 2,991 5,601 Ragi 173 138 196 209 146 265 238 246 283 Til 54 43 65 78 48 74 123 123 119 Groundnut 135 119 145 192 125 231 292 333 44? Maize 117 103 111 121 79 176 171 177 176 Mustard 45 26 48 68 39 72 66 58 64 Wheat 105 98 128 110 82 122 125 121 210 All Cereals 5,043 3,666 4,882 4,974 3,305 5,092 4,483 3,641 6,422 All Pulses 527 410 679 791 567 886 1,045 963 1,104 All Foodgrains 5,570 4,075 5,561 5,765 3,872 5,978 5,528 4,604 7,526 All Oilsedds 310 243 328 427 279 485 591 577 767 Production Index 1/--------------------------------------Index------------------------------ All Cereals 100 92 102 101 98 100 96 99 109 All Pulses 100 95 113 131 142 157 175 202 218 All Foodgrains 100 93 103 104 103 105 104 109 119 All Oilsedds 100 95 99 113 117 135 153 187 219 1/ 3 year rolling average. Base year (=100) for period 1973/74 through 1975/76 Source: From DAPP Orissa - 89 - End Table 5 ORISSA: CLIKATIC CONDITIONS 1964 - 1983 Bad Weather Normal Years Abnormal Years 1964-65 1965-66 severe drought 1966-67 drought 1967-68 flood and cycle 1968-69 mild flood 1969-70 mild flood 1970-71 mild flood 1971-72 severe cyclone and flood 1972-73 drought and flooO 1973-74 1974-75 severe drought aad flood 1975-76 1976-77 severe drought 1977-78 1978-79 1979-80 severe drought 1980-81 1981-82 drought 1982-83 cyclone, drought and flood 6 normal years total 13 bad weather years total Source: DAFP - 90 - End Table 6 ORISSA: COMPARATIVE STATISTICS ON HYV AND LOCAL RICE 1975/76 1976/77 1.47/78 1978/79 1979/80 1980/81 1981/82 1982/83 1983/84 Provi- Forecast sional Kharif Rice Area HYV 324 402 470 710 807 1,042 1,033 1,202 1,512 Local 4,180 3,805 3,745 3,497 3,167 2,977 2,989 2,640 3,045 Total 4,505 4,207 4,216 3,974 3,974 4,019 4,022 3,842 4,55. % HYV 7 10 11 20 20 26 26 31 33 Yield HYV N.A. N.A. N.A. 1,270 1,100 1,300 1,310 1,100 1,400 Local N.A. N.A. N*A. 940 580 900 740 530 1,010 Total 949 703 996 996 688 1,003 911 704 1,141 % HYV ia N.A. N.A. N.A. 135 190 144 177 208 139 Production HYV N.A. N.A. N.A. 902 885 1,354 1,353 1,322 2,117 Local N.A. H.A. N.A. 3,287 1,849 2,677 2,310 1,385 3,084 Total 4,274 2,957 4,050 4,189 2,734 4,031 3,663 2,707 5,201 % HYV N.A. N.A. N.A. 22 32 34 37 49 41 Summer Rice Area HYV 159 155 176 157 135 165 133 210 N.A. Local 21 17 12 8 7 7 4 6 N.A. Total 180 172 188 165 142 172 137 216 255 Z HYV 88 94 95 95 96 97 97 N.A. Yield HYV 1,498 1,567 1,464 1,309 1,315 1,601 1,409 1,329 N.A. Local 938 1,008 900 900 795 817 645 800 N.A. Total 1,431 1,511 1,405 1,290 1,289 1,572 1,385 1,315 1,568 % HYV /a 160 155 163 144 165 196 218 166 N.A. Production YV 238 243 258 206 178 265 187 280 N.A. Local 20 17 11 /b 7 6 5 3 4 N.A. Total 253 260 269 213 184 270 190 284 400 % HYV 92 93 96 97 97 98 98 99 N.A. NA = Not Available - See para /a HYV yields as % of local yields. For area and production, HYV as % of total. 7- Error in published statistics: recorded as 12970 tons, presumed 10970 tons. Source: From DAFP, Orissa. PI e- projectPrjc manIO Iv!-m v1Wl] 1.2D11 !11411 - 1977 1 D§WlU 1212g. 1980/81 1984/4 Period Chaä"IL Total y,.l. . ---- - K/a -------------------- Iaste --------------- Kga 1 Aot momtsa 1h b it 16 al 49b 141 137 93 320 133 96 +20 V.sse.4 1t00 1W4 80 k0 8 94* 108 154 84 117 103 100t 0,1 s0 . 100 9 94 105 . åkt 11/9 104 95 95 Iö 102 1398 * 1 . ist# 95 1$ s 64 106 82 88 59 92 96 128 * 4 sii Is% .9 81 89 1/ 455 91 95 $ 93 507 444 - 2 .00 14 98 88 at .315 87 96 50 96 97 11t9 -10 m.i.. l0n4 t0,3 96 126 104> 846 t09 åk8 78 123 542 980 a 8 Mej~.4 100 03 8 3 99 83 442 93 95 $7 95 103 419 - $ tolu...44 100 95 94 102 504 56/2 j52 l0/ 97 109 ) 1854 8 -- t00 10,* 85 10/ • 82 a$5 108 tig 8 il l t 05 905 * 8 hot.... 100 S 18 8e e 44*5 95 97 65 98 . 07 485 * 4 ttalt..5 os ls 86 88 så 649 8 93 $$ 93 101 603 - - A ... - -- .5.d' - --- -- ----4'00 ha p.----------------------- -nd--------------- -000 ha pa ttl.O.is 10.. 99 105 98 4541 9 97 92 93 93 4248 - 6 .. #Mst... IuK 504 12 133 £151 $57 149 449 137 199 162 794 +35 el iu 1u2 lok 120 103 5002 146 161 476 184 199 1637 .63 1uS.:. 100 Is 152 t12 Mil 410 145 578 392 196 222 700 *63 VO.S0t sm - --------- -- '000 L.. .------------------- låsm a-------------- -000 Kmt f# kta. tt- 55) /9 814 s ta6 108 tt 13 l98 %S 4000 4 $0t1.4e 5>00 10.2 9/ 13 l5 424 145 547 99 23 562 $88 +39 44. .a:, sii u. t00 lit tu 108 84 4666 139 162 156 lag 214 794 +70 0i5... iter* 508 09 117 91 2/9 124 161 k0$ 183 223 422 *51 k ~* .. . I- o 'AFV. t i ..;.:. Orissa: Yields of Major Foodcrops, in Pre-Project and Project Years. by District .f Tribal/ Autumn Winter Summer Other District Rainfed Caste Rice Rice Rice Wheat Maize Cereals Pulses Oilseeds Balasore 80 26 +28% +47% -12% +15% -30% +12% - 7% +23% Bolangir 83 36 +17% +34% +13% -11% + 5% +35% +68% +25% Cuttack 67 21 +48% +24% -17% +14% +45% *24% +10% + 9% Dhenkanal 89 30 +18% +62% +53% - - 3% +10% + 8% + 2% Canjam 51 26 +69% +30% -48% -25% +52% +33% + 6% +17% Kalahandi 92 46 +13% +20% +25% + 2% - 7% -14% +24% + 2% Keonjhar 92 58 +21% + 4% +33% -20% +84% -28% +35% + 8% Koraput 96 70 - 3% +10% -46% + 5% + 2% +34% +27% - 4% Mayurbianj 90 66 +26% +33% + 5% - -49% +17% - 7% -11% Phulbani 86 59 + 3% +13% +60% +40% -41% + 4% -11% +74% Puri 58 17 + 8% + 2% +13% +50% +127% + 9% +15% +46% Sambalpur 77 44 +13% +22% +25% + 2% +43% -28% - + 5% Sundargarh 93 61 +27% +22% -30% +61% +44% +20% +17% -14% State-wide 1/ 80 38 +18% +24% + 7% + 5% + 6% +17% +16% +10% State-wide T/ +45% -14% -11% -17% +33% +57% +32% +21% I/ Percentage difference between 1975-76/1976-77 average and 1980-81 yietdds. 2/ Percentage difference between 1975-76/1976-77 average and 1982-83 yields. outSe: DAFP, Orissa. - 93 - End Table 9 ORISSA: ANNUAL CONSUMPTION OF FERTILIZERS Total Gross Nutrients Year N P K Nutrients Cropped Area Application ----------------tons---------------- '000 ha kg/ha 1971/72 37,437 8,381 3,011 53,829 6,874 7.8 1972/73 40,508 9,983 5,856 56,347 6,936 8.1 1973/74 43,590 11,986 7,492 63,068 7,284 8.7 1974/75 34,328 9,075 6,198 49,601 7,134 7.0 1975/76 37,004 9,945 5,801 52,750 7,733 6.8 1976/77 43,907 10,984 7,045 61,936 7,209 8.6 Period Average 236,774 60,354 40,403 337,541 43,170 7.8 1977/78 45,784 12,034 6,858 64,676 7,931 8.2 1978/79 49,879 13,799 8,113 71,791 8,275 8.7 1979/80 46,867 13,267 7,242 67,376 8,166 8.3 1980/81 51,682 15,860 8,L21 76,363 8,746 8.7 1981/82 54,163 17,923 9,911 81,997 8,471 9.7 1982/83 56,844 18,220 10,603 85,667 8,211 10.4 Petiod Average 305t219 91,103 51,548 447,870 49,800 9.0 Period Change (%) +29 +51 +28 +33 +15 +15 Source: Department of Agriculture and Food Production, Bhubaneshwar. -94- E L0LE a ORISSA Caomarisons friaA and All-India lields of .ajor Zood Crn (Ka/ha) 1975-76/1976-77 Percent Difference AverAfe TiAlds 198o-E yielda etweeN Two Periods Oiosa All-IndiA Ortissa All-India Oxisa Al-India Autumn Rice 509 1,135 600 1,269 in +12 Winter Rice 893 1,120 1,120 1,330 in +19 Suamer Rice 1,471 1,926 1,572 2,153 +7 iu[ Wheat 1,742 1,399 1,895 1,649 +9 ia[ Naise 907 1,132 960 1,137 .+(t +.5 Polsus 444 514 510 493 a -4 Oilseeds 598 617 660 556 -10 SOURCE: DAFP Agricultural Stat.stics 1980/81. - 95 - INDIA MADHYA PRADESH AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RESEARCH PROJECT (Cr. 712-IN) PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT General Agriculture Division South Asia Projects Department - 96 - INDIA MADHYA PRADESH AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RESEARCH PROJECT CREDIT 712-IN PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT I. BACKGROUND Introduction 1.01 The Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Extension and Research Project (MPAERP) was appraised in October 1976, became effective on September 2, 1977 and reached completion on March 31, 1983. The project was designed to reor- ganize and strengthen extension services in 15 out of 45 administrative districts in the State and to improve research operation, especially its relevance to current problems and linkage with extension activities. Exten- sion reorganization was based -n Training and Visit (T&V) methodology, aid by 1981 the Government of Madhya Pradesh (GOMP), with the assistance of TDA, initiated a second project, Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Extension Phase II (Credit 1138-IN) to ex?and T&V to the rest of the State. The latter project does not include research which is instead being handled as part of the IDA assisted National Agricultural Research Project (NARP Credit 855-IN). Cur- rently, the Government of India, (GOI), several State Governments, and IDA are working together to formulate a National Agricultural Extension Project (NAEP). A sub-project of NAEP would continue extension improvements in Madhya Pradesh. The lessons of experience from MPAERP, therefore, have important significance for this much broader program of extension and research support in India. Agriculture in India 1.02 India has a population of about 717 mitlion (1982) which is growing at an annual rate of around 2%. Since 1960, per capita income has risen at an annual rate of 1.3% and reached US$260 in 1981/82. 1/ Agriculture is the dominant sector of the economy and contributes about 45% of GNP, engages 70% of the labor force and provides the basis for roughly 60% of India's exports. 1.03 Inspite of these modest income increases and the presence of public services, living conditions have changed little for the vast majority of urban and rural poor, who comprise around 50% of total population. Develop- ment plans put priority on alleviating poverty and creating employment, especially in rural areas, and GOI has sought to raise food production through increased use of fertilizers, agro-chemicals and improved seed varieties, supported by strengthened agricultural credit and irrigation 1/ World Development Report 1984. - 97 - development. More recently, it has looked towards improvements in extension and applied research. Agriculture in Madhya Pradesh 1.94 Madhya Pradesh, the largest state in India, covers an area of 442,841 km . Total population (1981 census) is around 52 million of which 14% are scheduled caste and 23% are scheduled tribes; in 7 of the state's 45 administra- tive districts, these scheduled groups comprise a majority of the population. Around 80% of the working population depends on agriculture which accounts for about 56% of the State's income. Total cultivated land is 18.6 million hc, some 42% of total area. 1.05 Average holding size is 3.4 hc, but land holding distribution is markedly skewed with 52% of land holdings being less than 2 hc but accounting for only 12.4% of cultivated area. Table 1: LAND HOLDINGS DISTRIBUTION IN MADHYA PRADESH Holding Size Percentage Farmers Percent Area Type in Hc involved involved Marginal Up to 1 32.8 4.2 Small 1 - 2 19.1 8.2 Small-medium 2 to 4 21.4 17.7 Medium 4 - 10 19.9 35.9 Large 10 and above 6.8 34.0 Total 100% 100% Source: Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Compedium. DOA, Madhya Pradesh; December 1983. 1.06 At the beginning of the project, approximately 1.6 million hc, some 9% of cultivated area, was irrigated. By 1980/81 this figure had risen to a little over 10%; thus, although studies indicate considerable potential to expand irrigation, the great proportion of land is still rainfed. Distribu- tion of crops is as follows: - 98 - Table 2: DISTRIBUTION OF MAJOR CROPS IN MADHYA PRADESH (81/82) Crop Area '000' (ha) Distribution (%) Paddy 4791.6 22.0 Wheat 3293.4 15.1 Jowar 2330.3 10.7 Maize 772.3 3.5 Bajra 180.8 .89 Gram 1932.3 8.9 Rape and Mustard 243.6 1.1 Other Crops 8212.2 37.8 21756.5 100.00 Source: Op.cit. 1.07 About 90% of rainfall comes in the monsoon (kharif) from June to October, but annual averages vary considerably within and between regions: northwestern (500-635 mm); southeastern (1270-1525 mm); central (760-1300 n); and western (635-1020 mm). Rainfed agriculture is par- ticularly susceptible to environmental risk, and coupled with the small size and fragmentation of holdings, complex tenancy arrangements, and the con- centration of scheduled castes and tribes, agricultural development is com- plex and extension and research have a difficult task in covering the farm population and addressing their quite diverse conditions and needs. PCR Information-Sources 1.08 Information sources used for the PCR include; the MPAERP Appraisal report (1442A-IN) and related Bank Appraisal reports for other states; super- vision reports, correspondence files; and discussions with Bank staff. Specific field visits in connection with the PCR were made in July 1982 and February 1983. The source of all tabulated data is identified in footnotes. II. PROJECT FORMULATION Origin 2.01 The Bank has been lending for agricultural and rural development in India since 1961 in a variety of subsectors. Only in the early 1970s did it begin focussing on extension and research, the first involvements being with the Rajasthan Canal Command Area Development Project (Cr.502-IN, effective December 1974) and the Cfiambal Command Area Development Project (Cr.562-IN, effective September 1975) in Northern Madhya Pradesh. T&V extension methodology was an important feature of the extension sub-component of these projects. MPAERP provided the opportunity to extend the methodology into - 99 - rainfed areas and to bring benefits to a much larger proportion of the State's farming population. Preparation and Appraisal 2.02 In 1975, GOMP set up a working group to prepare the project. Originally, it was intended to go statewide, but because of its size and heterogeneity, it was subsequently decideA to start with 15 districts that would be representative of the wide ranging agro-climatic and demographic conditions. This meant that the districts were scattered geographically, which added to administrative demand but allowed a diverse testing ground before expanding the program. The project proposal and request for financing were submitted to IDA in mid-1976, and the appraisal wission visited during October of that year. During preparation, a central project directorate was posted, building on the experience and expertise gained in the Chambal Project. Plans for staff deployment, orientation training, implementation guidelines and other arrangements were drawn together for both extension and research operations. Bank staff visited the districts involved to help prepare staff there for the T&V approach. 2.03 It was decided to begin with five districts the first year and move to the other 10 the next. After appraisal, a proposal was submitted that one of the districts to be covered the second year (Hoshangabad) be funded by FRG support, as a carry-over from the large 'Tawa CAD Project' currently financed. Gwalior district was, therefore, included instead of Hoshangabad but Bank staff meeting with local officials agreed that the extension approach should be the same in Hoshangabad as in the other IDA financed Project districts. Because of the potential that T&V reorganization offered, and the administrative difficulty of operating 2 parallel systems, T&V ,.overage of the remainder of the State was initiated in 1981 under MPAEP Phase II. Overall Coals and Objectives 2.04 Development Strategy. During the previous decade, growth in State agricultural production had been largely due to expansion in cultivation area, and the modest increases in productivity that had occurred had come largely from irrigated crops while rainfed agriculture had remained stagnant. Development emphasis had also been placed on the use of high input technology which tended to be adopted by farmers having adequate resources and bypass the majority of small and marginal farmers. However, within the rainfed areas there was a considerable technology gap between progressive farmers and the majority, so that opportunities were apparent for transferring already proven and appropriate technology. 2.05 Development opportunities of this sort clearly placed a heavy emphasis on extension supported by effective and responsive adaptive research, the latter to increase both the coverage of appropriate technology, - 100 - and to satisfy demand for improved technology which a greatly strengthened extension service would be expected to generate. Project content, however, also reflected a changing attitude within the Bank's South Asia Department regarding the focus and future direction of agricultural development support in India. Within the framework of general agricultural development, exten- sion and research were seen as priority areas for improvement, and there was a move towards more specialized projects and away from multi-component integrated package programs. Apart from the danger of diluting priorities and complicating the demands on supervision, the latter projects were not well suited to management involving many different line agencies. The appraisal report did not include detailed analysis of other support services within the State on which successful extension would ultimately depend. However, it was felt that these did not pose an immediate constraint and that future non-project development would ensure that these services, particularly input supply, would be capable of coping with increased demand. 2.06 Expected Outcomes. The appraisal report did not attempt to define any of the technical packages that would be extended to farmers, and because of the difficulties in disaggregating benefits due to complementary develop- ments not financed under the project, no estimates of expected incremental production were included. Instead, and as is the accepted procedure for Bank projects of this type in India, economic analysis was limited to calculating the incremental yields necessary to achieve an economic rate of return of 50% 1/. 2.07 Using current cropping systems and assuming that benefits would accrue gradually to reach full development from year 7 onwards, the overall yield increase to achieve this ERR would amount to 1.8% if spread over the entire cropped area, or around 4% if benefits are restricted to 50% of this area. This latter assumption is equivalent to an absolute yield increase of around 25 kg/ha for all crops and an incremental (annual) production of around 9300 tons paddy, 8800 tons wheat, 30800 tons pulses and 47900 tons of other lower valued cereals. This compared with differences of nearer 1 ton/ha between average yields and those of 'best' farmers. However, the report pointed out that this high ERR potential should be treated with cau- tion since, as improved agricultural practices spread, further investments in infrastructure and services would become necessary. 1/ In some other projects, different ERR targets may be used including minimum yield increases to achieve an ERR equal to the opportunity cost of capital. - 101 - Project Description 2.08 Outline. The project comprised the following components: - Reorganization and strengthening of agricultural extension service. Provision of additional staff, housing, offices, equipment, transportation and staff training to consolidate the organization; - strengthening and re-orientation of applied and adaptive agricultural research, Development and upgrading of five existing regional research stations and seven substations by farm development, provision of staff, equipment, hostel accommodation, laboratory facilities and vehicles; and - project Monitoring and Evaluation. Provision of staff, equipment and funds for studies to evaluate and monitor project progress. 2.09 Total project cost, including contingencies, amounted to US$20.86 million; details are in End Table 1. In terms of investment, the relative importance of each component was as follows: Table 3: SUMMARY ALLOCATION OF PROJECT COSTS Us $ '000' Z Extension /a 12,214 70.5 Extension Training 291 1.5 Aesearch 4,383 25.5 Monitoring and Evaluation 418 2.5 Base costs 17,306 100 Contingencies 3,554 Project costs 20,860 /a Includes the cost of soil testing facilities (US$ .13M). 2.10 Agricultural Extension. Prior to 1965, all aspects of rural develop- ment including agricultural extension, were carried out at field level by Village Level Workers (VW), employed by the Department of Community Develop- ment (DCD), and acting as multi-purpose agents for several government depart- ments and agencies. This structure, which had been established during the 1950s under the all-India Block Development Program, was broadly similar to the extension structure that existed in most other States at that time. However, in contrast to other States, a number of fundamental changes were introduced in 1965 which included making the Department of Agriculture (DOA) directly responsible for certain agricultural development programs and for agricultural extension. - 102 - 2.11 Administratively the State is divided into 11 Revenue Divisions, 45 Revenue Districts and 457 Development Blocks. Prior to the project, the basic extension structure consisted of an Agricultural Extension Officer (AEO) in each Block who supervised the work of around 10 VLWs. This struc- ture varied, however, by way of additional Block level staffing assigned to service the needs of a broad range of special development schemes, and there was a large complement of staff functioning and administered separately from other DOA staff who were responsible for soil and water conservation programs. Below headquarters level, the various agricultural programs were coordinated by 11 Joint Directors of Agriculture (JDA) at Divisional level, each assisted by several specialists, and 45 Deputy Directors of Agriculture (DDA) at District level, supported by Subject Matter Specialists (SMS) and administrative staff; DDA and their staff provided the main executing arm for agricultural programs. 2.12 Despite the reorganization that had taken place, the fact that rainfed agriculture had stagnated indicated that there were many weaknesses in DOA extension and allied programs. Among these the appraisal report highlighted the following: - The number of farm families that each VLW was expected to cover was large, averaging 1500-2000; - There was no systematic planning of VLW work programs, and direction, organization and supervision at all levels was weak; - a large amount of VLW time was taken up by meetings, administration, reporting requirements, etc. caused by the large number of programs that were being handled; - most field work was largely non-technical and concerned with input distribution, credit administration, and data collection for statistical and regulatory purposes; - poor transportation and housing, and inadequate budgetary support for field staff posed particularly serious disincentives given the large areas with poor communications and difficult terrain; and - poor training facilities and inadequate attention to the inservice training needs were provided for extension staff. 2.13 Project proposals therefore included a fundamental re-structuring and strengthening of the extension service. All extension staff engaged on special agricultural programs would be incorporated into this new structure. - 103 - In addition new VEW 1/ would be recruited to give a VEW:farmer ratio of 1:600; a total of 3530 would be required. The primary criterion guiding the hierarchical structure was the need for satisfactory supervision ratios. For extension work, a supervision ratio of 1 AEO:6 VEW gave a requirement for 590 ARO 2/ each operating within a sub unit of Block. Supervision, training and technical support of AEO and VEW would be provided through 50 sub- divisional offices each headed by a Sub Divisional Extension Officer (SDEO), assisted by a Training Officer (TO) and 2 SMS (in agronomy and plant protection); this team would thus be responsible for the program and training of 10-12 AEO, 70-80 VEW and covering an area of about 3 blocks. 2.14 The district identity was retained except that Bilaspur district, because of its size, was split into 2 to give 16 project districts. Each would be headed by a DDA assisted by 5 specialists. The latter would include a research agronomist, to carry out and supervise the field trials program, while the remainder would represent specialized fields, according to locality, such as water management, farm implements, entomology, plant pathology and tribal sociology. 3/ Because of the need to absolve extension staff from administering input distribution, credit requirements and ither regulatory duties, within which BDO plays a central role, a parallel struc- ture comprising 1 AEO and 3 VEW per Block was included in the project to fulfil these duties and would link directly with the District Agricultural office. The overall program would be headed by an Additional Director Agriculture (ADA) at headquarters assisted by 3 DDAs. As far as possible, staff needs would be met by relocating existing staff. 1/ During implementation, the term Village Extension Workers was used instead of VLW. 2/ The numbers given in the appraisal report are not always consistent. In such cases, the numbers referred to agree with the costing tables. 3/ Farm management suppot was also to be provided by specialist staff in the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, para 2.26. During implementation, no tribal sociology SMS were, in fact, appointed. - 104 - Table 4: SUMMARY STAFF REQUIREMENTS FOR EXTENSION Total Total Additional Post Level Required Existing Required VEW (Extension) Village 3530 2280 1250 VEW (Inputs) Village 420 420 - AED (Extension) Block 590 285 305 AEO (Inputs) Block 140 140 - SDEO Sub Division 50 25 25 TO Sub Division 50] SMS Sub Division 100] 65 85 Specialists District 80 27 53 DDA District 16] DDA Headquarters 3] 15 4 ADA Headquarters 1 - 1 2.15 Proposals for extension operation were based on T&V methodology which is now well established in India, and has been described in detail in the appraisal and other reports. Significant features in the context of the structural reorganization described above, and the previous activities of extension staff in Madhya Pradesh, are as follows: - The farm families covered by each VEW would be divided into "eight" groups of 50-100 farmers, and each group would be visited once every fortnight on a fixed day. In irrigated areas where weekly visits may be necessary the farm families per VEW would not exceed 500, divided into 4 groups of about 125 farmers 1/; - within each group, 10 contact farmers would be selected under the guidance of supervisors and in consultation with the Panchayats and farmers themselves. Extension effort would be primarily concentrated on these and on the most important crops, focussing on those practices which bring the best economic results while making optimum use of available resources; - the initial focus would be simple improvements in cultural practices and low input technology which can be quickly introduced without requiring an elaborate, time-consuming screening process. T&V routine training sessions for VEW/AEO would be practically oriented and cover those farm operations most likely to occur over the next 2 week period; 1/ No routine weekly visits were, in fact, organised during implementation. - 105 - - the identity of the Block would be retained for routine T&V fortnightly training which would be conducted by sub-division staff supported, if needed by district staff and research workers. BDO and representatives of other agencies would be invited to these sessions as necessary. At least every other training session would be held where there were means for practical application of lessons taught (a seed farm, experimental station or a training center); and - an important emphasis in field work would be the demonstration effect of fields of contact farmers where improved practices would be employed. Thus, all current demonstrations, Minikit trials and other field trials carried out under various schemes (and which had often caused confusion to extension field staff and cultivators alike) would be integrated within the project into one coordinated program. 2.16 The project included a range of capital and recurrent expenditure to support this program. Loans would be provided for new VEW (Licycles) and AEO (motorcycles) along with travel allowance, based on mileage, sufficient to provide an incentive for purchase. Each Sub-Divisional Officer would be provided with a 4-wheel drive vehicle and each district with a station wagon and cinema van, plus a car for headquarters. 1/ Existing district offices would be used, 2 additional ones would be constructed (in Bilaspur district and Barna Command Area) and each Subdivision would be provided with a new Office-cum-training hall. In order to encourage staff to live in their areas of work, provision was made for 700 VEW houses and 100 houses-cum-office for AEO. Within the 7 districts not having Soil testing facilities, the project made provision for 4 fixed and 3 mobile testing laboratories. 2.17 Extension Training. In addition to routine training within the T&V system, the appraisal report addressed the need for pre-service, induction and periodic in-service training. Five of the 6 Gramsevak Training Centres (GTC) in the State were located in the project area. Their combined capacity was close to 800 and they offered 1-1/2 year courses for matriculates (10th graders) for training as VEW and Demonstrators as well as refresher courses of 5-1/2 months for staff who have been in service for 10 years or more. The capacity of these centrers was judged satisfactory for project needs, but many of the buildings were run-down and equipment obsolete, and considerable revision was judged appropriate in the training programs. 2.18 The report recommended shortening the pre-service training course to 1 year of which 9 months would be at the centre and 3 months gaining field experience; this would allow the centres to train 500-600 new VEW per 1/ There were a number of major differences between vehicles provisions in the appraisal report narrative against those of the costing tables. - 106 - year as well as providing facilities for 3 months each year for short courses. 1/ A detailed in-service program was defined which included: pre-season (kharif and rabi) technical courses covering recommendations for the coming season; tri-monthly training sessions to review progress, methodology and organization in addition to receiving instruction from specialist staff; and monthly meetings between district staff and AEO (includ- ing those responsible for input supply) to review progress and plan the coming months program, and to conduct workshop discussions on technical subjects. Few problems were envisaged in recruiting the additional staff needed for the project. The report stated that there was no shortage of college graduates while post-graduates, to fill specialists posts, were available from within and outside Madhya Pradesh. Special efforts would be made at the start of the project to upgrade AEO to fill the new posts of SDEO and project costs included provision for upgrading graduate and post-graduate training for VEW and AEO respectively. The project directorate, together with the University, would also plan courses of several weeks duration for the entire professional staff prior to the start of intensified extension work in the field. Details of the in-service training proposals are in Schedule 1. 2.19 Existing training staff at the GTCs were judged sufficient for pre-service training and would be supported by extension SMS during the periodic in-service courses; in addition, facilities available at other colleges and schools would be used for these courses as well as the training halls at Sub-divisional level. The project provided for building and dor- mitory renovation, additional classrooms and new equipment for each CTC and for recurrent training costs. Two 4 wheel drive vehicles were also provided. 2/ 2.20 Agricultural Research. Agricultural research in the State was the responsibility of the Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University (JNKVV 3/), with headquarters in Jabalpur, and 6 agricultural colleges in different regions of the State under its control. Each of these colleges had a research station attached to it and there were also 16 substations associated with these main stations. Although a substantive research program was being carried out, and some promising findings had been released, a 1/ Retaining some space for farmer courses. 2/ Cost tables conflict with appraisal report narrative where it was stated that a minibus would be provided for each of the 5 centres, and later that a minibus and 4-wheel driven vehicle would be provided for each center. The latter provision was subsequently included in the Phase II project. 3/ Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya. - 107 - number of weaknesses were identified. These included insufficient operating funds, staff shortages and poor facilities at many of the stations outside of Jabalpur. There were particular weaknesses in applied and adaptive research and inadequate attention to the problems of rainfed areas. These weaknesses were reflected in the fact that research effc!t was very centralized, and extension staff looked to Jabalpur for answers which were often insuffi- ciently oriented towards the needs of particular agro-climatic regions of the State. 2.21 The main focus of extension would be on simple, appropriate technol- ogy that would make only modest demands for purchased inputs. The appraisal report considered that sufficient opportunities, particularly in the form of improved agricultural practices, were available for extension to make a significant impact on production. However, sustained development would depend increasingly on research output, and project research proposals we?e geared primarily towards 3 goals: - Extending and strengthening the coverage of applied and adaptive research, focussing specifically on the needs of different agro-ecological zones; - re-orienting the focus of research towards practical, farm level, issues; and - improving the coordination between extension and research at local, regional and state level. 2.22 To achieve this, research effort would be decentralized oy upgrading 5 of the 6 college stations as Regional Research Stations, and by supporting 7 of the substations so that all major agro-climatic variations within the project area would be covered.1/ Each regional station would have prime responsibility for specific comodities 2/ with locational testing carried out at the other stations. Two of the substations, at Powarkheda and Chhindwara, would also be given prime commodity responsibility. Details are given in Schedule 2 along with the major areas of research that would be covered. In addition to a substantial increase in staff at these stations, the project also included finance of additional buildings and equipment, and provision of a 25 bed dormitory at the 7 main commodity stations to permit training of extension personnel, particularly SMS. 1/ Some of these were outside of the project area which made supervision difficult. 2/ This however did not include rice since the State was planning to estab- lish a new, semi-autonomous Rice Research Institute. - _08 - 2.23 The JNKVV stations would be specifically responsible for applied research. Adaptive research would remain with DOA and would be conducted on 26 government farms located throughout the 16 districts to permit large scale evaluation of research findings. Together with trials on farmers fields, they would form an integrated system for the final proving of recommendations coming from the applied stations. The research agronomists in each of the 16 project districts (para 2.14) would be seconded from JNKVV, and an Assis- tant with the rank of AEO would be placed on each of the 26 seed farms. 1/ 2.24 The applied research program would be the responsibility of the Director of Research, JNKVV, who would heaa the regional station at Jabalpur while the remaining 4 regional stations would be deaded by AssocLate Direc- tors of Research with decentralised rcsponsibility. In addition to second- ment of JNKVV research staff to extension, and the involvement of the applied stations in extension training, a formal coordination structure was also proposed. At State level, A Central Planning Committee headed by the Direc- tor of Agriculture with the Director of Research, Associate Directors of Research from the other 4 regional stations and the Dean of Agriculture as members, would meet biannually to review research results and formulate plans for the coming season. Prior to these, Regional Planning Committees, with representatives of research and extension, would meet for mutual exchange of information and for formulating programs for approval by the Central Planning Committee. In this way, the JDAs in extension would look to the regional stations, rather than Jabalpur for answers to cultivators problems. The regional meetings would be matched and preceded by similar arrangements at district level. Close collaboration with other research institutes would also be encouraged, and the project included annual provision for 5 fellow- ships, for periods upto 6 months, to permit scientists to visit key institutes elsewhere in India. 2.25 Monitoring and Evaluation. The appraisal report did not review the existing structure and methodology for collection and publication of basic agricultural statistics in the State. Since these statistics, which are collected annually by the Land Revenue Department under a GOI sonsored program, could be considered an important measure of project impact they are reviewed in more detail in Part IV of the PCR. The need for accurate monitoring anJ evaluation of project performance was stressed in the appraisal report and various measures for achieving this were included. 1/ There are further discrepancies between the narrative and the costing tables. The "esearch Agronomists at district level are already accounted for under excension but have been included for a second time in the research costing tables. The AEO assistant, however, is included ia neither. The research costing tables also include Nucleus Seed Produc- tion Staff (and equipment) to which the narration makes no reference. - 109 - 2.26 Primary responsibility would rest with the Joint Director, Statistics and Planning Unit (SPU) within DOA, which would be strengthened at head- quarters by provision of a Senior Agricultuiq. Economist, four management and marketing specialists and a small supporting staff of statisticians and programmers. An agricultural economist of SPU would also be located at each revenue district (15) along with supporting statistical assistants (2 per district) and would be responsible for data collection and providing farm management advice to extension staff. In addition to this, a provision, representing around 25% of M&E costs, was included for in-depth and longer term studies covering the economic, institutional and technical impact of the project. These would be ca,ried out by local consultants which could include the already established Evaluation Un't located within the Department of Economics and Farm Management, JNKV', 2.27 The appraisal report provided i outline framework for the M&E program. Monitoring of performance against input targets (physical and financial) would be routine reporting responsibility of the ADA (and JNKVV) with separate accounts maintained of project expenditure. SPU would have specific responsibility for measuring performance against operational objec- tives and in providing measures of beneficiary impact in terms of yield, production and income increases, and in terms of increased use of purchased inputs. These latter measurements would be made by way of primary survey work but no details were included of the scale, design, and methodology that would be used. 2.28 Management and Organization. The organizational and staffing proposals referred to in previous sub-sections were intended as permanent institutional arrangements focussing on existing institutions. Beyond this, overall policy and coordination would be the responsibility of a Project Coordinating Committee which would be chaired by the Agricultural Production Commissioner and comprisingt the ADA (as Secretary); the Vice Chancellor; JNKVV, Secretaries for agriculture, fiance, and irrgation; the Registrar of Cooperatives; the Director of Agriculture; the Director of Research; and representatives of the Apex Marketing Federation, the State Cooperative Bank, the Land Development Bank and the Agro-Industries Development Corporation. It would meet at least annually and would be responsible for reviewing exten- sion proposals and ensuring that problems of credit, marketing and input supplies, that might arise as a result of the project, were given due atten- tion. - 110 - III. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION Implementation Schedule 3.01 Start-up. There were no formal conditions for credit effectiveness and start-up was on schedule. Prior to this date, a central project direc- torate had already been established, and had performed much of the necessary pre-implementation planning work. However, there was little progress with the Monitoring and Evaluation component, particularly with regard to the baseline survey work which had been listed at appraisal. 3.02 Revisions. The 3 components remained essentially the same although some changes were made in the Monitoring and Evaluation costing tables. The somewhat unwieldy administrative structure caused by the scattered location of the 15 districts was overtaken in 1981 by the Phase II project which extended T&V reorganization statewide. A major internal change resulted from GOMPs decision to re-establish the Block Development Structure under the Planning and Development Department (PDD) 1/. Five of the VEW posts in each Block had remained with PDD (the staff being on deputation to DOA) and in 1982, following extension of the Intensive Rural Development Program, 5 addi- tional posts were created in each Block and all VEW who had been employed by the Department of Community Development prior to 1965 were given the option of transferring to PDD and many chose to do so. One of the 5 GTCs was also transferred to PDD. The consequences of the decision are discussed below. 3.03 Overall Performance. The momentum apparent at start-up was not sustained. This was largely a consequence of staff transfers at headquarters level. Subsequent performance against appraisal targets has been behind schedule for all components. Despite the confidence expressed in the appraisal report that staffing would not be a problem, many vacancies existed until 1980/81 and some continued through to 1983. Although problems of recruitment and the availability of graduate and post-graduate outturn was inadequately considered at appraisal, there were also disagreements within Government regarding recruitment and deployment of staff which led to con- siderable delays. There were also long delays in some of the civil works components, due to bureaucratic bottlenecks, cost revisions (because of inflation) and site selection di ficulties, which continued until the last year of the project. This has been a common problem with many extension projects. 3.04 Summary indicators of physical performance are given in End Table 2. Although most physical targets were achieved by project completion, opera- tional delays have meant that the project's development impact is yet to be fully realised. Significant achievements have been made, however, and a 1/ The successor to the Department of Community Development. - 111 - sound structure has been established on which further improvements can be built. Equally important has been the greater understanding, within both the Bank and Government, of the factors constraining service support to agricul- tural development and the priority areas for focus in the future. 3.05 As of June 30, 1983i cumulative project expenditure was around 93% of appraisal total and as of December 31, 1983, 4% of the credit remained undis- bursed. Shortfalls have been due primarily to operational delays in the recurrent cost components as well as changes in the dollar exchange rate. Performance against Objectives 3.06 Agricultural Extension. Although atructural reorganization was quickly initiated, there were lengthy delays in achieving physical targets. Staff vacancies were most severe at district level and below, and persisted intermittently throughout the project. Except for SMS positions, the situa- tion had been largely resolved by 1982, at which time 5 VEW posts per Block and around 1500 staff reverted to PDD (para 3.02). However, new posts to make good the shortfall have yet to be sanctioned and current VEW staffing is only 75% of appraisal target. The consequences of this on extension coverage have been particularly severe, for as far back as 1978 a more intensive coverage (of 1:350 farm families) had been recommended in tribal areas, due both to the backwardness of these areas and the sparsely populated and dif- ficult terrain in which VEW had to travel. In addition to depleting numbers, the service was also badly disrupted since transfers were uneven across districts and occurred at a time when T&V reorganization had just begun to get settled. 3.07 It was an important condition of the credit agreement that motorcycle loans and travel allowances be increased to levels that provided sufficient incentive for purchase. This has proved a difficult clause to implement because pay commission approval is required and Government faced the problem of setting a precedent to all departments. Two increases have since been sanctioned, and a significant change was made in the eligibility criteria because many AEOs were unable to obtain loans because of their salary levels. By September 1983, only 30% of motorcycle loans had been taken up and VEW supervision has suffered accordingly. Shortfalls in VEW bicycle loans (End Table 2) were not serious because many already owned bicycles. However, delays in house construction, some of which are still incomplete, resulted in some VEW residing outside their working areas. 3.08 Beyond the physical constraints listed above, a number of other factors have affected extension performance. The understanding and operation of the T&V system has been uneven across the districts and senior staff supervision has not always identified and corrected these deficiencies. A particularly significant factor was that the function of AEO had to change radically from that of the previous system and this was not widely - 112 - appreciated during the initial years. The quality of the fortnightly train- ing sessions also needed improvement, and partly accounts for weaknesses in the technical messages being delivered to farmers. These have focussed too little on the rainfed areas, too much on high input technology and have often been general rather than catering specifically for recmmendations relevant to the coming fortnight. A particular problem in training is the varying quality of VEW, who range from sub matriculates to graduates. Teaching skills have also varied, and the use of teaching aids has been slow to develop. Although extension aids units were included at district level, the appraisal report made no provision for senior staff and facilities at HQ level and professional direction was lacking in their use. 3.09 While the above problems have been diminishing over the life of the project, other constraints have been more intransigent. Of particular con- cern in the continuing involvement of extension staff is non T&V activities.l/ A number of reasons account for this. Firstly, the authority of the Collector (who still has responsibility for the annual confidential reports of all district based staff) is such that staff (and vehicles) can be requisitioned at short notice from any department as need arises. This can be particularly disruptive since it usually ties up staff for lengthy periods, irrespective of season, and has been an important cause (because of vehicles requisitioned) of weak field supervision by district and divisional level staff. Secondly, staff are still involved in administering, implement- ing and reporting on a range of programs and special campaigns which the appraisal report assumed would all be integrated into one coordinated program. The problem has been greatest in areas attracting special aid programs with a heavy subsidy component, but elsewhere progress has also been slow because it has required corresponding changes in planning and funding procedures. Finally, the VEW both for historical reasons and because of staff not taking up their field duties, are still seen by farmers general as well as technical representatives of Government to whom all problems should be addressed. To deny farmers assistance could jeopardise credibility and these pressures will continue until other support services become stronger and divisions of responsibility are both defined and operated in practice. 3.10 Despite these problems, the prospects for the future are sound and the trend is positive. Although extension will always be vulnerable to outside pressures simply because of their (often unique) close field relationship with farmers, there is also increasing recognition that its prime function must be technical and that it cannot substitute for weaknesses in other support services. Finally, the disruption caused by staff transfers to PDD should relieve, or at least reduce, extension staff involvement in non-agricultural activities. Within the field of agricultural development, 1/ A recent M&E survey report indicated that around 50% of time was tied up in these activities and was in excess of 60% in one district. - 113 - however, the pressure for non-technical involvement of extension staff is likely to continue. For non-extension activities which are unavoidable, a partial solution would be to plan for this in advance to the extent possible, so that these activities can be concentrated outside of the main growing seasons. There is now clear evidence that extension is exerting considerable pressure on other support services to improve performance in parallel with extension. This is a development of major significance and underscrores an important, but frequently overlooked, lead effect of a strong extension service. For, ultimately, it will be because of pressure and performance accountability that the entire development machinery will become better oriented to the needs of the target beneficiary. 3.11 Extension Training. Although construction work on 4 CTCs commenced in 1978, they were not completed until 1982, and (contrary to the project agreement) one of the centres was subsequently transferred from DOA back to PDD (para 3.02). Because of the initial workload and problems in getting main operational components of the project underway, neither the Bank nor the borrower paid much attention to the training program outside the fortnightly T&V training sessions. As a result, this lagged considerably behind target. 3.12 Pre-service training of VEW has progressed satisfactorily. Course duration was reduced initially to 9 months of classroom training and then to 6 months, the latter coinciding with a decision that all new VEW must possess a university degree. The monthly training workshops were initiated early on, but there have been some problems in getting the regular involvement of research scientists. Some outside training courses were also initiated in 1979 and a number of special courses have been organised by JNKVV both in technical subjects and in training and communication skills. However, these have lagged behind target as have the rre-seasonal courses at district and divisional level and the university upgrading courses. Because training skills and program formulation have been slow to develop, a precise and distinct focus for the various in-service courses has not properly developed. As a result of becoming too generalized, the tri-monthly courses tended to duplicate those held monthly and were discontinued. 3.13 As the structure and system of T&V operation has become better estab- lished, the importance of sound and relevant training hAs become more recog- nized. This has now resulted in the preparation of a 5 year master plan (which will be upgraded annually) for training of extension staff. Extension officials have also taken steps to upgrade the skills of existing SMS, the recruitment criteria for new ones, and the professional grading for M.Sc. degreed SMS. In the beginning, the Department had opened SMS positions as a promotional path for AEO, with the result that many new SMS lacked the professional schooling that they needed to furnish on-the-spot assistance, to handle the application of research technology to local conditions, and to stay paces ahead of agricultural progress in the field. The roles of subdivi- sional and district SMS initiated by the project comprised a major departure - 114 - from the past; it was not anticipated just how much experience the SMS would need in order to fulfil their back-up responsibilities. 3.14 Agricultural Research. Physical progress was satisfactory, albeit with some delays. Work on most civil works components was initiated in 1978 and largely completed by 1982. Some staff vacancies still exist, however, and it was not until 1982 that all the posts of district Research Agronomists were filled. The basic organizational structure envisaged at appraisal was put into place except that State proposals for a semi-autonomous Rice Research Institute (para 2.22) did not materialize, and lead research for this crop continued at Jabalpur. 3.15 The operational objectives for research have proved difficult to accomplish and many problems still persist. The most conspicuous has been the deficiency in identifying research priorities and re-focussing research effort on to specific zonal needs. Symptoms of this have been: research programs geared to the academic interests of scientists; poor interdiscipli- nary cooperation; an excessive focus on irrigation; and confusion regarding the specific functions of applied and adaptive research. The causes of this are varied, such as: delays in clarifying roles and establishing satisfactory linkages between extension and research; the temptation to use controlled irrigation facilities simply because they are available; and the fact that professional objectives of researchers are not always best achieved by attending to the more mundane subjects connected with practical on-farm problems. An additional, and important, problem is that scientists still feel their allegiance almost exclusively to the program under which they are funded which makes it difficult to foster a team spirit and team orientation at station level. 3.16 Although progress is slow, these problems are getting resolved. Linkages betwi.n extension and research has become much stronger and, as noted previously, the difficulties experienced by extension in providing satisfactory technology and advice to farmers is in turn placing strong pressure or research to respond to these needs. On notable and unique accomplishment has been the provision of research agronomists at the district level by JNKVV, which has contributed to stronger extension-research linkages. Ongoing developments under the National Agricultural Research Project also provide a sounder basis for overcoming the problems associated with program linked staffing and funding at research stations and these issues are being actively reviewed. - 115 - 3.17 Monitoring and Evaluation. The Bank established guidelines for monitoring and evaluation of agricultural extension projects 1/ in Decem- ber 1977 and these provided the initial basis for M&E work in Madhya Pradesh. Following post appraisal discussions with GOMP, some revisions were also made to the M&E costing tables in the appraisal report. This increased the number of district based field investigators from 30 to 55, but with reduced expen- ditures on other capital and recurrent items overall costs did not sig- nificantly change. Under the outline program that was agreed, the M&E Unit would be responsible for conducting the monitoring, and other special sur- veys, and would use and supplement if necessary the crop cutting recordings already being performed by the Land Records Department (LRD) for its evalua- tion surveys. 2/ In the course of the latter, additional information would be recorded regarding the cultural practices that had been used in the plot, and the need for supplementation would be determined, on the basis of locally available information on sample variance, with a view to 'reducing the sam- pling error (of district based statistics) to a tolerable level'. Proposals for sample supplementation and other special studies were prepared in 1979, the former involving a 2.25 times increase in the LRD crop cutting survey. 3.18 Although Madhya Pradesh was one of the first States to initiate regular M&E work, progress has been continuously hampered by staff shortages, particularly at HQ level. Under the phase II project (Credit 1138-IN) fur- ther expansion was provided to cater for statewide coverage, but as of Decem- ber 1983 the majority (66%) of HQ staff provided for under MPAERP were not in position, and no full time JDA has yet been appointed. Problems in finding eligible candidates (Rural Sociologists, DDA), and recruitment revisions contributed to this, the excessive time involved indicates weak concern on the part of top management. Despite these limitations, the unit has assem- bled a considerable amount of useful information and had published 11 reports by December 1983. Madhya Pradesh was also the first State to adopt the most recent Bank guidelines on T&V monitoring and evaluation.3/ However, an inevitable consequence of these problems has been that the survey program has lacked proper direction and there have been long delays in processing and publishing data which have lacked comprehensive analysis. Monitoring curveys commenced in Kharif 1979 but evaluation survey work did not begin until kharif 1981. The latter delay reflects the difficulty of organising precise coordination between two separate departments (LRD and DOA) and since these 1/ A System for Monitoring and Evaluating Agricultural Extension Projects World Bank Working Paper No. 272 2/ Op cit: Option I, page 4 3/ The Monitoring and Evaluation of Training and Visit Extension in India: A Manual of Instruction. IBRD 1981. - 116 - problems still persist, and are no doubt relevant to a number of other states, they deserve further comment. 3.19 The LRD Crop Cutting survey is targeted to give a State level stand- ard error (of the sample) of no more than 5%. For 9 major crops, sample size supplementation was calculated by LRD to give a similar precision at district level. LRD also intended to cover all of the crop cutting survey work, including the supplementary sample. The reasons for so doing were both to avoid the statistical imperfection of having a split sample enumerated by two separate agencies and, more importantly, to avoid the risk of generating two conflicting data sets. This, however, meant a considerable increase in the LRD survey workload for wt:ich no support provision was included under the project.1/ For their normal sample, the crop cutting surveys are performed by the Revenue Inspectors, but to cope with the supplementary sample they had to delegate responsibility to patwaries, 2/ the intention being that each pat- wari would perform the crop cutting in the presence of a statistical assis- tant from the M&E unit who would also conduct the remainder of Monitor- ing-cum-Evaluation Survey. 3.20 In practice there have been considerable problems. Coordination problems have meant that many crop cuttings have not been jointly recorded. Although in some cases it has been possible to subsequently match the data sets, the evaluation surveys have, on average, included only around 30-50% of the total number of sub-plots harvested. A further anomaly is that the official LRD districtwise yield and production statistics for 1981/82 and 1982/83 are based only on the normal sample (i.e. they do not include the supplement). The reasons for this are partly because of statistical reserva- tions since the two data sets have been collected by different functionaries (even though they are the employees of the same department) and partly because an already overstretched department has found it difficult to recon- cile the extra analytical workload within the time constraints laid down for publication of the official statistics. To date, therefore, the potential benefits of sairple supplementation have not been realised, either in the evaluation surveys or in the official statistics. 3/ Another unfortunate 1/ The appraisal implication being that this work would be conducted by M&E unit staff. 2/ The patwaris involved in the crop cutting surveys were those stationed at the headquarters of the Revenue Inspectors so that close supervision would be possible. 3/ The standard error of the samples for these years has not, in fact, been calculated. The 5% levels referred to earlier are 'presumed' on the basis of past variance analysis which is supposed to be rechecked every 5 years. It should be noted that recent supervision missions have querried the sample sizes that had been proposed for the districts. - 117 - consequence is that, despite the endeavours to avoid such a situation, the yields from the joint samples used in the evaluation surveys are considerably higher than those of the normal samples used in the official statistics. 3.21 To cope with its present responsibilities, the staffing strength of LRD needs to be increased for not only do the patwaries have a substantial individual workload 1/, the current supervision ratio of 1:19 is far from satisfactory. Provided that the HQ staffing of the M&E unit can be resolved there will be a much improved basis for coordinating activities and, pos- sibly, for a redefinition of responsibilities that will be mutually benefi- cial to both departments. In the context of original appraisal objectives, two further points should be mentioned. Project proposals placed the M&E unit in the charge of the JDA (Statistics) working directly under the Direc- tor of Agriculture.2/ Howiver, in its current structure, the acting JDA for M&E reports through the ADA (Extension) in a separate line from the JDA (Statistics). This may not be a satisfactory long term arrangement in terms of impartiality. Finally, the 25% cost allocation for external surveys (para 2.26) remains largely unutilized. However, a separate study was commissioned by the Bank but the final report has not yet been submitted.3 Project Administration 3.22 Policy and Coordination. The Project Coordination Committee met as requ;red, but was more effective in resolving issues for which funding sty- port was included under the project (e.g. civil works) than was the case with others (e.g. parallel development in other support services, para 2.28). Other proposed committees were less operative. The Central Planning Commit- tee, which was supposed to meet biannually (para 2.24) did not convene for over 2 years although the Regional Planning Committees did meet every six months. The experience with many of these projects is that the committee structures are at best questionable, for although the need for coordination is undisputed, the structures are often included more out of convenience than as a result of detailed analysis. For although poor inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination is a frequent problem, rarely is it caused by the absence of a coordination mechanism and many would claim that coordinat- ing meetings and committees are already excessive. Much greater attention 1/ In addition to the maintenance of land records, each patwari has, on an average, to provide land utilization records for 5 villges comprising around 3300 separate plots, and covering kharif, rabi and summer crops. 2/ In fact, the appraisal report is ambiguous for an isolated reference in the main text suggests that the unit would be under the ADA (Extension). 3/ An evaluation of the Training and Visit Extension Service in Madhya Pradesh. National Council of Applied Economic Research. - 118 - needs to be given to the coordinating structure that already exists, possibly accompanied by suggestions for modification. Despite the fact that composi- tion of Project Coordination Committee was defined at appraisal, it did not include representation from the Land Records Department with whom a very high degree of coordination was required (para 3.18). 3.23 Financial Performance. As of June 30, 1983, total project expendi- ture was Rs. 174.4 million against the appraisal estimate of Rs.187.8 mil- lion, and as of December 31, 1933, actual disbursements totalled US$9.7 million against the total credit of US$ 10 million. However, GOMP believes that the full appraisal cost estimate were incurred. Revised expenditures show that there have been modest cost overruns in the case of civil works, which are more or less balanced by savings in equipment and vehicles. However, there has been substantive underexpenditure on training (14% of appraisal estimate; some additional training was in fact funded by other development schemes) and incremental operating costs (45%; other additional operating funds were provided under other schemes), whereas incremental staff costs have been well in excess of appraisal estimates (13%). The latter has been primarily due to salary increases to compensate for increased cost of living. For vehicles and equipment, unit costs have been in excess of appraisal estimates but this has been more than offset by savings in bicycle and motorcycle loans. Underexpenditure on incremental operating costs is partly due to delays in project implementation and partly due to under-funding by COMP. No credit disbursement was made for expenditure on this component. Expenditure summaries are in End Table 3. 3.24 Procurement. Procurement of civil works, equipment and vehicles were small in magnitude and works were scattered. As per appraisal expectations, no foreign procurement was involved. Except for a few works carried out departmentally, all procurement adopted local competitive bidding procedures satisfactory to the Association. No particular issues were raised during implementation, nor were any difficulties experienced by the Borrower in following general guidelines of the Bank on procurement. 3.25 Reporting. Statements of expenditure certified by the Accountant General, MP have not been submitted according to due dates. After persistent efforts, the statements for all the years from 1977-78 to 1981-82 were sub- mitted together in October 1983. GOMP has been advised to reconcile dif- ferences between expenditures according to project account and those cer- tified by AG. Six-monthly progress reports were routinely submitted, although normally about 3 months in arrears. Institutional Development 3.26 Achievements. Institutional development has been a central feature of the development proposals and in this regard the favorable outcomes and achievements have been highlighted in earlier paragraphs. Although geared to existing institutions, substantial reorganization was involved. This was - 119 - necessary in view of the major problems under the former structure. The jobs of over 3000 existing and 2000 new staff were affected and in some cases the jobs changed radically. Achieving these changes from a structural point of view involved considerable effort, but the more difficult (and significant) change was from a behavioral point of view, to change attitudes of the staff and even the farmers involved. Extension has had to focus on meeting the needs of the farmer, rather than the bureaucracy; bureaucracy should also concentrate on farmer needs. Research has also had to refocus its attention towards practical, more fundamental problems of all farmers, including the poorest, and away from the more sophisticated and centralized concerns. 3.27 When judged strictly in terms of appraisal objectives (Part II) the progress and achievements during implementation (Part III) have in many ways fallen short of expectations. This must be put into perspective, however, for the appraisal report was generally over-optimistic; nor did it (or could it) take account of the many less tangible problems which often only emerge during implementation. Judgments must therefore be made less in terms of what has been achieved and more in terms of the potential that has been set in motion. In this context, the lead role of a strong extension service has been clearly demonstrated. For it has now developed to the stage where it is able to properly identify constraints at farm level and place pressure for performance accountability both within its own operations and on the other support services on which agricultural development also depends. This is a major achievement, and where problems have been identified, they are in many ways a reflection of the strengths of the project as well as its weaknesses. 3.28 Problems. The new system has now stood the test of 7 years of implementation. There is clear evidence of its impact (Part IV), and it has received wide support from the farming community. Nevertheless, there remains an undercurrent of pressure for reversion to the former structure. The reasons are almost entirely non-technical, but the fact that BDO control was reintroduced into non-project areas shortly after the project was appraised is itself an indication that the danger continues. Added to this is the fact that although extension staff are technically and administra- tively self-contained, they are nevertheless subject to a considerable degree of outside pressure due to the authority of the Collectors who still retain responsibility for confidential reporting on all district-based staff. As a result, extension staff and vehicles are used as spill-over resources when other programs are given priority and cannot be handled by non-extension staff. To some extent this has to be accommodated (e.g. emergencies, drought relief) but unless the position is regularized there is a danger of abuse, particularly since extension staff, because of their regular contact with the farming community, are an especially useful resource. Evidence of this already exists and it could increase if rural programs are implemented without due regard to the resources needed to carry them out. 3.29 Apart from the problem of non-agricultural activities referred to above is the extent to which extension staff should be involved in - 120 - non-technical activities. Some of these should be avoidable but cannot be avoided at present because other services (e.g. input delivery, seed dis- tribution, credit supply) have not developed in parallel with strengthened extension. In addition to tying up a considerable proportion of extension staff time they are also becoming an increasingly important constraint on development. The weakness is in management of the delivery systems at field level and there is now an urgent need to attend to this. Many other non-technical functions, however, are not necessarily non-extension functions and even with strengthened companion services there will always be a par- ticipating role which extension staff must play. It is important, however, that non-technical functions are as far as possible accommodated outside of the main growing season when the needs for technical advice are greatest. 3.30 A related and frequently raised issue is the heavy administrative and reporting workload on field staff, particularly with respect to commodity programs and special campaigns which further limited the time available for technology dissemination. This has been largely a planning problem for, traditionally, extension has been treated as just one of the many programs handled at DOA level, and although T & V incorporated all field staff with one coordinated program the original planning approach was slow to be adapted. Planning weaknesses still exist, particularly at the technical and operational levels, but there have been positive improvements as extension has begun to be accepted, and planned, as the department's operational program through which all other cropping programs mist be implemented. These developments have not absolved field staff of administrative and reporting problems but the workload is mainly carried at district rather than AEO or village level. The problems are much greater, however, in the backward and tribal areas for which there are special aid schemes with a heavy subsidy element (e.g. Small and Marginal Farmers, Tribal Sub-Plan). Hopefully, the non-technical responsibilities of extension staff will decrease now that PDD staffing has increased, but greater attention is needed on impact evaluation in these areas and on ways of streamlining the workload during implementa- tion. 3.31 Extension reorganization has been specifically confined to the crop- ping subsector. This was essential not only because of the overwhelming importance of crops but also because reorganization could easily have been jeopardized if made unnecessarily complex. Any broadening of extension responsibilities must be approached with caution for the service remains vulnerable to outside pressure and companion services in inputs, seeds and credit lag behind. However, the interests of other agricultural subsectors need to be addressed for it would not be financially feasible for each sub-sector to operate parallel technical services down to village level; neither would this be technically sound given the on-farm integration that is usually needed. In many cases, the ability of crop trained staff to dissemi- nate technology relating to other subsectors would be limited and respon- sibility for this would not necessarily be desirable. However, the needs and opportunities at farm level will usually be much more localized than is the - 121 - case with crops, so that in some cases the technical specialization of the VEW could reflect this while in other cases the VEW could refer back to specialist staff (with responsibility for implementation) located at a higher level in the structure. This would need to be properly studied as need arises and it would be essential that line responsibilities are carefully defined, particularly as many of the subsectors fall under different depart- ments of the Agriculture Ministry. 3.32 A further problem, particularly in view of the increases in aggregate staff numbers on the Government payroll, is ensuring that staff receive sufficient recurrent funding support. This is still an issue since increases made under the project could deteriorate unless an acceptable balance is struck between what the State needs and what it can afford. It is par- ticularly important that travel incentives are maintained and that adequate transport is provided. The latter is not only confined to extension, for with the requisitioning of vehicles by Collectors, extension is alsc vul- nerable to shortages in other departments. Firm Government commitment is also required to iron out administrative and policy imperfections that have emerged during implementation which, although appearing minor in isolation, impose a significant aggregate constraint. These concern such matters as resolving the grading and reporting responsibilities of staff (e.g. in M&E work), making transport loans and allowances available to other staff (e.g. SMS), easing the sanctioning restrictions for routine extension operations, and ensuring that critical staff vacancies are quickly filled. There are also some significant differences in the extension 'models' that have been introduced in Bank-supported projects and it would be appropriate to compare the lessons of experience during implementation. 3.33 Finally, now that the basic extension structure is in place, greater attention needs to be given to other qualitative improvements. Pre-service and periodic in-service training has not yet received adequate attentiop ind a greater focus is required on manpower development and management trainiig. There is also scope for adjustments within the existing structure whereby backward areas, particularly those whose communications, t'.rrain or dispersed settlement patterns make extension contact more difficult, receive higher VEW:farmer ratios at the expense of more progressive areas where technology uptake and farmer:farmer dissemination is more widespread. More widespread use of the media, and greater attention to the role and needs of rural women are other examples. These opportunities are now being studied at State level and are to be given greater emphasis in the forthcoming National Lgricultural Extension Projecc. 3.34 Prospects. Although the achievements under the project owe much to the extension system that has been introduced, the manner in which it is implemented, and the extent to which it will be sustained, is ultimately determined by Government commitment at both management and policy levels. This is a measure of both the strengths and weaknesses of the project for the progress that has been achieved .s attributable to relatively few key - 122 - individuals in Government and the project remains vulnerable both to staff changes at these levels and to the need for much more broad based support throughout Government. This danger is also reflected in many of the problems identified in previous paragraphs, because most could be resolved by decisive Government action. But in most cases the action must be initiated at levels above that of the DOA and it has been at DOA level that much of the attention has been channelled during implementation. Also extending beyond the Depart- ment is the need for much improved field staff management of parallel support services and ensuring that inter-agency coordination mechanism operate effec- tively in practice. 3.35 Strong project support from NDO has been an important factor in past achievements. It has also identified, and to some extent compensated for, weaknesses in extension support at GOI level, and although these problems are being more specixically addressed in ongoing projects they will also take time to resolve. The achievements must not, therefore, mask the vul- nerability that persists. Extension reorgani7ation is still institutionally immature and it is essential that the technical and supervisory support of the Bank is sustained in the futurp. IV. IMPACT ASSESSMENT Measuring Impact 4.01 Production change 1s the ultimate measure of project impact. However, apart from the difficulties (para 3.20) in performing the necessary survey work, there are a number of other problems associated with the use of this measure. Firstly, even if survey accuracy could be guaranteed, the amount of natural variation within which production change must be identified is extremely high. The crop survey program targets for a 5% standard error of district level estimates which for most of the major crops would still be equivalent, in absolute terms, to around twice the yield increment needed for a 50% internal rate of return on project investments. 1/ Secondly, survey data takes time to process and analyze, and given the delays in getting the project fully operational, the impact of investments may not be properly reflected in available statistics. Thirdly, there is the problem of disag- gregation for even if production change could be accurately identified, the absolute increase would be attributable to both project and non-project factors. Measurements of change in production trend would partially resolve the problem, but trend analysis requires measurement over a much longer 1/ The target has not been achieved, however, so that official statistics will have standard errors at district level much in excess of this figure. See para 3.20. - 123 - period to 'normalize' inter year variations due to natural factors and is still subject to the other difficulties listed above. 4.02 Production measures must, therefore, be used with discretion. Other indicators can be used as proxy measurements and although no indicator is satisfactory in isolation, a collective indication of change could be treated with considerable confidence. The manual on monitoring and evaluation 1/ uses extension:farmer contact and uptake of recommendations as its prime monitoring indicators 2/, while the evaluation survey endeavors to establish relationships between the results of crop cutting surveys and the cultural practices that have been adopted. Other indicators can also be used and the range of key measurements, both direct and proxy, that are available for Madhya Pradesh are reviewed below. Monitoring Surveys 4.03 Extension Operations. The T&V system aims at institutionalizing a regular visit schedule for VEW, who meet with contact farmers; the contact farmers in turn disseminate the messages brought by VEW to other farmers in their circle. Quantitatively, this may be assessed for sample contact and non-contact farmers in all districts in terms of whether the farmers knew: the VEW's identify. Whether the VEW visited the area; the fixed day of the visit; and the meeting place for the visit. These and other monitoring indicators are summarized in End Table 4. Unfortunately there are no com- parable 'baselire' figures for pre-project years. 4.04 The figures show a high rate of awareness of VEW identity, with the percentages rising steadily over the life of the project to reach over 95% for contact farmers and 90% for others. The latter figure is particularly encouraging and clearly shows the widespread coverage of the system. Upwards of two thirds of contact farmers were disseminating recommendations and appeared to be contacting a little less than half the farmers in their circles. Given that both the selection of contact farmers and the procedures adopted to contact them were undergoing continuous review, this is also a satisfactory figure. 4.05 Other results indicate that operational performance is still below the level expected. The number of contact farmers knowing the fixed visit day and the number receiving their scheduled fortnightly visits is still only around 60% although the number contacted at least once every four weeks is 1/ The Monitoring and Evaluation of Training and Visit Extension: A Manual of Instruction, IBRD October 1981. 2/ The Monitoring Survey also differentiates between contact and non-contact farmers. - 124 - near 90%. Recordings of the usual meeting places with VEW show that there are discrepancies in the survey results 1/, but they nevertheless suggest that too many of the visits take place away from farmers' fields. These results, however, are not unexpected, and are consistent with the difficul- ties already referred to in Part III in getting the system fully operational, as well as the disruptions caused by staff transfer to PDD in 1982 (che figures dip in 1982/83 compared to 1981/82). Of particular significance is the continuing involvement of VEW in non-extension functions, some of which directly disrupt the routine T&V cycle. A special monitoring survey indi- cated around 50% of VEW time is absorbed by such functions. 2/ What is masked in the summarized results is the high degree of variation between districts. Some are clearly achieving an exemplary standard, the average being brought down by other districts where performance is highly adverse. This distinction is important for it shows both the capability of the system to work to perfection, as well as the management potential of M&E work in locating areas of weaknesses. It also underscores the importance of good leadership at all levels. 4.06 Technology Uptake. The monitoring surveys questioned farmers on which of the recommended practices they had adopted and the reasons why they had not adopted others; the results are summarized in End Tables 5 and 6. These provide measurements of both the appeal (or otherwise) of the technol- ogy being generated by research and the effectiveness of the extension serv- ice in transferring this to farmers. There must be caution in making too literal judgments from these results for there are weaknesses in the data 3/, and the survey findings inevitably simplify the content of the technology that is being disseminated. They do, however, provide some interesting indicators of performance as well as some insights into problems that need to be addressed in the future. 4.07 Summarized results in End Table 5 show both the high rates of adop- tion on some practices as well as the overall scope for further improvements. Not unexpectedly, technology requiring modest financial outlays (seed treat- ment, improved seed) is much more widely adopted than that requiring more substantial expenditures (chemical fertilizers, plant protection) because the latter generally involves many more adopters using partial recommendations than the full package. More revealing is End Table 6 in which the reasons for non-adoption are summarized. This shows that substantially higher rates of adoption could be achieved if constraints on input supply could be removed 1/ The combined totals for 'field' and 'elsewhere' being substantially less than the number of contacts made. 2/ Monitoring Survey, Report No. 7, 1980/81. 3/ The.e are a large number of missing entries in many of the data sets. - 125 - and highlights the urgent need for better management of commercial delivery systems outside of technical extensions. 4.08 Non-adoption because of information being received too late reflects on extension's performance but this appears to have declined in importance in more recent years. Labor was rarely reported as a constraint and it is encouraging that relatively few farmers appear to have directly expressed doubt about the technical merit of the technology they are receiving although these were higher in the :ase of seed treatment and plant protection measures than was the case for improved seeds and fertilizer. 4.09 Cost of the technology was the most significant constraint, however, and was of overwhelming importance in the case of fertilizer application (the fact that most of the adopters were only applying partial recommendation also reflects this). A clear message for the future is difficult to derive from the findings, however. Cost is always likely to be a constraint that will be given predominance by respondents, and more so if they have previously availed themselves of trial schemes in which inputs are provided free of charge. It also reflects their judgment of cost in relation to risk and emphasizes the importance both of properly addressing risk in the applied and adaptive research programs, and of generating technology that is within the purchasing power of farmers. What the surveys do not identify is whether cost is a constraint because of farmer's perception of the returns and risk involved, or whether it is because of constraints in credit supply. Changes in questionnaire design could provide useful information on this. 4.10 Again the summarized results mask considerable variation between districts. Detailed analysis on a district by district basis has not been possible during the course of this PCR, but a somewhat cursory examination indicates a positive correlation between district adoption rates and the operating performance of the extension service. 1/ This is consistent with the results in End Table 7 which show the overwhelming importance of exten- sion staff as the source of technical knowledge among farmers. Another interesting result of the surveys is that for most crops and most practices, there is no discernible relationship between adoption rates and farm size. 1/ The monitoring surveys do contain tabulation of adoption against number of visits in the previous 4 weeks, but because the measurement is restricted to the previous 4 weeks it is unsound. The comments above refer to an examination of the districts in which performance measure- ments were high and the districts where adoption rates were also high. Regression analysis could usefully quantify the relationship. - 126 - Crop Yields 4.11 Official Statistics. The problems of getting accurate production statistics have been referred to earlier in the report. Official yield statistics for 5 major crops are given in End Table 8 and show a steady rise in both yield and production, as well as the substantial dip that occurred in 1979/80 due to adverse climate conditions. To spread the inter-year varia- tions due to climatic anomalies, a 4-year rolling average 1/ of yield and production has been calculated, indexed to 100 for the period ending 1979/80. Despite the strong belief within DOA that the official statistics underes- timate actual progress, the results show a very favorable increase in produc- tion and productivity although the indices for paddy are disappointing. Of all crops, it is the paddy yield that DOA most persistently challenges. 4.12 Districts included in the project area were selected to give a good cross-section of agro-ecological conditions within the state. For this reason comparisons between project and non-project areas are appropriate although performance in the latter areas have subsequently benefitted from the Phase II project. In End Table 9, a comparison of 3 year average yields for the period 1977/78 through 1978/79 and 1980/81 through 1982/83 is given. Both averages have been weighted according to area planted each year and expressed as an index using 100 as the base year yields in the project area. 2/ These results indicate a very favorable performance within the project areas compared to non-project areas. They are also likely to underestimate the differences since benefits are 'lagged' by averaging, and the impact of the project during its initial years may also account for some of the dif- ferences between project and non-project areas during the period 1976/77 through 1978/79. Comparisons in production have not been made since the official statistics indicate marked relative changes in the areas planted to each crops which could not be properly analyzed unless all crops within the entire cultivated area were included; these figures were not available in time for inclusion in the PCR. 3/ 4.13 Evaluation Surveys. Evaluation surveys by the M&E unit did not commence until Kharif 1981/82 and covers only the project districts. 1/ A 4-year rolling average was used so that the dipped results for 1979/80 would be included in each data set. 2/ These averages also avoid including the climatically anomalous results for 1979/80. 3/ Official statistics for 1982/83 have not yet been published by LRD. DOA, however, was able to analyze the preliminary results for selected crops; tese may be subject to (minor) revisions when the official statistics are made available. - 127 - Although based on crop cuttings which are performed by LRD the yields recorded are substantially higher than those of the official statistics; comment on this is contained in earlier paragraphs (para 3.20). 4.14 Summarized results are in End Table 10. Apart from providing some evidence that the official statistics for paddy appear abnormally low, the evaluation survey results do not provide an alternative measure of perfor- mance because the skan of years is not sufficient (both the evaluation and official yields dipped in 1982/83 compared with 1981/82). What is sig- nificant, however, is that yields by source of technical advice are substan- tially higher when the source has been extension staff. This is a very positive indication of extension performance. 4.15 Rate of Return. The appraisal report did not include a formal rate of return calculation. Because of this, and since the reasons for not doing so (para 2.06) still apply, it would be inappropriate to perform this cal- culation now. The questionable quality of available statistics would also make this a largely academic exercise. What is important is that the appraisal calculation showed a 1.8% overall yield increase in the project area and would give a 50% internal rate of return. During the project period real prices (in constant terms) have increased by around 150%; 1/ incor- porated into the appraisal calculation, the yield increase to achieve the same return would reduce to 1.1%. 2/ All of the available evidence is that actual performance has been so substantially in excess of this figure that, whatever the methodological assumptions used, a calculated actual rate of return would be of such overwhelming magnitude that it would serve only as a statement of the obvious. V. BANK PERFORMANCE Appraisal 5.01 Appraisal report content was confined to extension, research and M&E, and there was no detailed analysis of other constraints on agricultural development. No major anomalies have emerged during implementation, but specific reference in Part III indicates that: the appraisal report was generally over-optimistic regarding the time required for each component to reach full development; problems of staff recruitment were underestimated; 1/ Based on the economic index in World Bank Report No. 4395-IN, April 1983. 2/ In fact, the indicative ERR calculation in this appraisal report is not correctly calculated, and the yield increase required to give a 50% rate of return would have been 1.2% at appraisal prices and 0.8% when account is taken up of real price increases. - 128 - the ability of other support services to develop in parallel with extension were overestimated; and the existing mechanisms of program linked funding and inter-agency coordination were not sufficiently studied. Staff salary costs were also substantially underestimated. 5.02 Considering that appraisal occurred when T&V was still very much an experimental concept in India, the Bank took a risk by moving so quickly. For the same reason many of the less obvious gaps in project design were those for which only experience could show the significance. The need for ensuring satisfactory grading and reporting responsibilities for staff has been demonstrated. The substantial change in function of AEO within the T&V system was also underestimated as was the need for parallel changes in plan- ning approach both within and outside DoA. The importance of SMS and the skills needed to perform their role has also been demonstrated for neither SMS nor adaptive research staff were well prepared to begin refining recom- mendations for different localities. The most important requirement was for agronomy and plant protection SMS and the report overestimated the availability of these skills (or, more correctly, the competing demands for them) from formal training institutions. Similarly, experience has shown that, until the system is properly grounded, the need for other SMS technical skills is much less important during the initial phase of development. Experience has also identified the need for strong central support wnich, to some extent, the intensity of Bank supervision has compensated for (see below). 5.03 The appraisal report contained a number of inconsistencies (Part III). This can have unfortunate consequences, for the sanctioning authorities tend to follow the appraisal reports very rigidly, and what appears in the cost tables overrides anything that is contained in the narra- tive. Even when change is desirable and apparently straightforward, sanc- tioning can take an excessive amount of time. This underscores the impor- tance of ensuring that the proposals (and particularly the cost tables) are consistent and conceptually correct at the outset. A final problem with the cost tables was that the entries showed only the incremental physical and financial requirements under the project. This led to nonfusion regarding assumptions about existing staff numbers which were not always explained in the narrative (particularly at HQ level). Supervision 5.04 Twelve supervision missions visited the project at an average inter- val of around 6 months. The size of missions ranged from 1 to 4 and averaged over 2. In addition, a number of special missions visited the project to provide specific technical assistance. Following each mission, letters summarizing the main findings and indicating corrective actions required were sent to 001 and the State. While supervision by regular Bank staff members did not exceed the Bank-wide average for agricultural projects, the use of - 129 - Bank consultants and, more particularly, local contract staff in NDO pushed up the supervision time considerably. 5.05 The quality and intensity of Bank supervisory and technical support reflects both a firm commitment to Indian agriculture as well as identified need during implementation. To some extent, the missions compensated for weak administrative and technical support from GOI level, but it became clear from the outset that structural reform would prove less difficult than the changes in attitude and approach which the reform measures required (both within and outside the extension service). 5.06 The Bank staff enjoyed certain comparative advantages over local officials in promoting the extension system. First, they could cross bureaucratic boundaries (e.g. State to GO), where local officials were constrained through fixed organizational channels. Second, because they were outside the bureaucracy, they could often bring a more objective viewpoint, and, unlike local officials, were not vulnerable, career-wise, to political and personal pressures. Third, they facilitated a cross fertilization of experience among different States implementing T&V, whereas routine com- munication between States lacks a strong enough line to have done so. Finally, the Bank could furnish specialized technical expertise (e.g. training methods and curricula) not available in Government at that time. 5.07 Having the Bank staff work out of a resident mission has also con- tributed significantly to the quality and intensity of support that was possible, both by ensuring continuity and local contact, and, more par- ticularly, through the combination of permanent and local contract staff which has proved so successful in India. The rapport with field staff and senior Government officials has been good and, although often critical, the missions have been seen by government to have a positive role. Because the project developments are still institutionally immature, continued support will be needed in the future. 5.08 The focus of Bank supervision missions has changed in parallel with developments at field level. The missions have been consistently strong in extension and research, but initial attention was focussed primarily on structural and organizational issues and ensuring that the operational requirements of the system were fulfilled. Extension training (outside of routine T&V activities) received much less attention but in more recent years, much greater focus has been give to this and to other qualitative improvements in the system. e'4 ) y - 131 - End Schedule 1 INDIA MADHYA PRADESH: PROPOSED EXTENSION TRAINING PROCRAM No. Part. Where held Per The Activity and Number Frequency Duration Participants Activity Trainers Pre-season Division 2 x year 3-4 days SDEO, SMS, TO 50 JDA, 5 Researchers Specialists Pre-season District 2 x year 4-5 days VLW, AEO 280 DDA, SMS, 16 Specialistd, Researchers Tri-monthly Subdivision 4 x year 2 days VLW, AEO 90 SDEO, SMS Monthly Pre- District 1 x 4 wks 2 days AEO,SMS,TO, 35 DDA, Specs. paration 16 SDEO Researchers Ongoing Block 1 x 2 wks 1 day VLW 20-30 SMS, ABO Special State as As needed 6-30 AEO & above 20-30 University Courses needed days Staff Special All India As needed 1/2-3 SMS & above As Institutions Training as needed months needed Staff -132- Schedule 2 MDA >UAMA PuADESt APPLID RZSZAXCS PMDPOSALS Station Responsibilities Commodity or progre Research Station Soyabeacs, Palses, Vegetables, Sat Farm WepLeAets, 4ixed FarminS, Land Utilization on flooded lands in Xharif season. Jabalpur Sorghum. Cotton, Dryland farateg Indore Pearl illes, haritf Pulses Qualior Other Uillets, Linseed Rea Sugarcane, Sengal Gran Sehore AUeat Poverkheda (Substation) 4sise, Potato, Utar 4afnageament Chhiadwara (Substation) *aor Areas of Asearch 1. Cultivation Practices. Techniques which Laprove crop productivity owld be emphasised. These would include ld preparation, :me of plancing in relation to rainfall patterns, spacing, alternactle farming 4nd cropping patterns, soil amendments (organic and Laorganic) and use of pesticides. Improved water eanagement practices and more effective utiliaction of rainded areas would be emphasised. Aied farming practices which involve livestock and fisheries would be evaluated to determine means of increasing farmer acomes. 2. Vartal taprovement. Plant breeding, screening, identificacion and selection of varities useful to farmers would be continued and strengthened for factors relevant to ifferitag agro-clisatic regions, seasons, water Levels, soil types and resistance to various pests and diseases. 3. Past and Disease Control. Studies would be strengthened on pest and disease control of the aia crops of Aadhya Pradesh. The epidemiology, prophylactic measures of control, chemical control where required, and screening for resistant and tolerant varieties would be undertaken in joint programs involving entoeologists, plant pathologists and plant breeders located at stations. 4. 'arm jplements. Testing, sodificacion and development of iaoroved fare implements which benefit cultivators would be an tportant component of the program. Fabrication 40-SO units of promistng iaplements would be undertaken by Department of Agriculture workshops so that Gatversity research staff could evaluate them in farmers' fields. S. ?arm :Manaement Studies. ?ars anagement specialists &ad statisticians Located at each regional research scation would evaluate various cultivation practices, alternative farminsg systems and cropping patterns developed as a result of the program outlined above. The economic impact of recommendations would be further assessed in larger scale adaptive trials at seed farms. - 133 - End Table 1 INDIA MADHYA PRADESH: APPRAISAL COST ESTIMATES Thousand Ru"es Thousand US Dollars /a ZForeign Local Foreig Total Local Foreign Total Exchange Extension Civil Works 16,586 - 16,586 1,843 - 1,843 - Equipment 4,412 237 4,649 490 27 517 5 Vehicles 7,507 2,342 9,849 834 260 1,094 24 Soil Testing Facilities 877 293 1,170 97 33 130 25 Establishment /b 76,652 1,013 77,667 8,517 113 8,630 1 Sub-total 106,034 187I 109,921 11,781 433 12,214 4 Training Centers Civil Works 525 - 525 58 - 58 - Equipment and Vehicles 150 25 175 16 3 19 19 Establishment /b /c 1,921 10 1,931 213 1 214 1 Sub-total 2,596 35 2,631 287 4 291 1 Research Civil Works 7,468 - 7,468 830 - 830 - Equipment and Vehicles 1,705 4,425 6,130 189 491 680 72 Establishment /b /c 25,321 538 25,859 2,813 60 2,873 2 Sub-total 34,494 4,963 39,457 3,832 551 4,383 13 Monitoring & Evaluation 3,740 22 3,832 416 2 418 1 Total Before Contingencies 146,864 8,907 155,771 16,316 990 17,306 6 Contingencies Physical 5,431 472 5,903 604 53 657 8 Price 24,770 1,304 26,074 2,752 145 2,897 5 Sub-total 30,201 1,776 31,977 3,356 198 3,554 6 Total Project Costs 177,065 10,683 187,748 19,672 1,188 20,860 6 - 134 - End Table 2 Page 1 MADHYA PRADESH : KEY INDICATORS ON PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION I.- Staffing (To update Target *** 3/83) A. Extension Number 12/78 12/79 12/80 10/ 2/83 Close VU 3951 2949 3408 3781 3882 (28821 3760 AEO 730 344 654 632 727 (3051 698 SMS Sub-Div. 150 139 131 130 132 (851 132 SDAO 50 50 38 48 50 (251 46 S%S-Dist. 80 37 53 67 73 (291 75 DAO 16 * 16 14 16 16 16 Hdqts. Staff 3 3 * 2 3 3 3 Rdqts. ADA 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 Tafor. 6 Tr3. (Dist.) - Photographer 16 * * 9 13 15 12 - Press Operator 16 * * 14 14 13 15 - Compositor 16 * * 12 14 14 16 - Cinema Van Opr. 16 * * 12 8 11 8 - Artist 16 * * 13 11 16 13 Soil Testing - Soil Test Officer 4 * 2 4 4 4 4 - Agricultural Asst. 11 * 2 10 9 11 11 - Research Asst. 21 * 13 10 19 21 21 B. Research Associate Dir. 5 4 * 5 4 * 4 Sr. Research Staff 26 24 15 26 24 * 24 Dist. Res. Agron. 16 13 16 15 13 * 12 Jr. 'es. Staff 41 36 * 39 36 * 36 Sr. Res. Asst. 44 38 * 40 38 * 38 C. Monitoring and Evaluation ODA, Statistics 2 0 * 0 0 0 1 Rural Sociologist 2 * * 0 0 0 0 Asst. Dir. 2 1 * 0 1 1 1 Research Asst. 4 4 * 3 2 2 * Asst. Stat. Officers 126 ** (est.93) 62 94 93 101 117 (Dist. + Sub. Dir) (114) Keypunch Operator 2 * 0 0 0 0 *** 1500 VEWs and (No.) AE0s were transferred to Community'Development. ** Target revised during project (original figure). * Information not available or in other form that report. -135 - End Table 2 Page 2 .ADEYA PRADES: KZY MNDICATORS ON PROJECT LMPLEMNTATION Target A. 9xtenson Nuaber 12/78 12/79 12/80 10/81 2/83 Close Sedan (Rqcs.) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 D - Dist. 2 * 2 2 2 2 2 - Sub. Div. 50 50 S0 s0 50 (16] 50 - V Crg. Cat. 2 * 1 1 1 2 2 ciao"a Va 16 t0 1-) 10 10 16 16 Station wagon 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 Mocorcycle (AZO) 719 * 0 3 * 178 213 Bicycle (VEW) 1500 3 18 * 00 792 8. RAsearch 4 'D + trailer 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 III. Civil Works (both compLeted & under construction) A. Extension VEW residence 3000 507 * * 507 S97 697 Ago Office/s$. 500 85 * * 35 99 99 S. DAD Office 81 (est.44) 22 34 44 50 50 DDA Residence 3 2 1 2 2 2 2 DDA Office 3 (eSt. 2) 1 2 2 2 2 Sotling cescins lab. 4 (eat. 4) 2 3 4 4 4 VEW trg. Cacr. 5 (ec. 4) 4 * 4 5 5 8. Research Research Lab. 12 9 * 12 12 * 12 Dorsicory 7 4 * 7 * Cold Store 1 1 * L I * L Glass Rouse 5 5 * * 5 * 3 Field Laboratory 12 9 * 12 12 Staff Quarters 40 40 * 40 40 * 40 IV. Trainint A. Extension Sr. Staff 60 Staff * a a a * 136 Univ. update (SMS/A&O) 750 Coursee * * a a * 430 Univ. specialised 300 Courses * * * a a 130 Univ. upgrading (AgO) 45 tears * a a * * 4 Univ. upgrading (W) 140 Years * * * a a 98 Univ. upgrading (SMS) 90 -Months * a * a 33 Induction (AO) 230 Mnths * * a a a 329 B. Research FelloUwship 23 a a a a a * IAforzacton not available, in other fora that report, or iacc4race. - 136 - End Table 3 INDIA MADHYA PRADESH AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RESEARCH PROJECT Summary of Project Expenditure Appraisal Estimate Budget Provision Actual Expenditure Year Rs. Million 1977/78 23.0 3.5 3.3 1978/79 53.6 37.6 15.5 1979/80 47.6 32.0 23.1 1980/81 30.8 34.1 34.6 1981/82 32.8 46.3 41.1 1982/83 - 56.8 53.0 1983/84 - 43.8 3.8 (June 30, 1983) 187.8 174.4 Item Civil works 32.3 33.4 Equipment, vehicles 24.8 22.6 Training 3.6 .5 Incremental staff 71.3 93.0 Incremental Op. Costs 55.8 24.9 187.8 174.4 (June 10, 1983) Khari RabiKhari RabiKl.srit mabt Kiai 1979/80 1979/80 1980/81 1980/81 1981/82 198112 1982/83 ueit C ~ c ~ ~ 0 c 0 0 ~: -0 c 0 i kesipusbtdtat-; N>. A NA NA HA 1500 l5W0 1500 1500 2337 2375 2536 2535 3338 3342 2 F;arnumru kett>winir, VEW ideatity / NR 91 NR 91 8 9) 82 96 88 91 90 95 90 3 F.armersti Visite.d ciaviese- prej-.vius.>4 4 wceks Visit!dl Ottc NR Nit NR Nit 28 32 KR NR 23 33 24 '1 26 35 Vibitld Twicc 35 Not 62 NR 55 39 Nt Nit 63 43 63 43 61 41 4 F.armess AL cestling Crkup 4 wc .k Olncc 26 Nit Nit NR 21 19 2/ 27 21 30 A mA 25 24 U Twicc 2/ Nm NH Nk 33 ta 48 i 31) 2p HA HA 32 20 ' 6 5 fasmetrus Knshtwingit> rixtd1 NR NI< NK Nk KR KR 68 52 63 41 66 49 . 59 40 Visit IPay 6 F.sa n a KIa.iawIn NCt4Linig Nit N NR Nit NR Nit NR Hk h7 52 67 52 57 47 M Usu.a 1 i Iiiace ield NR Nit NR NR NR Nt NR Nk 2/ 20 25 15 27 20 EI:.vula.*av Nit Nt NR mi N NKR NR Nt 40 32 42 37 32 27 w isetlicf t:',ast.se Fa usesY L:t.sin.aed Re.t>usca<end.tt åtmu Nit 14< NK KR NR NR NR NR 67 41 72 48 66 43 to <>6 iies Fa meisu :. 9 Non -:<st.st F.is<mes who - NR - NR - NK - N - 59 - 57 - 6-, know I:ta.t .cr i.aaaner 10 Fasmes.:. 14.41 iny. o$Etenn Exa§semLy th.ul 42 Nit 28 Nit 34 1tk '5 21 NR Hi NR NR N Nt quite Ib.Ctui 4'5 NR 61 N 5/ 6/ '6 62 NR Nit NR Nit' NR Ni Note:> Av .18 1£ souasad Av.at 2 LSond Av.ut i3 Av.cit 3 tousiais onc rund tle rotsdit one roulld f Ii±s gn inhul . :. 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DpIl. lA - 139 - End Table 6 MADUTA PRADESH: REASONS FOR NOT ADOPTING RECOMMENDED PRACTICES Inputs not Too Not Information Labour No Available Expensive Useful Too Late Constraint Reasons C 0 C 0 C 0 C 0 C 0 C 0 % of Non-Adopters A Seed Treatment Paddy - Khartf 1981/82 36 39 11 3 18 8 20 22 - - 15 20 Paddy - Kharif 1982/83 25 22 7 5 12 12 19 21 - - 37 40 Jowar - Kharif 1981/82 36 36 18 21 14 10 11 5 5 7 16 21 Jowar - Kharif 1982/83 28 28 18 19 6 5 7 9 - 2 41 37 Soybean-Kharif 1982/83 23 30 32 54 - - 18 8 - - 27 8 Wheat - Rabi 1981/82 23 23 16 19 10 12 16 8 9 10 26 28 Gram - Rabi 1981/82 32 32 29 32 10 6 9 6 4 4 16 20 Maize - Kharif 1982/83 15 10 30 27 8 4 5 12 - 4 42 43 3 Improved Seed Paddy - Kharif 1981/82 18 42 28 18 1 11 18 18 5 8 30 3 Paddy - Kharif 1982/83 20 15 27 33 7 8 6 11 1 - 39 33 Jowar - Xharif 1981/82 16 23 66 39 - 5 - - - 10 18 24 Jowar - Kharif 1982/83 24 23 36 36 7 8 7 7 2 2 24 24 Soybean-Kharif 1982/83 23 26 55 18 - 9 - 21 13 6 9 20 Wheat - Rabi 1981/82 30 29 34 35 15 17 2 4 5 3 14 12 Gram - Rabi 1981/82 45 29 33 38 8 9 2 3 - 1 12 20 Maize - Kharif 1982/83 - - 75 81 - - 3 7 - - 22 12 C Chemical Fertilizers Paddy - Kharif 1981/82 16 7 63 75 - 1 4 8 5 1 12 8 Paddy - Xharif 1982/83 4 4 56 56 7 8 3 5 - - 30 27 Jowar - Kharif 1981/82 8 22 61 97 6 1 - 6 4 2 11 11 Jowar - Kharif 1982/83 4 4 50 56 2 3 2 3 - 1 30 33 Soybean-Kharif 1982/83 4 - 65 59 8 11 6 11 2 - 15 19 Wheat - Rabi 1981/82 8 12 62 64 5 4 6 3 6 6 13 11 Gram - Rabi 1981/82 10 12 57 54 7 6 5 3 6 8 15 17 laize - Xharif 1982/83 3 4 68 66 - 1 - 1 - - 29 28 D Plant Protection Paddy - Kharif 1981/82 5 4 43 49 2 2 5 14 4 4 42 27 Paddy - Kharif 1982/83 - - 11 13 21 13 1 5 1 - 66 69 Jowar - Kharif 1981/82 27 27 31 25 16 22 8 6 8 9 10 11 Jovar - Kharif 1982/83 5 4 48 56 16 17 2 1 2 2 27 23 Wheat - Rabi 1981/82 11 9 32 41 24 17 8 10 9 11 16 12 Gram - Rabi 1981/82 10 14 52 39 3 11 6 4 7 14 17 18 Maize - Kharif 1982/83 10 9 64 64 3 2 4 4 - - 26 21 C * Contact Farmers 0 * Other (non-contact) Farmers Source: Monitoring Survey Reports: op. cit. -140- End Table 7 MADRYA PRADESH: SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE ON AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES No. of Fellow Extension Other Source Farmers Farmers Officers Source Not Given C 0 C 0 C 0 C 0 C 0 -No.- Kharif 1981/82 Rice 1754 11 69 8 12 Jowar 2038 10 76 6 8 Soybean 274 3 84 - 13 Rabi 1981/82 Wheat 1798 1611 7 17 82 67 4 6 7 10 Gram 1000 924 10 14 80 69 7 9 3 8 Kharif 1982/83 Rice 1267 1136 6 8 81 71 3 5 10 16 Jowar 1460 1390 7 12 79 67 5 7 9 14 Soybean 425 351 6 7 88 80 3 5 3 8 Maize 530 503 6 18 84 66 5 8 5 8 Cotton 351 336 3 23 74 54 9 8 14 15 C * Contact Farmers 0 - Other (non-contact) Farmers Source: Monitortng Survey Reports: op. cit. - 141 - End Table 8 ADRYA PRADESH: YIELD AND PRODUCTION OF AJOR CROPS IN THE PROJECT AREA 1976/77 1977/78 1978/79 1979/80 1980/81 1981/82 1982/83 A. Annual Average ----------------- Kg/ha- Yield Wheat 841 1052 1074 796 1505 1152 1243 Jovar 742 737 722 475 778 815 723 Paddy 744 1059 831 353 1033 926 725 Maize 895 799 922 663 1005 1089 1143 Gram 595 566 615 604 623 748 695 A. Production -' 000 tons- Wheat 969 1316 1410 899 1697 1280 1583 Jowar 438 451 421 310 543 563 453 Paddy 808 1180 * 940 396 1153 1014 821 Maise 179 165 196 150 239 280 286 Gram 445 382 428 531 432 565 569 B. Four Year Rolling Averages 1/ Yield Index Wheat 100 116 119 125 Jowar 100 102 106 106 Paddy 100 110 105 103 Maize 100 104 113 120 Gram 100 101 109 112 Production Wheat 100 116 115 119 Jowar 100 106 113 115 Paddy 100 110 105 102 Yaize 100 109 125 138 Gram 100 99 110 117 17 Index to 100 for period 1976/77 through 1978/79. Yield Index weighted according to area planted. Source: Directorate of Agriculture, Shopal 1976/77 - 1981/82 Final figures from Land Records Department Statstics 1982/83 Final forecasts only. - 142 - End Table 9 MADHYA PRADESH: YIELD INDICES OF MAJOR CROPS 1976/77- 1980/81- Interval 1978/79 1982/83 Increment Project Area Wheat 100 134 34 Sorghum 100 106 6 Paddy 100 103 3 Maize 100 124 24 Gram 100 118 18 Other Areas Wheat 85 91 6 Sorghum 94 93 -1 Paddy 88 90 2 Maize 108 104 -4 Gram 85 103 18 3 year weighted averages indexed to base your (=100) weighted averages for 15 project districts. Source: Directorate of Agriculture, Bhopal: op. cit. - 143 - End Table 10 WADRYA PLADESS: -SAMPLE CROP YIELDS FROM EVALUATION SURVEYS Kharif 1981/82 Rabi 1981/82 Karif 1982/93 Sauple Yield Semple * Sample lield 1o. kg/ha 1o. kg/ha 14o. *cg!ha A. trrizated/Unirrigated Yields Paddy Irrigated 201 2162 189 2095 Unirrigaced 339 1451 239 941 Tocal 540 1715 418 1395 Sorghum Irrigated 11 1812 16 1375 Inirrigated 453 969 1/ 507 922 Tecal 464 989 T! 523 839 Gram Irrigated 68 q33 Uairrigated 356 677 Tocal 424 718 Wheat Irrigated 343 1809 Jtrigated 369 907 Tocal s1 1413 8. Yields by Source of Advice Paddy Io Advice 116 14Z1 31 1170 Other Farmers 58 1572 46 700 Extension Staff 33Z 1882 287 1609 Other Sources 34 1483 14 1186 Sorghum L/ 24o Advice 55 77s 109 591 Other Parsers t13 803 S2 84L Extension Staff 284 1399 308 948 Other Sources 12 1093 56 692 Gras Io Advice 32 526 Other ?armors 49 657 Extension Staff 300 763 Other Sources 43 623 Wheat No Advice 44 786 Other Farmers 70 121 Excension Staff 446 1519 Other Sources 52 1232 11 Inconsisceat results in survey report; 2cher :nes snow ts average yield to be 916 kg/ha. 2/ Error in survey reports; results for Sorghum are wrongly entitled as referring to paddy results from 3cer sources ilso recorded as 50 ia report. A reduction t3 12, however, Is onsisteut with other yield :asuls for the crop. Source: lonitoring cus Evaluacion Survys, Directorace of %griculture, 3hopal. Hノンダー 沙ノ汐グjそ列ど !I ド - 145 - Report No: 58/85 CP - IND 52 CR Date: 29 November 1985 INDIA: CREDIT ?28-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL QEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT FAO/WORLD-6ANK COOPERATIVE PROGRAMME INVESTMENT CENTRE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS ROME In Collaboration With THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OF ASSAM STATE GAUHATI, INDIA 7< ~ - 147 - INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Eastern Region, comprising the States of Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and eastern Uttar Pradesh, is India's major rice growing are&. Most of the region has moderate to heavy monsoon rains and large areas of relatively fertile alluvial soils, and there is a vast, mainly unexploited surface and ground water resource. Yet foodgrain yields are generally lower than elsewhere in India; production has barely kept pace with population growth and most indicators of social and economic development are lower than for the rest of India. Around 1974, special emphasis was given to the development of agricultural projects in th. Eastern Region States, aimed to achieve quick increases in foodgrain production while paying particular attention to problems faced by small farmers. 1.2 One such project was the Assam Agricultural Development Project (AADP). The core of the project was to reorganise and strengthen the agricultural extension service and related adaptive research in the plains area of the state. A minor component of the project was to strengthen the Irrigation Department. 1.3 The estimated total project cost was US$16.4 M of which US$8.0 M would be an IDA credit. 1.4 Information sources used for the PCR include: the AADP Appraisal Report (No. 1535a-IN of June 14, 1977) and all AADP supervision mission reports; related Bank reports for Assam and other states; correspondence and information files of WB New Delhi Office (NDO); and discussions with farmers, local government officials, and WB and project staff, during a field visit in March 1985. - 148 - II. THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR Agriculture in India 2.1 India has a population of about 750 M,growing at 2.1% annually. The total surface is some 3.7 M km2, of which 49% is cultivable and 11% irrigated. National income has grown at nearly 4% per annum since 1950. Agriculture is the dominant sector and in round figures engages 70% of the labour force, contributes 40% of GNP and provides the basis for 60% of exports. During the past 15 years, GOI development plans gave priority to agriculture and sought to raise food grain production by increasing the use of irrigation, fertilizers, plant protection chemicals, and seeds of improved varieties. In support of this the agricultural credit institutions were modernized and irrigation development was accelerated. From the mid- seventies increasing attention was given to establishing improved extension services and upgrading the related research capabilities. 2.2 Since 1960, per capita income has risen at an annual rate of 1.5% reaching US$270 in 1985. Food grain production has grown at about 2.3% annually, approximately equal to population growth. Living conditions in the cities and among landowners have improved considerably. However, for the rural and urban poor, who comprise around 50% of total population,there has been little change in living conditions. Consequently, GO is emphasizing the need to raise the growth rate of agricultural output from 2.3 to 3% per annum, in an effort to cope with the growing population and to improve the lot of the poorest. Much of this increase will have to come from rainfed agriculture, and an effective agricultural extension service is considered to be a necessary vehicle to achieve this. Agriculture in Assam 2.3 Assam has about 21 M inhabitants (1985) and a total surface of 78,500km2. Population growth is some 3.5% annually (1971-81). The net cultivated area is about 2.9 M ha, or 37% of the total surface area. Agriculture is the predominant industry. The state has just over 2.2 M farm families with an average farm size of 1.37 ha. Some 60% of the farms are less than 1 ha. The cropping intensity of paddy areas is about 130%; 7% of the cropped area is irrigated. The per capita income in 1981-82 was Rsl,380 or US$125 compared to the all-India figure then of US$260. The oer capita rural income 1979-80 to 1981-82 was Rs656, slightly below the all-India average of Rs7O. In terms of agricultural income generated per unit area, Assam is fifth among the Indian states, with Rs3455 per ha (1979-80 to 1981- 82). 1/ 2.4 From May to September the climate of Assam is oppressively humid- tropical in the plains but Bleasantly sub-alpine in 0the hills. Mean monthly temperatures vary from 15 C in January to over 35 C in April. The rainfall is among the highest in India, statewide 2,300mm/year, with 80% concentrated in May to September. However, supplementary irrigation can contribute to higher yields. Some 95% of the food production is from the Brahmaputra 1/ Centre for monitoring Indian Economy Agricultural Crop Production in Indian Statistics and Crop-wise Data, Bombay February 1985. - 149 - Valley: floods in the Valley and along the trib-itaries are frequent, and soil erosion is on a huge scale. 1/ ?.5 Paddy is the main cereal crop with some 2.3 M ha, followed by wheat (0.1 M ha) and maize. Of other food crops, oilseeds with 0.3 M ha and vegetables 0.13 M ha are important. Tea is the main cash crop with some 195,000 ha, grown in both plains and hills, followed by fibre crops (mainly jute, 135,000 ha). Agricultural Technology and Input Supply Situation in Assam 2.6 Assam's agricultural technology is relatively little developed, compared to India generally. Bullocks are the main draught animals and there is little mechanization by tractors. This is partly explained by the rather small holdings. Food crop and non-food production (including tea) play nearly equal roles in terms of contribution to GDP; Assam is a main tea producing state. Fertilizer consumption in food crops at only some 5 kg/ha (1984) was the lowest in India, compared to 35 kg/ha in all-India (1982). However, due to the high rainfall, foodgrain yie,ds are higher than might have been expected and keep an intermediary position (1,070 kg/ha) on an all-India basis (883 kg/ha). But per capita foodgrain production was low (123 kg/year in the period 1979 to 1982), against the all-India average of 187 kg in 1978-79 to 1983-84. In the years 1961 to 1981 Assam experienced 2.1% annual food production growth, about the same As all-India (2.2%). 2! 2.7 For the assessment of the growth of production, -atural conditions prevailing in recent years as well as levels of inputs have to be taken into consideration. Besides changing factors (amount and timeliness of rainfall, utilization of improved seed, fertilizer and agro-chemical application rates) there are those factors like soil quality which remain rather constant but which still influence production according to related conditions such as flooding and erosion. Also, average crop yields may decline as areas of less-favoured soils are brought into production and as increased areas come under irrigation. Furthermore, the effectiveness of supporting services like credit, marketing and agricultural extension as well as linked research are all relevant. In Assam the following factors affecting production are particularly significant. - weather conditions were not favourable in 1979/80; - about 30% of all land in the Brahmaputra Valley is regularly endangered by frequent flooding; irrigation still plays a minor role; - hybrid seeds are not yet very widely used; - input supply encounters numerous bottlenecks, mainly the long distance from mainland India and scarcity of distribution outlets. 1/ World Bank Appraisal Report AADP. 2/ Internal Communication GOA. - 150 - III. PROJECT FORMULATION Origin 3.1 Soon after independence, GO began sponsoring a number of programmes designed to meet the need for more effective, countrywide agricultural development: the Community Development Programmes in 1952, National Extension Service Blocks in 1953, Intensive Agricultural District Programmes in 1960, Intensive Agricultural Area Programmes in 1963-64, Small and Marginal Farmers Development Programme in 1969-70. Despite their proliferation, these programmes covered a small proportion of the farmers, generally the wealthier. 3.2 Foodgrain yield in India's Eastern Region had been generally low and production had barely kept pace with population. Moreover, Fifth Plan agricultural production targets looked to the Region to provide around half of India's increased foodgrain production during the plan period, although it was recognised that, because of the unusually severe constraints to development in the region, a concentrated effort would be needed to realize the full potential. 3.3 In November 1974, GOT and WB agreed to undertake a joint review of the Eastern Region comprising Bihar, Orissa, Assam and eastern Uttar Pradesh, to assess agricultural potential, identify critical constraints and ascertain the opportunities to accelerate foodgrain production. The region's claim for priority attention was accepted by WB in its April 1975 Economic Report (691-IN) and it was agreed to give special emphasis to the development of agricultural projects. 3.4 The AADP was the third such project to be formulated in the region, following the Orissa Agricultural Development Project and the West Bengal Agricultural Extension and Research Project. It was the fifth IDA-supoorted agricultural extension and research project in India. It was intended to achieve quick increases in foodgrain production and the extension component was designed to address particularly the problems of small farmers. Experience of the training and visit system (T&V) had been obtained in India through pilot projects in the "Rajasthan Canal Command Area Development Project" and the" Chambal Command Area Development Project" in 1974/75. Project Formulation 3.5 The project was prepared by a review mission consisting of officials of the Government of Assam (GOA) assisted by Bank staff, consultants and the FAD/World Bank Cooperative Programme. The preparation report (1175-IN) was published in May 1976. A WB mission visited Assam in November 1976, resulting in Appraisal Report No. 1535a-IN dated June 14, 1977. 3.6 As a departure from previous extension projects, an irrigation component was added, designed to give the state the opportunity to gain much needed experience in this field, especially in water level monitoring activities and development of locally adapted technology; also to support a programme of tube-well and low-lift pump installation. - 151 - Goals and Targets 3.7 The immediate target was to achieve early and sustained improvement in crop production statewide by revitalising, reorganising and intensifying agricultural extension activities in the T&V pattern. This action was to complement developments over previous years in other sub-sectors of agriculture. 3.8 Improvements in production woull be sustained by the introduction of new technologies to be developed through the adaptive research component which aimed to evaluate, test and modify in accordance with local requirements, the technologies developed by Assam Agricultural University (AAU) and its substations. 3.9 The immediate target of the irrigation component centred around the fact that irrigation so far had been insignificant. Only about 30 deep wells(DTW) and 1,400 shallow tubewells (STW) existed in 1976 in the State, irrigating less than 5,000 ha. The complementary development included in the project therefore concentrated on the Irrigation Department's (ID) capacity to plan, administer, and supervise programmes for exploitation of Assam's vast groundwater resources. This was to be accomplished through the installation of STW and pumpsets: 12,500 pumpsets phased over four years to be mounted on low cost shallow tubewells; and 2,500 low lift pumps to pump directly from surface water resources (streams and ponds). The STW programme was confined to about 10% o the plains area. 3.10 The eventual goal of the project was to achieve a long-term, statewide, integrated development of institutions and factors concerned with and contributing to agricultural extension in order to maximise agricultural production, associated with some strengthening of the irrigation sector. General Description of the Project 3.11 The five-year project was primarily concerned with institutional development and comprised: - Reorganization and strengthening of agricultural extension services: provision of staff, housing, offices, equipment, transportation and staff training; - Development and strengthening of adaptive research: establishment of nine field trials stations under the Department of Agriculture (DOA) and development and upgrading of three research sub-stations of AAU; - Groundwater development: strengthening the Irrigation Department to enable it to (i) oversee in selected areas a programme of installation of low-lift pumps and shallow tubewells (which would be financed by long-term credit from other sources); (i) carry out a programme of groundwater surveys and monitoring; and (iii) install, test and demonstrate alternative,low-cost approaches to groundwater development; - Monitoring and evaluation: provision of staff, equipment and funds to carry out studies to monitor project piagress, especially concerning extension, and evaluate the impact of extension. - 152 - Project Area 3.12 The extension and research components would cover the whole of the plains area, excluding only the two hill districts of Assam which have different problems from the rest of the state. Part of the irrigation component was to collect information throughout the plains, and another part (tubewell programme) was, in order to concentrate administrative resources, confined to areas of three districts in the central and western part of the Brahmaputra Valley, covering 20 Development B'ocks with a gross area of 6,400 km2 or about 10% of the plains area (see Map). However, tubewell development would continue in the remainder of the plains area under GOA sponsorship. Project Components 3.13 Extension. By the introduction of T&V throughout the state, farmers would be provided, on a regular and systematic basis, with up-to-date advice on farming practices best suited to their specific conditions, especially proven practices having immediate impact on income. Preconditions for introducing T&V were the establishment of a single line of command from the Director of Agriculture to the Village Level Extension Workers (VLEWs) and the transfer to the OA of 80% of existing village level multipurpose workers and merging them with other redeployed 0DA staff into a unified extension service employed exclusively on agricultural extension. 3.14 Additional cadres based on one VLEW to 600 to 1,000 farm families, would be provided to achieve staffing patterns in accordance with T&V norms, enabling the extension service to react closely with selected contact farmers, who would comprise about one-tenth of all crop farmers. Extension messages communicated to farmers would be simple and relevant to seasonal aspects of the area's crops and initially would emphasize low-cost improved cultural practices; introduction of higher cost inputs and practices would follow at a later stage. Visit programmes of VLEWs. supervisory staff patterns, and training and technical support of all extension staff, would be in accordance with published T&V methodology. 1/ Additional staff appointments would be made to achieve these norms. 3.15 To enable extension staff to maintain the required regular and frequent farm visits, houses would be provided for 60% of field-level staff in or near their assigned area; also loans for motorcycle and bicycle purchases would be made available for appropriate levels of field staff and additional vehicles provided at headquarters, district and sub-divisional levels. Incremental vehicle operating costs and staff travelling allowances would also be provided. 3.16 In order to strengthen field supervision and technical support, and to further decentralise extension activities, the newly created sub- divisions would all be provided with furnished and equipped office buildings. 1/ Agricultural Extension: Training and Visit System (World Bank, 1977, revised 1983). - 153 - 3.17 The project would support trrining of both new and existing staff, by providing attendance costs fpr orientation, seasonal, foundation and special short courses, and scholarships for advanced training of selected staff. 3.18 Research. Adaptive research facilities would be set up or strengthened to provide the extension service with simple and relevant technological messages suitably adapted to locality, size of farm and ability of the farmer to invest and take risks. A network of nine field trials (and training) stations (FTS) would be established under the DOA. Two of AAU's commodity-oriented research stations and one sub-station would also be strengthened. These developments comprised: construction of laboratory, farm and office buildings, staff housing and station development; laboratory, farm and office equipment, furniture and vehicles; incremental salaries, allowances and other operating costs. A small cell of DOA specialists would be established to oversee work on FTSs and liaise with AAU; it would be located at AAU. 3.19 Monitoring and evaluation. An M&E unit would be created in the DOA to carry out sample surveys and special studies which would provide information needed for day-to-day project management and longer term policy ;lanning. 30 Groundwater Development. The project was to provide for (a) strengthening of ID, (b) groundwater surveys, and c) technology development. 3.21 The strengthening of ID was to enable it to supervise supply, installation and maintenance of STW and pumpsets, by providing additional staff, training for incremental and existing staff, vehicles for supervisory staff, bicycles for mechanics, heavy transporters, and survey and drawing equipment. The additional staff was to help farmers process and submit applications; also to advise on engineering aspects of efficient on-farm water utilization, such as land levelling and field channel construction. 3.22 The groundwater surveys and monitoring were to ensure orderly development and to avoid over-exploitation. The three-year programme was to strengthen the information base for planning future projects and develop the capacity to monitor the hydrologic effects of groundwater development. The programme comprised: (a) installation of 220 small bore observation wells on a 16 km grid covering virtually the entire Brahmaputra Valley to define aquifer materials and observe fluctuations in the water table (b) pumping tests on existing deep wells to estimate yield and transmissibility; and (c) mapping in the 20 selected blocks, to permit well locations to be recorded and drawdown patterns monitored. The project was to provide for installation of observation wells, equipment and vehicles,staff to collect and test aquifer samples and conduct pumpiry tests, and draughting and survey equipment for the mapping programme. 3.23 The groundwater technology development included a programme of research, design, installation and field testing of alternative technologies suitable for smaller farmers. Because the usual STW irrigate 3-5 ha, they involve difficult problems of watersharing for most smallholders. It was aimed to provide (a) small diameter low-cost well points, made either of bamboo or thin-walled corrugated PVC; (b) small capacity pumps, either manually or electrically operated and (c) mobile pumpsets serving a group of wells on a rental basis. The project was to provide for manufacture of new type bamboo screens and manual pumps (pendulum and rotary), electrification,installation of wells and wellpoints, tubewells and pump components, equipment and staff. - 154 - IV. IMPLEMENTATION AND OPERATING PERFORMANCE Start-Up 4.1 The credit became effective on schedule, on September 30, 1977. Reorganisation of the extension service along project lines had already progressed significantly before that date. However, the start of the research and M&E components was considerably delayed due to difficulties in posting key personnel and supporting staff, mainly due to a dearth of qualified candidates. There was good early progress on the groundwater component. Revisions 4.2 No formal change was made in project design during implementation, although a number of minor changes were made to expenditure items as detailed at appraisal and there were some minor changes in extension staffing. The GOA requested and W8 agreed extensions of the credit closing date first by one year, then (because of a vigorous stepping up of credit utilisation) by a further year to 31 March, 1985. However, the extensions were not applied to the groundwater component, which was terminated as scheduled. Overall Performance 4.3 Extension and Research. The project achieved reasonable overall progress during its initial years. However, there was a serious setback owing to unprecedented political agitation that affected the State for three long years from early 1980. After conditions normalised during 1983 the programme was again implemented with renewed vigour; progress since then has been rapid and sustained. (Key Indicators are listed in Tables 1 and 2). 4.4 Although most physical targets were eventually achieved, delays in implementation have meant that the development impact is yet to be fully realized. To some extent, this situation reflects a degree of over-optimism at time of appraisal, especially regarding the administrative and procedural delays which are inherent in Governmental procedures, although the main cause was undoubtedly the agitation which especially affected the rural areas. Nevertheless, strong action by project management and firm commitment to the project at all levels after the situation had stabilised, achieved the encouraging result that, at project completion, a firm structural and institutional foundation for future development was in place and there was every reason to believe that impact targets would eventually be achieved. 4.5 Institutionally, remarkable success has been achieved in setting up the personnel framework and basic mechanics of T&V right througn from management level to the field. Also, institutional linkages between extension, DOA research and AAU research have been set up and the scope and quality of interactions have increased steadily over time. 4.6 Considerable shortcomings remain, however, which are well recognised by management and are receiving attention, especially that (i) too few farmers receive extension messages, (ii) field supervision remains weak at all levels, (iii) there is inadequate feedback of field experiences to the research network and (iv) location-specific technology messages which are relevant to a majority of farmers are generally lacking (because FTS programmes have had to carry out zonal-level research to fill the gap left - 155 - by AAU while AAU has been building up its capabi'ity to fulfil its role of producing results for the zones). 4.7 Groundwater Development. It became quickly evident that the groundwater component did not reflect the priorities of the Irrigation Department. Although reasonable physical progress was achieved in some aspects, there was little long-term benefit which could be attributed to the project. After a major reorganisation of the ID in 1981, the project had little influence on development in the sector. Implementation and Operational Performance: Extension and Training 4.8 Civil Works. Originally the responsibility of civil works - contracting was vested with the Public Works Department of GOA. However, progress was slow, and GOA then agreed that a major part of the works should be taken up by the Agricultural Engineering Wing of the OA, whereupon progress improved and targets were by and large achieved (Table 3). 4.9 Especially in rural areas the construction and renovation works were delayed considerably; this was primarily due to late sanctioning, cement shortage and non-availability in time of proper sites, as well as the civil unrest. It may be noted that a number of newly constructed quarters in rural areas have still not been occupied for reasons of unfavourable social environment, isolation and in some cases even lack of basic amenities such as water etc. These problems arose mainly due to selection of sites on donated land, a practice which is now considered unsound and counterproductive because lands received on donation have generally been those not required by the owner and situated in disadvantageous places. As a result of these experiences, good sites suitable for housing will in future be acquired by purchase. 4.10 Tendering procedures were conducted in accordance with GOA regulations and fulfilled WB conditions of competitive bidding following local advertising. No major defects in building construction have been observed or reported. Constructions inspected by the PCR mission appeared sound. 4.11 Procurement. Virtually all items of vehicles (Table 1) and equipment (Table 4) .ere procured in accordance with WB conditions and more or less as planned. Vehicles were of local manufacture, of suitable specification and purchased under government tendering procedures utilising local competitive bidding. Small equipment was purchased locally by prudent shopping around, and no delays were experienced. The take-up of personal loans for the purchase of bicycles by VLEWs and motorcycles by AEOs was satisfactory at about 80% of the number planned. However, motorcycle loans were first restricted to Rs6,OO, raised in 1983 to Rs8,000, while the actual cost has risen to about Rsl2,OOO and AEOs have difficulty to find the necessary cash down-payment. GOA is actively considering a further raising of the loan ceiling. 4.12 Staffing Structure. Structural reorganization in the initial stages proceeded smoothly and rapidly. Transfer of 80% of VLEW posts (960) from the Panchayat and Community Development Department was completed as planned. Redeployment of administrative and regulatory staff and staff from special schemes (700) was also effected. New VLEWs (780) were recruited over three years as envisaged. The build up of other grades over three years was achieved except for 20% deficiency in the categories of ASDA0 and sub- divisional SMS (Table 5). This deficiency was mainly due to shortage of agricultural graduates in Assam: the position has improved and will continue - 156 - to do so. 4.13 Extension Problems. The fact that the extension service is still operating below potential is primarily the result of the disturbances already referred to (para 4.3). The direct effect of the disturbances related to the requisitioning of vehicles by civil authorities, not only of the DOA but also of public transport; and to the sense of insecurity which was prevalent. There were indirect effects also. Frequent disturbances prevented staff from regularly attending to their duties, which in turn made it almost impossible to carry through normal staff promotions and transfers. This resulted in a number of vacancies in the supervisory cadre; only after normality was restored in mid 1983 were the physical conditions created for proper supervision, enabling the bacKlog of promotions and vacancies to be dealt with. Since then the situation has greatly improved, especially with the approach to full staffing and emphasis on orientation training, guidance and timely follow-up from the headquarter. 4.14 An area of weakness that has lingered relates to the lack of specific production recommendations appropriate for different farming situations. Recently, due to sustained effort of 0OA and AAU and with the assistance of W8 and GOI, there have been definite improvements in developing specific extension messages through organization of training workshops, seminars, joint field visits, and a staff exchange programme. This situation will be more fully described under the heading of research. 4.15 Extension staff continue to spend considerable time on input supply, particularly improved seed. This is largely by default, for complementary support services have not developed in parallel with strengthened extension. However if the extension staff were to reject this work and rigidly adhere to their educative function, their extension work would be largely unfruitful. 4.16 For historical reasons and because other branches of government do not have village level staff, VLEWs are still considered by farmers to be general as well as technical representatives of Government to whom all problems should be addressed; to deny farmers such assistance could jecpardize the credibility of VLEWs and it is inevitable that this conflict of interest will continue until other supporting services become stronger and division of responsibility can be defined and operated in practice. It is recognised by DOA that greater attention has to be paid to the management and logistics of other delivery systems to meet the new situation, but the problem lies beyond the DOA's sphere of influence. 4.17 Situated as it is in the Dackward North Eastern area, Assam has no commercial network of input delivery in the rural areas. There are very many (about 700) village level cooperative societies which could fulfil this role. However, for historical reasons and as a matter of GOA policy, these cooperative societies deal mainly with essential consumer goods for the supply of which the GOA has a commitment. Because the societies are poorly staffed, the supply of inputs, although theoretically a part of their function, has not received adequate attention. The need for a mechanism to coordinate input management under the DOA has oeen strongly felt. 4.18 The single and direct line of control from the Director of Agriculture down to the field functionaries has been well accepted and followed, but on account of problems of topical concern such as natural calamities, relief, minikit distribution, etc. the line has not always been maintained. However, such activities have high priority and cannot be ignored; although diminishing the extension effort, the extension staff have helped, and thereby have incidentally created confidence and fellow-feeling - 157 - among the farmers. .19 A further problem concerns the amount of time taken in programme administration, fulfilling reporting requirpments and attending meetings. This is particularly a problem affecting middle management and SMSs and its effect is greatest in relation to technical follow-up and routine technical advice and training. 4.20 The institutional difficulties outlined above, though significant, should not be permitted to obscure the steady progress which has been maintained throughout and the solid and notable achievements in institutional development of extension and the related research activities. 4.21 Training. Training targets as envisaged at the time of appraisal were not fully realized, especially special short courses and refresher training for field staff (Table 6). This circumstance was due partly to delays caused by the security situation and partly to lack of resources. Recently, however the various training programmes have been revamped and accelerated and are being vigorously implemented. 4.22 The pre-service training period for VLEWs was reduced from two years to one, because of the exclusion of non-agricultural topics which had been in the curriculum of the general purpose village level workers previously trained. Other revisions were made to include T&V methodology. Considering the great demand for new VLEWs to man the project, the curriculum was restructured so that after six months of training the VLEWs were released to work in T&V. After serving two to three years in the field they have returned for two further separate courses each of three months duration, thus eventually fulfilling the statutory one-year requirement. Using the two existing VLEW Training Centres with combined capacity of 165 places, 780 new VLEWs were given the first phase six-month course in five consecutive groups. The final three-month phase of these five groups was due to be completed in 1985. Because of the limitations in capacity some 300 VLEWs who were recruited to meet urgent project implementation requirements have not yet received any formal training. Also most of the older VLEWs have not had any training since their preservice training over ten years previously; nor have up-grading or specialized courses for senior VLEWs been possible. Meanwhile, new policies and technologies of crop production have emerged without the opportunity of VLEWs to become acquainted with them. 4.23 However, good progress can now be reported. Recently a three weeks inservice training course for VLEWs was started, utilizing facilities at AAU, Jorhat. Also 120 AEOs attended refresher courses during 1984; and specialized training on various subjects was held regularly at AAU's Extension Directorate for SMS and AEO. For the past five years, six VLEWs have been deputed every year to AAU for four years of B.Sc. (Agri.) studies, under a scheme sponsored by the GOI. Also the North Eastern Council (NEC) sponsored, though not regularly, specialized training programmes for the middle order extension functionaries during 1983 to 1985, also held at AAU's Extension Directorate. In addition, SMSs and AEOs attended numerous training courses and workshops organised by the GOI at premier institutes outside the State. By January 1985, 420 staff had attended courses outside the State and 13 more received training overseas. Also the Extension Education Institute (EEI), Nilokheri, organised at Guwahati seven workshops on Orientation Communication and Extension Methodology. Many of these courses were not paid for by the project and are not included in Table 6. - 158 - 4.24 Under sponsorship of NEC, SMSs and AEOs have undergone promotional training. So far 27 have completed M.Sc. and 6 completed Ph.D. courses in various disciplines of agriculture; another 14 M.Sc. and 10 Ph.D. were still in attendance in 1985 in different agricultural universities outside the State. Also, during 1984/85 12 serving office,s hdve been sent for M.Sc. courses at AAU on deputation. Thus the staff have become increasingly professionally capable of carrying out effectively their extension duties. 4.25 In view of the availability of degree courses within India, the project did not suffer from the fact that there was little utilisation of the credit provision for overseas training. However, GOA had wished to use more to send selected staff overseas, but clearance procedures in GOI were insuperable at the time, although some easing of the procedures has recently been reported. Regarding the consultancy provision, no requirement was identified. 4.26 It has been recognised that a more specialised approach to man- power development is required, with the accent on quality rather than quantity, paying specific attention to identifying and correcting weaknesses within the training structure as well as gearing course content and participation more closely to personal skill levels. A particular area of weakness has been in the routine training of extension staff, where course content has declined in novelty and relevance, mainly because of limitations in the technical recommendations coming from research. Greater understanding of these problems by trainers and researchers has led to the problem being addressed through more active participation, including diagnostic work at field level, and by treating the training session as an important forum for the generation of feedback from field staff. Implementation and Operating Performance of Research Component 4.27 Field Trial Stations (FTS). The adaptive research facilities were set up or strengthened to provide the extension service with simple and relevant technological messages suitably adapted to locality, size of farn and ability of the farmers to invest and take risks. A network of nine FTS were established under the 0OA. To maintain a flow of technical innovations, the FTSs were supported by an expanded capability for production-oriented crop research in the AAU. Two of AAU's commodity-oriented -esearch stations and one sub station were strengthened , located at Titabor and Karimganj (for work on rice) and Shillongani (for work on jute, oilseeds, pulses and wheat). The FTS management cell comprised 00A staff with the task of overseeing work on FTSs and maintaining coordination with AAU; it was established in 1978 in the main AAU campus at Jorhat but housing for the staff was not provided by AAU as planned. Accommoaation for the office of the cell was provided by AAU and one car was provided by the project. 4.28 As envisaged, six FTSs were established in 1978-79 and three more in 1981-82, covering all the plains districts. The locations were: Sukulaboria, Gelapukhuri, Teliabebezia, Patboushi, Balagdon, Mohakal, Charduar, Panbari, and Garua. Station and farm development including levelling, layout, fencing, farm roads etc. was completed in most of the stations; bullocks, power tiller with trailer and other farm equipment were also provided. - 159 - 4.29 Civil Works. Civil works comprised constru,cion at each FTS of office-cum-laboratory, administrative unit, staff housing, training hall/dormitory and repair of existing farm buildings. Construction work was first entrusted to PWD, but because of slow progress was transferred to the Engineering wing of DOA. Construction of the buildings was mostly completed except that only one new training hall has so far been constructed. Four training halls (with dormitory) existed prior to the project. Construction of the training halls in the remaining four FTSs is proposed during the current financial year,to be financed by GOA. Electrification, site development and water supply installation also remain to be completed (Table 7). 4.30 Civil works in AAU comprised developments at three sub-stations; which these have been virtually completed under the management and supervision of the AAU authorities (Table 10). 4.31 Procurement. Laboratory furniture and equipment was provided in six FTSs and is expected to be provided during 1985 in the remaining three. A list of equipment provided for each FTS is given in Table 8. Laboratory and farm equipment was also obtained for the three AAU sub-stations (Table 11). 4.32 Staffing. The JDA (Adaptive Trials) was appointed to the FTS cell at AAU in 1978 with no professional assistance and the following supporting staff: Research Assistants 2; Accounts Assistant 1; Typist 1, and Driver 1. The heads of the nine FTSs and supporting staff were also appointed in 1978. However, the posts of Production Economist, Statistician, and Agricultural Engineer proposed in the appraisal report could not be filled at all during the project period, due to dearth of candidates having the requisite qualification and experience. Steps have recently been taken towards filling the first two of these posts . Staff vacancies and frequent transfer of research staff generally have also adversely affected implementation of the FTS programme (Table 9). Increments in professional staff at the three AAU sub-stations were reasonable, but technical support staff were below target (Table 12). 4.33 According to plan, each FTS should have been headed by an agronomist in the rank of DDA and the research officers (SMS) were to be specialised in entomology, plant pathology and soil science or farm management as appropriate. In practice, the discipline-wise appointments were not made because of constraints imposed by the seniority-based departmental policy on staff transfers and promotions. The,e was also a lack of senior officers having the required specialisations. As a result, officers specialised in otner disciplines were appointed and in many cases senior officers had only a B.Sc. (Agri.) degree without any specialisation. An added difficulty is that the FTSs are situated away from the main towns, lacking facilities for children's education, marketing etc., thus causing staff to be reluctant to join the FTSs. Only during 1984-85 has it been possible to fill up all the SMS posts. In the project, residential facilities were provided for the research staff at FTSs but not for the supporting staff. Because FTSs were situated in an out-of way places, staff for whom residential facilities were not provided, faced difficulty in obtaining rented houses near the station. However, in spite of constraints, reasonably good progress has been achieved in the FTS programme. 4.34 FTS Programme. Initially the trials programme consisted mainly of testing low-cost technologies in the major crops of rice, jute and wheat, also pulses and oilseeds, including time of planting, transplanting in lines, spacing, interplanting, seed rate, method of sowing etc. Local practices were also compared with the improved methods. Then a set of trials - 160 - involving very nominal monetary input was conducted, including seed treatment, plant protection measures, and improved varieties. This was followed by studies on the effect of low doses of fertilizers, cropping pattern etc. 4.35 The trials so far conducted in FTS can be grouped into four categories: cultivation practices; varietal improvement; effective use of fertilizer; pest and disease control. To start with, emphasis was on trials conducted in FTS farms. Then a programme for conducting field trials in cultivators' fields under different situations, was started in kharif 1984. This programme was further strengthened in May 1985 by a decision of the SLTC that 75% of DA adaptive trials would in future be in farmers' fields; funds were allocated. The FTSs were made responsible for conducting these trials, the programme for which is subject to the approvei of the DLTCs and SLTC (para 4.39ff). 4.36 Analysis of the trials conducted in the FTSs could not be carried out by the FTS cell as envisaged, because the posts of Production Economist and Statistician were not sanctioned by GOA. However, some data have been analysed in the FTSs themselves. Trials on improved implements have not been done because the post of Agricultural Engineer was also not sanctioned. Staff shortages have also affected the FTSs (para. 4.33). This problem is being overcome by posting staff on a rota basis. 4.37 AAU Research. With the establishment by AAU of six Regional Agricultural Research Stations (RARS), one in each of the identified agro- climatic zones, including fuller development under the project of two RARSs and one sub-station, the process of extending support and linkage between research and extension is becoming consolidated. Further improvements to RARSs will derive from NARP. The process of regular feed-back from the field to research stations is now being documented and made effective with identification of field problems. Workshops for improving communication techniques of resource personnel have been instituted. The commodity- oriented research programme of AAU aims to identify and select improved varieties of the most important crops obtained from national and international research institutions and develop packages of economically significant practices; this programme is directed to substantially increasing crop production and at the same time minimising farmers' risks. Selected varieties and production packages have been referred to the FTSs for further testing in each of the different agro-ecological zones, concentrating initially on rice, jute and wheat. At FTSs the most promising practices and varieties have been identified and recommendations prepared for the extension services. However, AAU is a young institution with a relatively weak research programme, which is constrained in its development by a 60% deficiency in filling of professional posts. To date it has not been able to provide the zonal (i.e agro-climatic zones) research to feed to the FTSs for them to develop location-specific recommendations. For that reason, the FTSs have unavoidably had to be involved in zonal research and have been unable to concentrate on their adaptive function. AAU is actively developing its research capability, especially in the RARSs, where programmes are designed to move away from single commodity functions to systems oriented research. These stations are being supported by NARP. Coordination between Extension and Research 4.38 Zonal Workshops. Regular contact and interaction took place between the AAU experts, FTS research staff and extension staff in the monthly Zonal Workshops which were held regularly from the inception of the project, in FTSs and AAU research stations. In the workshops, crop and weather conditions, reaction of the farmers to previous recommendations, field - 161 - problems, input position etc., were discussed over and above the routine formulation of recommendations and impact points for specific locations and subdivisions. Recently, immediately before the Zonal Workshops, meetings of the resource personnel have been held to formulate iessages and prepare for and review the workshops, involving university representatives and senior DOA personnel. Also, pre-season workshops with wide representation of extension and research personnel have been held twice in a year prior to the major crop seasons, at State level, following meetings of the Zonal Research Advisory Committees (para 4.46); these bodies formulate packages of practices which are sent forward for consideration and adoption to the SLTC (para 4.42). Some of the technical recommendations which have been made and widely adopted are given in Table 27. Emphasis has been put on proper documentation of the trials conducted in the field in order to provide authentic feed-back to the AAU researchers. SMSs from some FTSs have been - trained on various aspects of statistical design lay-out and have been able to carry out analysis of experimental data collected in the FTSs. 4.39 District Level Technical Committee (DLTC). The DLTCs were constituted in the year 1978 with the following members: District Agricultural Officer ... Chairman Deputy Director of Agriculture (FTS) ... Secretary Subject Matter Specialist (FTS) Subject Matter Specialist (Extension District) One Specialist from AAU One leading farmer Any other member to be coopted as necessary. 4.40 DLTC meetings were planned to sit at least six times a year. However in practice it was observed that two to four times per year was adequate for proper operation and this timing was adopted. Sittings were much hampered during the disturbances but have since been held regularly. 4.41 In DLTC meetings, members discussed the field problems faced by the extension service and trials were suggested for the FTS. They also reviewed the trials suggested by AAU and selected from them relevant trials for adoption in the programme. Further, the results of the trials of the previous season were reviewed and where possible, specific recommendations were offered to the extension service. 4.42 State Level Technical Committee (SLTC). The SLTC was formed in 1980, under the government notification No. AGA.380/79/13 of 30.10.80 and later modified under No. AGA 380/79/23 of 2.7.81. The members were: Director of Agriculture, Assam ... Chairman Addl. Director of Agriculture (Extension) Director of Extension Education, AAU Professor of Agronomy, AAU Professor of Soil Science, AAU Professor of Entomology, AAU Professor of Economics and Farm Management, AAU Professor of Plant Patnology, AAU Joint Director of Agriculture (Field Crops) Joint Director of Agriculture (Horticulture) Joint Director of Agriculture (Jute) Joint Director of Agriculture (Pulses) Deputy Director of Agriculture (Sugarcane) Joint Director of Agriculture (FTS) ... Secretary - 162 - 4.43 Since 1983 the SLTC has met regularly twice a year. The meetings reviewed the trials suggested by OLTC, the results of the trials of the previous season and the trials suggested by AAU. It then finalised and approved the coming year's trial programme for each FTS. The SLTC also reviewed the different problems that arose in conducting trials and suggested means of improvement. 4.44 An Executive Subcommittee of the SLTC was also formed under the same notification having the following members. Dire tor of Agriculture, Assam ... Chairman Addl. Director of Agriculture (Extension) Director of Research, AAU Director of Extension Education, AAU Director of ICAR Research Project, Shillong Joint Director of Agriculture (FTS) ... Secretary 4.45 The Executive Subcommittee generally reviews the physical progress, administrative problems and other relevant matters, whereas the full SLTC concentrates on the technical aspects. 4.46 Zonal Research Advisory Committee. ZRACs were constituted by AAU in October, 1984, under the NARP. The ZRACs meet prior to the SLTC, twice in a year, and review the trials program in particular to ensure that duplication of trials and unnecessary increase in work load do not occur. Implementation and Operating Performance: Groundwater Component 4.47 From the point of view of the project, the groundwater component was in two distinct parts, on the one hand those elements wholly financed by the project comprising water level observations, strengthening of the Irrigation Department and development of simple technologies; and on the other hand the programme for the supply of STWs and low-lift pumps which was mainly to be financed from other sources, assisted only by institutional strengthening from the project. 4.48 The STW and LLP programme was started in 1976/77 and was initially confined to four project areas covering the 20 development blocks in the three (old) districts of Nowgong, Kamrup and Goalpara. In 1981 the Assam Minor Irrigation Development Corporation (AMIDC) was formed and the programme was expanded statewide. Of the planned 12,500 STWs and 2,500 LLPs, 4,198 units had been Installed in the project areas up to February 1985, of which AMID. had installed 2,375 (see para 5.7). 4.49 The water level observations were to be carried out by the installation of 220 observation wells. After a detailed survey, 194 were considered necessary and installed by March 1984. 4.50 The programme of systematic observations and analyses was disrupted during the re-organisation of the executing Divisions and the creation of ASMIDC, as well as by the civil unrest, and much of the installed equipment got damaged. The ID is carrying out a survey to reactivate the observation programme. The mapping programme was implemented in only two out of the 20 blocks proposed. - 163 - 4.51 The technology development programme which was initiated by constructing STWs of small diameter of 50 mm and 63 mm, did not succeed. Farmers preferred to have the conventional 80 mm STW. Eight pendulum pumps delivering about 4.5 m3 /hour at about 4.6 m head, were constructed and worked satisfactorily but were rejected by farmers. Therefore, the programme planned for 80 pumps was suspended. The reason given was "farmers find it inconvenient to apply much human energy to operate the pendulum." Of the vehicles and various equipment planned for the execution of the works, procurement was about 90%, but the construction of temporary staff houses was cancelled. 4.52 Regarding assessment of benefits, the PCR mission was unable to obtain data from 10, who stated that they were preparing their own PCR. Also, project supervision missions had evidently considered the groundwater component to be something of a lost cause and given it little attention, therefore no data was available from supervision reports. The internal rate of return of the STW component had been forecast as 40-80%. It can only be said that this high figure is in fact supported by a recent evaluation of STW operations in Assam which have shown 45-50% of IRR for similar diameter (80 mm) STWs with a yield of 30 m3 per hour irrigating 6 ha of mixed cropping (paddy, wheat, potatoes and jute). One STW on average served 8 farm families and the production increase achieved was 130% over production without project. Also labour requirement (employment) is expected to triple as a result of the project (see Appendix following Chapter VIII). Implementation-and Operating Performance: Monitoring and Evaluation 4.53 The appraisal report foresaw that M&E would be the responsibility of a JDA who would be a senior agricultural economist. In addition two agricultural economists and a statistician were to be posted at Headquarters, with two Statistical Assistants and four computors of the rank of Field Investigator as supporting staff. The JDA was in fact an extension officer and not an economist. Furthermore the statistician is a DDA as planned, but is only on deputation and the two agricultural economists have not yet been appointed. Instead of the eight agricultural economists/statisticians and 16 supervisors planned for divisional work, 27 Field Investigators have been posted in the divisions. The M&E cell reports directly to the Director of Agriculture and, as planned, is apart from the DOA's agricultural statistical service and the official GOA's Directorate of Economics and Statistics. 4.54 The M&E Cell was sanctioned in March 1981 and activities started only in June 1982 when the JDA in charge was appointed. Mobility has been rather limited, since only one car was available and no loans were taken up for motorcycles. By March 1985 nine reports were out (see Table 14). 4.55 The methodology of surveys was kept as outlined in the M&E guidelines but, because of manpower constraints, crop cutting samples were left to the DOA's statistical service and the Directorate of Economics and Statistics. 4.56 The work-load of the monitoring and evaluation unit (Table 15) shows the desired concentration on survey work and its supervision of the appropriate categories. Evaluation work still represents only a small portion of the work-load (not differentiated in the table) and is limited to first attempts. A work plan is shown in Table 16. - 164 - 4.57 A special consultancy report by Karam Singh of November 1983 provided an assessment of general performance which was supported by the impression of the mission, that the M&E work has progressed well, especially considering the late start. Also, however, that there is inadequate staff for both supervision and compilation. 4.58 The M&E surveys may be broadly divided into: - those monitoring the operational implementation of the project,and - those concerned with the adoption of technology. - 4.59 Implementation Performance as Observed by M&E. The aim of the first group of surveys was to obtain knowledge on the progress and status of the introduction and institutionalization of the T&V system. Analysis of farmer's reactions showed that awareness of the T&V programme is high (85- 91%) among contact farmers, but lower (79-84%) among non-contact farme-s. Frequency and regularity of VLEW's visits and other connected criteria were monitored. Regularity of visits on a fixed day is known to 41-60% of contact farmers and 22-44% of non-contact farmers. Still only 56 to 67% of contact farmers know the place of visit of the VLEW, even lower among non-contact farmers. These and other data are contained in Table 17. 4.60 Surveys of Adoption of Technology. One group of surveys assessed if farmers were familiar with recommended practices and whether they had adopted them. If negative they were asked why they had not adopted. In Tables 18 and 19 reasons for partial or non-adoption of recommendations are given. Lack of capital or non-availability of inputs rank among the most frequent replies. Lack of irrigation and a technology not being profitable are less frequently mentioned. Although these surveys do not answer the ultimate question of the growth rate in production, they do nevertheless express measurements of the appeal of the technologies being introduced (as a feed-back to research) and the effectiveness of the extension service in transference to farmers. There were limitations in the surveys related to data gaps and over-simplification of the technology content and the results should be seen merely as indicative. Some correlations with yields are given in Table 20. 4.61 Special Studies. Special studies were carried out by the M&E cell (Table 14) to supplement the routine seasonal monitoring and evaluation studies. The guidelines for the studies were that they should be "both flexible and versatile, easy to carry out and should focus on well defined topics and small social and geographic units". Subjects chosen were "Characteristics of Contact Farmers in Assam" and "Socio-Economic Conditions of Farmers in Assam". The first of these came out in May 1984 ard it showed that a high proportion of farmers, contact as well as non-contact, were not aware of the names of the other farmers in their own group; also other characteristics were found in need of rectification. Routine Project Reporting 4.62 After a late start, routine reporting to WB improved only recently and was described as adequate in the last supervision report, though one report was overdue (Table 13). Financial reporting was especially weak. The 1983/84 financial report had not yet been received from DOA; and on the ID and AAU components no financial reports had been received at all. - 165 - V. PROJECT COSTS AND FINANCING Project Costs 5.1 The cost estimates for the project amounted to Rsl47.6 M or US$16.4 M. Of this total, US$8.0 M or 49% were to be provided as an IDA credit and the remainder from GOA/GOI funds. The credit was to meet 100% of foreign exchange costs (US$1.4 M) and about 44% of local costs. The programme of installing STWs and LLPs was to be financed through an already established IDA-supported line of credit, operated by the Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation and US$15.6 M were earmarked for this purpose (Table 21). 5.2 Within the total of Rs147.6 M, including physical and price contingencies, the rounded costs of the components were - agricultural extension Rs98 M; adaptive research, OA, Rsl9 M; adaptive research, AAU, Rs17.6 M; monitoring and evaluation Rs4 M; and strengthening of ID Rs9 M. Phasing of extension and adaptive research expenditure is shown in Tables 21 and 24 and of strengthening irrigation in Tables 21 and 22. Disbursement 5.3 Actual disbursements were slow, due to the various project delays. After two years only 7.6% and after four years, 25% of the total credit had been used. At the original full duration of the project in March 1983 the amount had reached 38% and by the end of March 1984 it was up to 75% of the total credit. However, by 31 January 1985, the full US$8.0 M had been disbursed (Table 21). 5.4 According to the statements received from DOA, the total project expenditure, excluding groundwate, was Rs98.03 M up to 31-3-1984, compared with the target of Rs147.6 M from para 5.2. At that time RsS7.3 M or US$5.7 M (at an assumed average rate of RslO per US$) had been claimed for reimbursement from the credit by GOA. However, by 31 January 1985 all the credit had been used, meaning that latterly invoicing and claiming went on at an increased speed. No further breakdown of the utilization was available from GOA. The schedule of disbursements is contained in Table 23. Unit costs of construction are shown in Table 25. 5.5 The comparison between the credit allocation as shown in the Development Credit Agreement and the actual disbursements as shown in the WB computer printout of 31 January 1985 were as follows: Credit Allocation Disbursement . . . $M. . . .. Civil works 3.7 46 3.07 38 Overseas and local training; and consultants 0.6 7.5 0.21 3 Equipment and vehicles 1.6 20 2.06 26 Salaries, etc., incremental staff 1.5 19 2.66 33 Unallocated 0.6 7.5 - - 9-~6 TOW oTg.0 TFW - 166 - 5.6 Low disbursement on overseas training/consultants is explained in para 4.25. The increase in equipment and vehicles cost was mainly because of e:calating costs associated with delays in procurement. The higher proportion of staff costs resulted from substantial salary increases during the project period combined with the continuation of staff cost disbursement for some 20 months after the original closing date. 5.7 Of the special IDA/ARDC credit line of US$15.6 M, only about US$4.36 M had been used in the project area, representing about 4,200 installations at a cost of Rs43.6 M as the following table shows. Appraisal Cost Estimate Actual Expenditure Unit Total Unit Total No. Cost Rs'O0O US$'000 No. Cost Rs'000 US'000 a/ b/ Pump Units STWs 12,500 7,710 ) ) 113,725 12,636 4,198 10,385 43,600 4,360 LLPs 2,500 6,940 ) Strengthening of ID - - 9,569 1,063 - - 6,100 610 a/ At rate of Rs9 per US$ as used at appraisal. b/ At rate of RslO per US$ as the average over the expenditure period. 5.8 Of the Rs43.6 M referred to above, Rs25.6 M was spent after 1981 as part of the statewide ASMIDC programme as follows. STWs/LLPs installed in Assam by ASMIDC 1981-85 Nos.of units installed Approximate Cost. Rs million Outside Outside Year In WB Area WB Area Total In WB Area WB Area Total 1981/82 404 946 1,350 4.1 9.2 13.3 1982/83 527 1,814 2,341 5.3 19.1 24.4 1983/84 857 4,407 5,264 9.4 48.9 58.3 1984/85 */ 587 3,199 3,786 6.8 35.6 42.4 Total 2,375 10,366 12,741 25.6 112.8 138.4 Source: ASMIDC Report received 20 March 1985. / Up to Feb. 1985. - 167 - Financial Management 5.9 Financial management of the AADP never has been a problem as such. Procurement and accounting follow the rules established between WB and GOI for all agricultural projects. The development funds are channeled through the existing GOA budgetary procedures on an innual basis. However, financial management has been passive, not used as a tool to assist the general management of the project. 5.10 Certain difficulties and delays have mainly arisen from the claim and rembursement procedures. Thus, considerable time has elapsed between submission of a claim, its refund and subsequent auditing. 5.11 One major problem is that WB requires certification of vouchers of project payments to be done centrally at State level, whereas the GOA accounting procedure is for the vouchers to remain with the authorised disbursement officer, who is the SDAO. The SDAO is personally responsible for preventing loss of such auditable papers which are in any case subject to audit spot-checks, so he is not willing to release them for central audit. Therefore there are long delays in meeting the WB procedural requirements, which could have been better formulated to fit in with routine GOA practice. 5.12 Another problem concerned disbursements for local training, which were intended to be proportionately reimbursable for all extension staff, whereas in fact, salaries were reimbursed only for incremental staff. Routine training expenses consist mainly of travelling allowances for the staff concerned, but it has been impossible to differentiate, on a certifiable basis, those allowances which related to training and which to travelling for other purposes. Combined with the reduced expenditure on overseas training explained in para 4.25, this is why disbursements shown under training were less than half of the planned amount. 5.13 These observations must be considered dS somewhat generalised statements, since no professional survey of the practices - except auditing - has been carried out. Supervision reports have reported on financial management related to disbursements, supervision missions also did not have the benefit of an outside view by an accountant or financial analyst who could critically analyse the accounting procedures. - 168 - VI. ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT Impact on Production 6.1 Although it is still too early in the course of project implementation to expect a measurable impact, the Assam official yield data of the pre-project and project years have been compared and indexed (Table 26). Three crops, namely oilseeds, jute and sugarcane show significant increases, rice an indication of an increase and two of the major crops (pulses and wheat) show decreases in yield. The index figures of rolling - five-year averages, taking the pre-project period 1971/75 as the base line, for major crops are as follows: 1971/75 1976/80 1977/80 1978/82 1979/83 Rice 100 98 99 101 103 Wheat 100 90 90 90 94 Pulses 100 94 96 97 98 Oilseeds 100 ^7 99 107 109 Jute 100 95 99 107 109 Sugarcane 100 92 96 102 107 6.2 Therefore, it may be observed that by 1985, average yield trends did not indicate a clearly significant impact of the project. However, there are many factors in assessing impact besides extension which are difficult to disaggregate, such as the high variation of the natural factors like amount and timeliness of rainfall and the often devastating flooding and soil erosion going with the heavy rainfall of Assam. Also population pressure leading to expansion of cultivation into marginal soils affects productivity figures. To normalize inter-year variations a much longer period nf project implementation (perhaps 8-10 years) would be needed to attempt trend analysis. Furthermore, changes in the uniformity of the data base of official statistics hamper long-term analysis. Also the standard error in district level estimates is often in excess of the normally aCcepted 5%. 6.3 Other factors affecting project impact are input supply and credit, which are mainly hampered by a lack of coordination at the tail end of the supply line. Though Assam has an own urea plant and is connected by a railway line to the mainland of India, supply of inputs (mainly fertilizer) falls short of requirement. Though usually retail outlets exist throughout the State, in the remote areas with still very low consumption, it does not pay the traders to keep inputs in stock at a sufficiently high level. Also there are no bank branches in such areas so that access to farm credit is difficult. 6.4 To combat this problem, GOA intends to add agricultural personnel to all the 134 blocks who will be mainly concerned with planning the input needs and removing bottlenecks of input supply, without, however, becoming airectly involved in input trading. Already the APC has proposed a detailed plan with provision for staff, vehicles and operational fundz to achieve this objective. - 169 - 6.5 It is not useful to apply an economic rate of return calculation for the extension activities. The yield increase of 1 to 2% by 1985 due to extension which would generate a rate of return of above 50% (as stated in the appraisal report) cannot be disaggregated from non-project factors. 6.6 Though the economic results of the project cannot be expressed mathematically, the benefits of changes of farmers' attitudes about improved farming methods, and in the rate at which they adopt them, were enthusiastically stated by farmers and agricultural officials. 6.7 An apparent impact of the project has been the changes in the cropping pattern, which have been observed to follow the lines of extension recommendations and indicate the positive effect of T&V. The main trends (Table 28) are: - Perceptable shift to cash crops from food grains crops. - New emphasis on Rabi crops. - Increase in pulses and oilseeds in Kharif. 6.8 During the period 1977-78 to 1984-85 the area under Kharif food- grains crops increased by 3.3 percent only, while the area under cash crops increased by 23 percent. During Rabi season, the area under food grains crops increased by 56 percent, while that of cash crops increased by 77 percent. The total area under food grains increased by 8 percent and that under cash crop increased by 13 percent. Also wheat cultivation areas increased, though this crop had probably started to spread before the inception of the extension project. In particular, the area under wheat increased by more than 150 percent during 1983-84 mainly due to food-relief activities. 6.9 Crop cutting experiment results have been compiled from various reports and are shown in Table 20. In general, rice yields are on the low side. Wheat which is a new introduction in Assam also has not shown improvement in yields. However, while at the beginning wheat was grown on the more suitable soils, recently wheat cultivation has expanded into less suitable areas where soils are marginal, thus having a depressing effect on average yield. 6.10 In oilseeds and pulses, considerable changes can be noticed as demonstrated in Table 28. Pulses and oilseeds show significant increases in area in Kharif, due respectively to the introduction of summer mung and the popularisation of soyabean. Also Ahu paddy has been increasing at a steady rate due to expansion of Early Ahu (February to June) in areas where irrigation facilities are available. 6.11 Seasonal shift of emphasis in cultivation is particularly notable. The increase in total cropped area during Kharif was only 5 percent, but in Rabi season it increased by 66 percent. Relay cropping in Rabi season by sowing seeds of pea, lentil, linseed and khesari (as fodder crop) in standing sali paddy fields is becoming popular, which has contributed to the increase in area under pulses and oilseeds. A few non-traditional crops like niger and linseed have gained in popularity. These crops are grown just after harvesting the sali paddy, after which the land had previously been allowed to remain fallow. - 170 - 6.12 In a similar way, the project helped to introduce irrigation with increased speed. Although the original project target in terms of pumps fielded has not been reached, the awareness of farmers for this new technology has spread. The achievements of ASMIDC in this field were impressive; without the project's irrigation component the achievement would certainly have been less. 6.13 Other benefits of the project to farmers must be seen in more abstract values like in the awareness of farmers that they are now standing at the beginning of a new phase of the money economy which they first experienced only a few decades back. Institutional Impact 6.14 The long-term effect of the project on institution building in the DOA (Chapter IV) is expected to be positive and significant. Although the build-up of operational capability was slower than planned, it has by and large been achieved in the final stages of the project. The institutional framework of T&V is in place as are 90% of the required staff, the mechanics of T&V are accepted and practised routine, training sessions are becoming increasingly well prepared and staff are receiving training in communicating messages. The momentum and gains achieved will, however, require reinforcement by a continued action of WB supervision combined with development of effective backstopping by the Directorate of Agricultural Extension of GOI, to avoid the tendency to revert to outdated procedures. The same bureaucratic inertia which has been the cause of delays in making desired changes will, if sustained in the desired direction for a sufficiently long period, be the very factor which entrenches the new procedures in the system. The need for continued institutional support has been recognised in the follow-up NAEP-III. 6.15 The institutional impact is not restricted to T&V ilone. There appears to be a spin-off of improved management discipline and skills in the agricultural department generally; and an appreciation that monitoring and evaluation can be a significant tool of management in all sectors. Once engrained in the system, these benefits should spread further to other sectors of the civil service. - 171 - VII. BANK PERFORMANCE 7.1 The World Bank, mainly through supervision missions and other technical back-stopping by NDO staff, has contributed significantly to project achievements and to maintaining the momentum of T&V at field level. The comprehensive field reports prepared during supervision have been particularly valuable: going far beyond the scope of the usual supervision report they have provided specific observations and recommendati.:ns which have given continuity and substance to the supervision/development process. Continued support for the process has been well formulated in NAEP III. 7.2 With hindsight, early delays in civil works implementation could have been avoided by a professional assessment of PWD capabilities and capacity, which wouid have resulted in a more timely completion of the civil works component. The inclusion of an architect in an early supervision mission wold have been advantageous to identify those constraints and promote viable courses of action to circumvent the problems. - 172 - VIII. CONCLUSIONS Project Justification and Objectives 8.1 The main objective of the project was to strengthen and reorganise the extension service and related applied research activities in order to increase agricultural production especially among small-scale farmers. That objective was appropriate at the time of project formulation and remains relevant to-day. Project Content and Scheduling 8.2 The project content was boldly conceived to bring the benefits of extension and research to virtually the whole cropped area of the state. The results have justified the original boldness, in that the envisaged institutional transformation has been largely implemented and the senior state authorities have become convinced that the extension service, when it reaches an optimum level of performance, will be effective in raising agricultural production. 8.3 The inclusion in the project of a groundwater component led to difficulties, though the intention was appropriate. In particular, problems arose because the component was implemented by a different authority from the main project, without an overall project coordinator, and especially because that authority did not appear to be strongly committed to the objectives of the project. Also, the amount of finance involved in the groundwater component (about one million dollars) was really not enough to carry "clout". 8.4 With regard to scheduling, the project was overambitious in assessing the time it would take to introduce major reorganizations in the existing already strong institutions, even allowing for the delays resulting from the period of civil unrest. The degree of progress achieved only near the end of the project period was planned to occur within the first three years. Project Formulation and Operating Outcomes 8.5 The project design in relation to extension and research was well- conceived and comprehensive. However, there were some gaps in detail in the appraisal report which hindered implementation because the appraisal report was used in effect by GOA as an "implementation and operational manual" - far beyond its intended purpose. 8.6 In particular, the details of training activities were insufficiently specific in describing the aims and objectives of the various types of courses and training sessions included in the project. As a result, implementation of training especially early in the project period was patchy. An input by a training specialist during formulation would have given clearer and specific guidance for implementation. - 173 - 8.7 Civil works components were well conceived but all fell behind schedule. Some of the delays could have been foreseen and perhaps forestalled by the involvement of a professional architect during projec formulation. Otherwise the forecast of implementation capacity was generally correct. 8.8 Greater attention could have been given to financial management and reporting during project formulation. This would have prevented some difficulties such as are described in para. 5.11 and 5.12. Evaluation of Implementation and Outcomes - 8.9 The PCR is too early for an evaluation to be possible of the impact of the project, which would have to be measured in terms of improvements in yields and production. The project objectives in institutional development have largely been achieved in terms of manpower and operational framework, but generation of an adequate amount and quality of "software", i.e. technical knowledge and packages of practices for transference to farmers, has been - and continues to be - slow. The project can have a major impact on agriculture only after further institutional improvement has occurred both in the T&V system and in related agricultural services, especially input supply, and when the system has built up greater momentum. It is too early to predict with certainty what the impact will be. However, responses of farmers and DOA staff have been enthusiastic and new practices are found to spread more quickly than before; the improvement has been particularly noticeable in rainfed areas. 8.10 Non-project factors have strongly influenced productivity and production. For instance, the inputs supply situation, especially as regards fertilizer, must be considered a major obstacle on the road of development. Fertilizer rates in Assam have reached the rate of just 5kg/ha, which is the lowest in India. Reasons for this are that soils are fertile and annuallU sediments provide new nutrients; also excess rainfall in Kharif season leads to fertilizer loss. Farmers are aware of the risks in fertilizer use because of these factors. But also distribution of fertilizer is severely constrained, mainly in respect of the distribution by trucks from railway godowns to the retail outlets. Often supplies required in May only arrive in September. Because demand is limited, traders do not see enough incentives to keep a wide network of retail outlets sufficiently stocked, even though they have the requisite trading licences. 8.11 Credit is also a limiting factor. While funds allegedly are sufficient, the credit providing banks have not enough branches so that many regions are not serviced. Also the banks are not professionally geared to deal with the credit provisions for inputs; they have no field inspectors for agricultural credit. The more effective project becomes in stimulating production, the more constraining will become the fertilizer and credit problems. GOA sees a solution in better organization of the delivery system by adding egricultural (non-extension) personnel to the blocks and the cooperative societies, for coordination and assistance in organization (para 6.4). 8.12 In general, there was no fault in the concept or the scope of the project, but some over-optimism in the time required for implementation. This fact was recognised by WB early in the implementation period and firm and effective measures were taken, through intensive project supervision, to minimite the delays and maximise the gains. Gains achieved are to be consolidated and project shortcomings rectified in the well-conceived N.EP - 174 - III which will be implemented in such a way that there will be no break in project operations after the closure of the AADP. 8.13 The commitment of the Ministry of Agriculture at all levels, from the APC to the field staff, has remained strong throughout and project objectives have been vigorously and effectively pursued in spite of the expected background of institutional resistance to change. Project management is encouragingly aware of current weaknesses and is striving to remedy them. - 175 - APPENDIX INDIA ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Economic Parameters of Shallow Tubewell Operation The Benefits of Shallow Tubewell Operation have recently been investigated within an ex-ante evaluation of a minor irrigation project in Assam, India. In the absence of reliable performance figures of the Assam agricultural Development Project (AADP), these figures are quoted here to give the Irrigation Department (ID) of Assam the chance to use these economic parameters for counterchecking. Various types of tubewells analysed in Assam include also 80mm diameter STWs with a yield of 30m3/h which is considered to irrigate 6 ha of mixed cropping (paddy, wheat, potatoes and jute). One STW on the average serves 8 farm families. The production increase achieved there is 130% over production without project. Labour requirement (employment) is expected to triple as a result of the project. While the overall economic rate of return of the project (including hand-dug and deep tubewells) is 37%, STWs have the highest rate at 45-50%, and the net present value (NPV) is Rs23,400 to 30,700 per ha. The costs of producing and delivering water to the plants for a typical project facility ranges from about RsO.23 for STWs to RsO.35/m3 for a DTW. This compares to the implicit value of water at the plant of about RsO.60 at full development. 9</- - 177 - Table I INDIA (Credit 728-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Key Indicators - Agricultural Extension Target Achievements Staff +(Revisions) at 385 VLEW 2,444 2,444 AEO 305 245 SDAO 27 (33) 33 ASDAO 23 (16) 16 SMS (sub-div) 60 (66) 66 DAD 9 (14) 14 DAIO/SMS (District) 9/ 18 13/ 23 JDA - Zonal 2 2 SMS - HQ 4 2 Civil Works Houses - new: VLEW 600 542 AEO 40 61 SDAO/SMS 30 47 Houses - renovated: VLEW 850 642 AEO 100 102 SDAO 23 10 Offices - sub-div. 6 (13) 13 Equipment and Vehicles Sedan - Zonal & HQ 2 6 4 WD - Extension 100 95 - M & E 1 1 Van - District 9 6 Motorcycle (loans) 305 250 Bicycle (loans) 1,830 1.514 Motorcycles (M & E) 6 - Training re-season: VLEW 9,523 17,629 Other 1,946 2,257 Special courses: VLEW/AEO 10,825 ) ) Other 394 ) ) 619 VLEW refresher 450 ) ) Orientation 2,183 2,730 Pre-service: VLEW 1,956 780 Other 61 - Scholarships awarded: degree studies 65 57 Monitoring & Evaluation - Staff UDA (Ag. Econ.) 1 1 ODA (Ag. Stat. Asst.) 1 1 Statisticial Asst.) 2 2 Ag. Econ./Stat. (Field) 4 4 Investigators (Field) 27 27 - 178 - Table 2 Page 1 INDIA (Credit 728-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Key Indicators - Agricultural Research Field Trial Stations Target Achievements + (Revisions) at 3/85 Staff ODA 9 9 SMS 27 24 Research Assistant 18 17 Field Assistant 18 18 Civil Works Laboratory/office 9 9 Admin. office 9 9 Godown/garage 9 6 Cattle shed 9 7 Houses 72 68 Equipment and Vehicles 4 WD with trailer 9 9 Power tillers 9 9 Bullock pairs 18 18 Equipment set 9 9 Training Study tours 54 n.a. In-service courses 72 n.a. Field Trials Cell Staff JDA 1 1 DDA 1 0 Statistician 1 0 Agric. Engineer 1 0 Research Asst. 2 1 Equipment & Vehicles Minibus 1 1 Sedan 1 1 Equipment set 1 1 - 179 - Table 2 Page T Tarqet Achievements +(Revisons) at 3/85 Research Stations Civil Works Laboratory/office 3 3 Other buildings 12 (8) 7 Houses - new 93 (66) 74 Rehabilitation (units) 9 8 Staff (Increwntal Posts) Senior professor 3 3 Junior professor 6 (9) 5 Senior Research Asst. 5 (7) 3 Equipment & Vehicles 4 WD with trailer 5 5 Minibus 1 1 Equipment set 3 .3 Training Fellowships 32 5 INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Progress in Civit Works: Extension Service Category of Works Appraisal Allotted Completed Allotted Completion yearwise by AEV 2/ Total Grand Target to PWD I/ by PWD to AEW 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 3/ AEV Total Total -80 -81 -82 -83 -84 -85 Const ructi on VLEW Quarters 600 185 101 415 30 40 45 131 151 44 441 542 AEO Quarters 40 40 33 - - - - - 13 15 28 61 OD DAO/SDAO/SMS Quarters 30 30 24 - - - - - 3 20 23 47 c> SDA0 Office 6 6 6 - - - . - - - - 6 FTS Complex 9 8 8 1 - - 1 - - 1 9 Renovation VIEW Quarters 850 400 402 450 - 32 87 32 74 15 240 642 AEO Quarters 100 so 61 50 - 5 13 5 18 - 41 102 SDAO/SMS Quarters 23 23 10 - - - - - - - - 10 SDA0 Office - - - - - - - - 9 4 13 13 TOTAL WORKS 1658 742 645 916 30 77 145 169 268 98 787 1432 c4 1/ Public Works Dpartment 2/ Agriculture Department Engineering Wing 3/ Som wo-ks not complete by 31 Mar. R5; 4/ Includes some re-constructions funds for completion have bpon sanctioned by 0f - 181 - Table 4 INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN Page I ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPWNT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT List of Equipment Procured, other than Vehicle Extension Component Item Quantity 1977-78 16 mm photophone sound projector with accessories 4 sets 8 mm Videotronic sound projector 15 Slide projector Flempo E-300 5 Tape Recorder Philips No.221B 5 DCM 10004 table calculator 5 DCM pocket calculator 6 DCM 1210 table calculator 1 Flinnelograph board (4' x 3) 6 Rolling black-board 100 Insect collecting box 100 1978-79 Photophone overhead projector with accessories 34 Photophone 16 mm sound projector with accessories 6 Ahuja TR megaphone Model AM-18 55 Videotronic super 8 mm sound projector with accessories 59 Cassette Tape Recorder (Bush MTP-555) 60 Cannon 35 mm Cameras 9 Yashica 635 Twin-lens reflex cameras 14 Projectica slide projectors 56 DCM Desk Calculator Model 1204 29 - do - Model 1402 7 - do - Model 1201/DG 8 Sample jars (tall plastic) 66 dozen Pictorial Charts (set of 30) 1741 Slide Viewer (Agfa) 102 Flannelograph Board (90 x 120 cm) 41 Rolling - do - 130 Graphdex 40 Rolling bLack-boards 2329 Folding file folios 2020 Emergency lights 54 - 182 - TabLe 4 Page 2 Item Quantity Magnifying glass 1449 Scissors 1449 Rolling Flannelograph Boards 1449 Insect collecting boxes 1449 Film cartridge 16 Laxmi Brand Rotary dusters 120 Hand compression sprayers 120 Orient hand rotary dusters 400 Marut hand compression sprayers 400 Akshat paddy weeders 1000 Seed drills 400 1980-81 Sprayers 1000 Paddy weeders 600 Dusters 1200 Seed drills 450 Gas masks 1000 Electronic stencil cutter 1 Agril. slides for projection 63 Agril. film on plant protection etc. for 8 mm projector 10 1981-82 Bullock harrow 39 Paddy weeders 857 Seed drills 1140 Sprayers 820 Dusters 840 1982-83 Self recording rainguage 38 Ordinary rainguage 38 Generator (diesel) 2.5 KW 5 Portable Honda generators 33 Folio bags 1585 INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COPLETION REPORT Staffing Progress: Extension Service Appraisal 1977-78 1978-79 1979-80 1980-81 1981-82 1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 Target A.D.A. (Exten.) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 Sr. SMS (JDA) 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 JDA (Zones) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 DAO 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 14 14 SMS (DL) 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 23 SDAO 27 27 27 27 27 27 27 33 33 ASDAO 23 19 19 19 19 19 16 16 16 DAIO 9 7 7 7 7 8 8 13 13 1 SMS (Jr) 60 34 34 48 48 48 48 60 66 AEO 305 158 229 305 305 305 305 245 245 VLEW 2444 1267 1814 2328 2444 2444 2444 2444 2444 Senior Assistant 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 Assistant 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 Typist 1 1 1. I I 1 1 1 1 Stenographer I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Grade IV 14 14 14 141 14 14 14 14 14 Watchman 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 c Driver 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56 INDIA ZCredit 728-INI ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Number of Persons Trained per Year-Extension Trpe of Trainina Total year 1977/78 1978/12 1979/80 1980/81 198t/82 1982/83 1983/84 Plan Actual Pla.n Actual Pl .an Actual Plan Acual Plan Acual Plan Actual Plan A%nual Elan A Preseason Training I/ VLEW 9.523 17.629 f/ 965 1,267 1.678 1.814 2.112 2.328 2.320 2.444 2.440 2.444 - 2.444 - 2.444 Other Staff 1.946 2.257 240 272 353 272 451 266 451 286 451 266 - 267 - 237 Snecial Short Courses VLEW/AEO 2/ 10.825) 619 1.123) 10-1 1.907) 116 2.40?) 64 2.633) 68 2.745) - - -- -) 120 Other Staff 394) 49) 78) 87) 90) (90) - - - -) RLAiatIon Training Total, Alt Staff 2.083 2.730 910 1.000 Z/ 671 1.000 602 610 - 120 - - - - - Continue VLEW Refresher Training Total 450 - o/ - - so - t00 - ISO - 150 - - - - Preservice Trainina VLEW 4/ I.956 780 2 - - 160 - 160 - - - 160 - 160 -60 Newly Recruited 61 - 23 - 21 - 17 - - - - - - - . Senior Staff I/ Scholarshins 65 36 I1/ - - to - Is 6 20 6 20 6 - 6 6 Tgal 25.447 24.071 3.310 2.641 4.768 3.362 5.01 3.474 5.672 2.922 5.896 2.896 - 2.897 - 3.014 1t Twice a year for total of about 6 days per year. 2/ Once a year for about one week at district level. 1/ Specialized training primarily for SMS at all levels. Includes travel/study tours to All-India Institutes. 4/ Based on additional budget of two existing training centres which would be fully utilized over the project period In training staff required for the project. 5/ Primarily for new SMS. SDAO, ASOAO. Training programme similar to that for Field Trial Station workers. but of shorter duration. fi/ Considerably over target because of extension of project period. 7/ Accurate records of number trained each year are not available: however, all 2.720 VLEWS and other staff received orientation in the first four years. §/ Cannot be distinguished in implementation from Special Short Courses. q/ 800 VLEWS each trained for 12 months. in separate periods of 6. 3 and 3 months. Not included in project plan because the financing was not all incremental. I0/Some additional scholarships were financed from GO sources. - 185 - Table 7 INDIA (Credit 728-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Civil Works - Research Component, FTSs Item Plan Completed March 1985 Laboratory/office 9 9 Administration unit 9 9 Garage/store 9 7 Cattle shed 9 9 SMS quarters 36 32 Assts. quarters 36 32 Training hall 6 1 Farm levelling 9 9 Farm layout 9 9 Fencing 9 9 Threshing floor 9 7 Farm roads 9 6 - 186 - Table 8 INDIA (Credit 728-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT List of Laboratory Equipments Purchased for each FTS Meteorological Rain gauge (ordinary) Rain guage (automatic) Diy and wet bulb thermometer Maximum/minimum thermometer Soil thermometer Laboratory Hot air oven Autoclave Balances: chemical, physical and pan Microscopes: compound and simple dissecting Soil moisture meter Insect collecting box and nets Herbarium press Thermometers Soil augur Desicator Belljar Glass wares Laboratory reagents Distilled water plant (one FIS only) Audio Visual Overhead projectors (4 only) Cameras (2 only) - 187 - Table 9 INDIA (Credit 728-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Staffing of Field Trials Stations, and Field Trials Cell at AAU No. of Posts Total No. of Posts Field Trials Stations per Location Planned Actual 1985 Director (Associate Professor) 1 9 9 SMS (Assistant Professor) 3 27 24 Research Assistant 2 18 17 Field Assistant 2 18 18 Support Staff 10 90 54 Field Trials Cell, AAU Joint Director of Agriculture 1 1 1 Associate Professor 1 1 - (Production Economist) Assistant Professors 2 2 (Statistician, Ag. Engineer) Research Assistants (Statisticians) 2 2 1 Accounts Clerk 1 1 1 Typist 1 1 1 Drivers 2 2 1 - 188 - Table 10 Page 1 INDIA (Credit 728-8) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Civil Works - Research Cm.ant. AU item Plan Sanction Completion March 1985 A. Rice Research Station. Kariaanj Laboratory Building 1 1 955 Glass house/Screen House 1 1 80% Vermin Proof Air conditioned 1 1 801 staff Quarters Senior Professor 1 1 100% Junior Professor 3 3 100% Senior Scientist 4 4 10% 1/ Field Assistant 4 4 10% Support Staff 4 4 10% Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings 4 4 100% Station Developaet. Comprising: Threshing Floor - - 100% Deep Tubewell - 100% Internal Electrification -- 99 Street Lights - 90% Powr Supply Control Room - 100% Boundary Fencing - 100% Gravel Road - 601 Black-Top Road - 60% 8. Rice Research Station, Titabor Laboratory Building 1 1 100% Godown 1 1 100 Slass House 1 1 90% Screen House 2 2 905 Covered Threshing Floor 1 1 100 Vermin Proof Air Conditioned Seed Store 1 - - Staff Quarters Senior Professor 5 4 100% (4 units) Junior Professional 2 2 100% Senior Scientific Asstt. 5 2 90% (2 units) Field Assistant 20 16 95% (16 units) IVth Grade 4 4 85% Rehabilitation of Existing Homes 5 4 100% (4 units) Station Development, Comprising: Earth Filling 5 4 100% Pipe Culvert 5 4 100% Rwed tIprovemt 5 4 100% Gate With Guard Room 5 4 1009 - 189 - Table 10 Page 2 item Plan Sanction Completion March 1985 Water Supply Distribution S 4 100% Water Line Connection to New Deep 5 4 100% Tubewell Bates to Field Area and Staff Quarters 5 4 100% Internal Electrification 5 4 100% Shifting of L.T. Overhead Line 5 4 100% Re-Construction of Bullock Shed 5 4 100% C. Regional Aaricultural Research Station, Shillongani Laboratory Building 1 1 100% Store/odown 1 1 100% Glass House 1 1 50% Net House 1 1 100% Covered Threshing Floor 1 1 90% Vermin Proff Air Conditioned Seed Store 1 - - Staff Quarters Senior Professor 4 4 100% Junior Professor 10 6 100% (6 units) Senior Research Assistant 14 8 90% (8 units) Field Assistant 10 8 90% (8 units) Support Staff 3 4 80% (4 units) Station Development, Comprising: Overhead Line with Streetlight - - 100% Electrification of Laboratory - - 100% Site Development - - 100% Rennovation Main Building - - 100% Repair Laboratory * - 100% Garage - 100% Septic Tank - 100% Security Wall - 100% Collapsible Gate - 100% Pipe Culvert - 100% Road Construction - 100% Entrance Bate/Guard Room - 100% - 190 - Table 11 INDIA (Credit 728-iN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Laboratory and Farm Equipment Procured - Research Component AAU - Jeep - Colony counter - Minibus - Wavbergs apparatus - Jeep trailer - Oxygen meter - Tractor - Voltage stabilizer - Power tiller - Mettler balance - Paddy disc - Voltage stabilizer - Harrow - Research microscope - One-furrow plough - Battery eliminator - Avery balance - Shelves - Calculator - Volumetric flask - Steel Trunk - Monolite boxes - Duplicating machine - Flame trap - Plot sign boards - Gas cylinders - Typewriter - Farm maps - Flame Photometer - Soil augur - Plate trays - Hedge cutter - Glassware - Spring balance - Stationery - Counter balances - Projector & screen - Glassware - Furniture - Kjeldahl distillation - Spectrophotometer - Copier Micro-computer - Diesel pump set - 191 - Table 12 IMIA (Credit 728-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Staff Position - Research Component AAU (all Stations) Research Staff Incremental 1/ Sanctioned I/ In-Post March 1985 Chief Scientist 3 3 3 Junior Scientist 6 9 5 Research Assistant 7 7 3 Field Assistant 6 6 6 Laboratory Assistant 17 17 nil Sub-Total 39 42 17 Support Staff Stenographer - 3 nil Tractor Operator 7 3 3 Driver - 2 1 Laboratory Attendant - 11 1 Sub-Total 7 19 5 47 Wr22 1/ As shown in appraisal report. 2/ Stated by AAU to be the number of posts actually sanctioned under AADP. -192 - Table 13 INDIA (Credit 728-IN) ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Project Reporting Reports Requested: Report No. Report Type Frequency Entity reporting Format Agreed 1 Project progress 6 monthly GOA Yes 2 Accounts & audit Annual GOA Yes 3 M & E summary Annual GOA No Reports Received: Report No. 1 Report No. 2 Report No. 3 Required Received Required Received Required Received (Period ending)r= (Period ending) 3/78 7/78 3/78 ) 3/78 9/78 3/79 3/79 ) 3/79 3/79 6/79 3/80 ) 2/ 3/80 9/79 2/80 3/81 ) 3/81 3/80 8/80 3/82 ) 3/82 3/ 9/80 1/81 3/83 ) 3/83 6/83 . 9/81 - 3/84 (Due) 3/84 (Due) 3/82 - 3/85 3/85 9/82 1/83 3/83 - 9/83 2/84 3/84 5/84 9/84 (Due) 3/85 1/ To be submitted within nine nomths of this 6ate. 1 DOA is upto date in financial reporting requirements (submitted upto and including 1983-84). However, other financial reports due are: Groundwater (ID) -- all years; Research (AUU) -- all years from 1979-80. 1/ Monitoring and Evaluation started only in September 1982. - 193 - Table 14 INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT List of Publications of the Monitoring and Evaluation Cell- A. Monitorino Surveys 1. Rabi, 1982-83 January-March / 83 Published 2. Kharif (Autumn), 1983 Mid May- Mid July / 83 Published 3. Kharif (Winter), 1983 October - Mid Nov. / 83 Published 4. Rabi, 1983-84 January - Mid Feb. / 84 Published S. Kharif (Autumn), 1984 Mid May - July / 84 Published 6. Kharif (Winter), 1984 October - Mid Nov. / 84 Tabulation complete 7. Rabi, 1984-85 January - Mid Feb. / 84 Taoulation started B. Monitoring-cum-Evaluation Surveys 1. Kharif (Winter), 1982 July - Dec. / 82 Published 2. Kharif (Winter), 1983 Mi.d Nov. - Dec. / 83 Published 3. Rabi, 1983-84 Feb. - March / P4 Published 4. Kharif (Winter), 1984 Mid. Nov. - Dec. / 84 Tabulation complet 5. Rabi, 1984-85 Jan. - March / 85 Field work in progress C. Special Studies 1. Survey on "Characteristics June - July / 83 Published of jontact farmerA in Assam" 2. Survey on "Socio-Economic Jan. - March / 85 Field work in Conditions 6f Farmers in progress Assam" INOIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGR'CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PRDJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT ESTIMAIE OF ANNUAL WORKLOAC OF MONITORING & EVALUATION rAFF IN MANDAYS Type of Activity JDA ODA Technical Officer* Statistical Field in-charge Statistics Asstt./Field Investigator Supervisor Questionnaire design 1 6 Modification of questionnaire 2 - Sauple design 1 6 Selection of sample - - - 30 - Training 12 12 144 72 352 Supervision of field work 58 80 120 30 - Field work of surveys - - - 1560 Scrutiny of data 15- 254 - Tabulation and analysis of data 15- 1025 Report writing 22 50 - - Administration 50 30 - Meeting with other officers 60 40 - Miscellaneous 74 26 - 280 - Total working days per individual 280 20 22 280 293 Services of part-timw technical staff of the statistical wing of the Directorate have been borrowed on adhoc basis for field supervi hecause tile Monitoring & tvalaliono cell does tkot have its own supervisory staff in the districts. INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COPILETION REPORT 1984-85 Work Plan for M6nitoring and Monitoring-cum-Evaluation Surveys and Specit Studies Item of Work Period of Work H.S. HCE M.S. MCE H.S. ICE Special Kharif Kharif Kharif Kharif Rabt Rabi Study (Autumn) (Autumn) (Winter) (Winter) 1. Questionnaire design 2.4.84- 1.6.84- 1/ - - - 1.12.84- 7.4.84 5.6.84 6.12.84 2. Modification of question 9.4.84- - 15.8.84- - 15.12.84 - 8.12.84 10.4.84 16.8.84 16.12.84 9.12.84 3. Printing of Schedules 16.4.84- 1.7.84- 17.8.84- - 17.12.84- - 1.01.85- 30.4.84 15.7.84 31.8.84 31.12.84 31.01.85 4. Designing of the survey 16.4.84- - 15.8.84- - 13.12.84- - 1.02.85- 17.4.84 16.8.84 14.12.84 2.02.85 S. Drawing of Samples 18.4.84- 12.7.84- 17.8.84- 7.11.84- 15.12.84- 20.2.85- 3.02.85- 30.4.84 13.7.84 31.8.84 8.11.84 31.12.84 21.2.85 IS.02.85 6. Training of Field Staff 9.5.84- 10.7.84 4.9.84 5.11.84 4.01.85 18.2.85 18.02.85 10.5.84 7. Field Work 21.5.84- 15.7.84- 21.9.84- 16.11.84- 6.01.85- 1.3.85- ) 30.6.84 20.9.84 31.10.84 31.12.84 7.03.85 30.4.85 B. Scrutiny & Analysis 1.8.84- 1.10.84- 1.12.84- 21.1.85- 15.03.85- 1.5.85- No work during 15.9.94 7.11.84 16.1.85 7.3..85 15.04.85 31.5.85 9. Report Writing 16.9.84- 11.8.84- 21.1.85- 16.3.85- 21.04.85- 15.6.85- ) 1984-85. 31.10.84 20.12.84 28.2.85 20.4.85 20.05.85 31.7.85 10. Printing of Reports 1.11.84- 1.1.85- 15.3.85- 1.5.85- 1.06.85- 1.8.85- ) 31.12.84 28.2.85 15.4.85 31.5.85 31.07.85 30.8.85 I/ Questionnaires desiqned for Kharif (Atmn) are also used for surveys in following seasons with minor modifications. 2f onitorinq-cum-Fvaluation surveys are conducted on a sub-sample of the samples drawn by the Directorate of Economics & Statistics for the specified crops. cr H.S. = Monitorinq Survey; MCE = Monitoring-cum-Evaluation Survey 01 INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL. DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Results of M&E Cell Surveys: Farmers Awareness of T&V System Percentage of Farmers MCE Kharif MS Rabi 4S Kharif MS Khartf MCE Kharif MS Rabi MCE Rabi 4S Kharif (Winter) 1982-83 (Autumn) (Winter) (Winter) 1983-84 1983-84 (Autumn) 1982 1983 1983 1983 1984 1. Farmers knowing VLEW- Contact Farmers 85 88 88 91 90 90 90 90 Noa-contact Farmers 79 80 81 79 81 83 84 84 2. Frequency of visits of VLEW- durin previous 4 weeks (a Nil visit Contact 2Q 27 22 29 29 17 21 26 Non-contact 37 35 37 43 53 34 33 43 (b) One visit Contact 14 3 20 21 19 27 30 27 Non-contact 17 4 25 26 17 36 37 24 !c) Two and more visits Contact 65 69 58 50 52 56 49 47 Non-contact 46 61 38 31 30 30 30 33 3. Regularity of visits on the fixed day Contact 60 60 58 57 50 58 41 58 Non-contact 43 44 35 30 22 45 35 32 4. Place of visit (a) Field Contact 60 60 63 58 56 66 67 59 Non-contact 38 28 42 37 32 41 36 34 o cr (b) Other Places Contact 40 40 37 42 15 34 15 41 Non-contact 62 72 58 63 15 59 24 66 K5 = Konitotinq Survey MCE = Monitoring-cum-Evaluation Survey INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Results of Monitoring Surveys: Rate of adoption of Recommendation Surveys Size of sample Percentage of farmers adopting the recommendations interviewed Use of HYV seed Sowing in lines Proper weeding Use of basal Use of fertilizer Pest control dose fertilizer to dressing measures CF NCF CF NCF CF NCF CF XCF CF NCF CF NCF CF NCF 1. Kharif (Winter) 1983 (1) linter Paddy 616 642 (a) Fully adopted 5 3 1 1 26 19 2 1 - - 21 12 (b) Partially adopted 55 46 16 14 39 32 17 14 2 3 - - (Ii) Sugarcane 61 44 (a) Fully adopted 7 7 79 84 12 7 - - - - 3 2 (b) Partially adopted 7 - 21 16 28 30 8 - 5 - - - 2. Kharif (Autumn) 1983 (Tf Autumn Pay 54 584 (a) Fully adopted 24 20 6 5 14 6 1 1 1 * 30 19 (b) Partially adopted 19 18 1 4 23 20 19 9 15 9 - - (ii) Jute 235 212 a)Fully adopted 23 23 4 1 4 3 3 1 1 1 22 19 lb) Partially adopted 4 5 * 2 3 2 12 5 16 9 - - 3. Kharif futm) 1984 (If uun add 1088 - (a) Fully adopted 28 25 14 11 25 22 9 2 6 218 7 (b) Partially adopted 16 9 28 5 30 18 23 6 11 4 24 13 (ff) Jute (a) Fully adopted 14 26 4 2 34 23 5 1 4 2 9 6 (b) Partially adopted 12 2 6 1 34 35 5 3 5 7 28 35 4. Rabt 1982-83 I T tiF 183 181 (a) Fully adopted NA NA NA NA NA NA 2 2 3 2 NA NA b Partially adopted NA NA NA NA NA NA 20 14 is 8 NA NA (if) Rape _?stard 183 181 (a) Fully adopted NA NA NA NA NA NA 6 4 - - NA NA (b) Partially adopted NA NA NA NA NA NA 22 17 - - NA *A (ift)Pulses 183 181 (a) Fully adopted NA NA NA NA NA NA 3 18 3 1 NA NA (b) Partially adopted NA NA NA NA NA NA 2 8 14 7 MA NA 5. Rabi, 1983-84 () Wheat 236 278 (a) Fully adopted 69 59 12 6 27 23 7 22 1 - 26 18 (b) Partially adopted 23 30 1 1 5 3 9 to 11 5- - (ii) Rape & Mustard 284 311 CD (a) Fully adopted 31 30 - - - - 6 6 7 5 - - (b) Partially adopted 15 17 - - - - 16 7 9 6 - - (ii)Pulses 112 127 (a) Fully adopted 27 19 4 4 - - 1 9 6 - 15 2 (b) Partially adopted 7 15 5 4 - - 12 2 8 8 - - CF a Contact Farmers NCF Non Contoct Farmers NA - (ot available -4 *D' amb CD o INDIA: CEDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICITRAL DEELOPHENT PfD"ECT PilDJECT COMPLETION REPORT tonitorinq Surveys: Reasons for Partial or ion-adoption of Recomendations (Percentage of Farmers) Recommendation Sample Lack of Expensive Inputs not No Not pro- Lack of Lack of flood affecteJ Size Capital Available Need fitable Irrigation Proper Area Khar iff - 1984 Knowledge CONTACT FARERS 1. Selection of A.P. 1088 21.0 17.0 4.3 1.7 1.4.. 11.2 8.4 7.4 ifY J. 147 14.9 16.0 17.3 1.7 1.6 - 7.2 18.2 2. Seed treatment A.P. 1088 30.1 6.7 8.1 21.8 4.8 - 17.0 7.5 J. 147 28.6 21.4 16.1 12.9 7.7 - 12.2 3. Line Sowing A.P. 1088 18.8 23.2 - 20.2 4.2 - 15.3 4.5 J. 147 10.0 30.2 - 29.6 7.1 - 17.S 1.6 4. Weeding A.P. 1088 13.6 22.0 - 26.8 12.7 - - J 147 18.8 21.3 - 21.1 4.8 - - S. Chemical Fert- A.P. 1088 26.9 22.8 14.9 6.3 7.2 2.2 5.4 5.5 Ilizer (Basal) J. 147 23.7 18.4 26.1 2.6 6.4 1.7 4.6 11.2 6. Chemical Fert- A.P. 1088 26.6 24.4 14.3 10.0 S.7 2.6 4.0 6.0 ilizer (Top- J. 147 15.0 7.4 26.5 13.7 15.7 2.6 5.9 9.3 dress) 7. Pest Control A.P. 1088 19.9 4.4 8.8 28.7 - - 16.5 3.4 Measures J. 147 26.9 6.9 21.8 32.6 - - 2.4 - N0N-CONTACT FAlIERS 1. Selection of A.P. 1104 19.0 23.4 4.8 6.8 7.3 S.7 3.0 4.1 "YV J. 88 11.4 22.7 5.7 8.0 4.5 11.4 8.0 3.4 2. Seed A.P. 1104 18.7 19.6 19.9 11.3 13.7 - 16.8 - treatbent J. 88 21.3 18.7 9.6 19.9 16.8 - 13.7 3. Line A.P. 1104 25.5 19.5 - 18.8 6.8 - 6.8 11.3 sowing J. 88 14.6 18.9 - 35.4 9.2 - 18.0 1.9 4. Weeding A.P. 1104 4.3 37.6 - 24.9 10.9 - - - 3. 88 23.1 23.0 - 21.0 10.0 - -4 5. Cbemical A.P. 1104 22.9 17.1 16.9 9.6 4.4 7.8 8.0 11.4 CT I.rtilizer J. 88 27.4 21.0 21.5 3.4 6.9 2.1 * 6.5 . 9.5 Basal)) 6. Chemical A.P. 1104 21.5 17.0 16.9 9.6 5.9 7.8 7.8 11.4 NO fertilizer J. 88 12.2 11.3 30.3 10.7 14.6 4.9 6.3 7.6 (Topdress) 7. Pest Cont*ol A.P. 1104 26.6 18.7 26.3 14.5 - - 7.2 - Measures J. 88 27.1 16.5 28.6 17.4 - - 4.7 - 200 - TabLe 20 Page 1 INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT RESULTS OF EVALUATION SURVEYS A. YIELD RATE* OF CROP ACCORDING TO TYPE OF FARMERS Survey Crop Type of Irrigated Rainfed Total Farmer Kharif Winter CF 1517 1316 1322 (winter) Rice NCF 1405 1271 1275 1982 Total 1472 1278 1304 Kharif Winter CF 1300 1276 1276 (Winter) Rice NCF 1241 1207 1208 1983 Total 1263 1231 1232 Rabi Wheat CF 1455 1342 1348 1983-84 NCF 1347 1223 1231 Total 1395 1286 1292 S. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD RATE AND VARIETY OF SEED Survey Crop and Variety Irrigated Rainfed Total of Seed Kharif HYV 2368 1623 1672 (Winter) Local 1246 1262 1262 1982 Total 1472 1298 1304 Winter/Rice C. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD RATE & USE OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZER Survey Use of Fertilizer Irrigated Rainfed Total Kharif with 1557 1408 1420 (Winter) Without 1451 1289 1293 1982 Total 1472 1298 1304 winter/Rice D. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD RATE. VARIETY OF SEED AND USE OF CHEMICAL RTLZR- IN DIFFERENT CRUP5 Survey Seed Irrigated Rainfed Total ith without WiftF Tthout Fertili. Fertili- Fetti- Fettili- zer ter lizer zer Kharif (Winter) HYV 1748 1321 1627 1281 1574 1983 Local 1301 1223 1243 1188 1189 Winter Rice Total 1525 1226 1599 1289 1232 Rabi HYV 1748 1421 1630 1192 1574 1983-84 Local 1449 1240 1376 1091 1220 Wheat Total 1524 1297 1409 1232 1292 * The yield rates (kg/ha) are in tens of clean rice in respect of winter rice and in terns of dried grain in respect of wheat. - 201 - Page 2 E. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD RATE OF CROPS AND VISITS OF VLEW Survey No. of visits Irrigated Rainfed Total Kharif Nil 1295 1160 1165 1982 One 1312 1244 1247 Winter/Rice Two & More 1643 1378 1386 Total 1472 1298 1304 Kharif Nil 1251 1197 1200 1983 One 1274 1215 1217 Winter/Rice Two & More 1332 1291 1291 Total 1263 1231 1232 Rabi Nil 1307 1095 1116 1983-84 One 1429 1338 1341 Wheat Two & More 1490 1386 1391 Total 1395 1286 1292 F. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YIELD RATE OF CROPS AND MAIN SOURCE OF ADVICE TO FARMERS Survey Source of Irrigated Rainfed Total Advice Kharif (Winter) Extension personnel 1851 1357 1367 1982 Other farmers 1000 1258 1240 Winter/Rice Other sources 1557 1219 1235 No advice 1267 961 976 Total 1472 1298 1304 Kharif (Winter) Extension personnel 1293 1286 1286 1983 Other farmers 1274 1208 1210 Winter/Rice Other sources * 1239 1204 1205 No advice - 1050 1050 Total 1263 1231 1232 Rabi Extension personnel 1434 1394 1396 1983-84 Other farmers 1336 1113 1146 Wheat Other sources 1391 1088 1112 No advice - 1037 1037 Total 1395 1286 1292 Note:- The yield data of the crop cutting experiments conducted by the DTrectorate of Economic & Statistics are collected for a sub-sample of villages and are analysed under different situations by the M&E Cell for Kharif (Winter), 1983 and Rabi, 1983-84. But the results of Kharif (Winter), 1982 are based on samples independent of the samples of the birectorate of Economics and Statistics where crop cutting experiments were conducted by the Field Staff of the M&E Cell INDIAt CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PRUJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT P.rott Costit Copnarative Anslysti ADraise Estimate Plug Price Actual Exoenditure Pre-ro.. Risursed Incl. physical contingencies) Centionocies 31.3.04 31.3.85 Act.Cost pDi. ej*gjr I. Agricultural Extension. Adaptive 1970/1995 3.1.5 Pasearch/Monitoring & Evaluation USS P000 as '000 s '000 Ps '000 As '000 ' USS*000 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) CAvil Works, incl. physical continqencles 4.753 38.278 44.900 22.426 n.e. Training 1.094 9.047 11.939 1.930 n.a. Equipment A Vehicles I.7R7 16,096 18.201 13.414 n.a. :ncrpmental Salaries. Operating Cost 5.594 49.993 62.991 60.262 n.a. 5--ilRIAl 12.689 114.204 138.031 98.032 n.s. I. Strengthening of Irrigation pprtiment Civil Works 133 t.202 1.410 457 n.e. Training is 137 143 24 n.e. Equipment & Vehicles 116 I0St t.167 1.075 n.e. Incremental Salaries. Operating Costs 587 5.281 6.829 4.094 n.e. Miscellaneous 450 n.e. EqtRAL 952 7.671 9.569 6.100 n.e. I I I .L9ta.1MrvLs Rignyrseabi.g Civil Works s0 4.387 39.400 46.310 22.883 3.075 Training 80 t00 1.109 9,984 12.002 1.954 206 Equipment & Vehicles 80 1.904 07.137 19.388 14.499 2,061 Incremental Salaries. Operating Costs 45 6.141 55.274 69.820 64.806 2.658 oA 13.541 t1,875 147,600 104.132 6.000 Source; We Appraisal RPeport for Cniumins 1: 2: 3t and 7. The rest: GOA. * INDIAt CREDIT 728-1.4 ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJEgT COMPLETION REPORT E)txnditure Statement Under-AADP Irrigation Strengthening Uo To 31.3.84 .LLo...RunnAtal 1983-84 1.7..83 Grand up to Total Item 1977-78 1978-79 1979-80 1980-81 1981-82 1992-83 31.3.84 Civil Works 199.612.00 99.450.55 t52.542.40 5.505.00 457,117.9 Laboratory Equipment 165,160.30 75.124.06 39.858.42 -- 279.940.70 Other Equipment 69.5t0.75 14.993.03 25.85t.50 10,f43.84 120.499.92 Vehicles 596.736.70 13.067.00 48,688.84 16.546.01 675,038.55 O Opprating 839.436.16 Cost 185.741.33 374.401.25 74.9155.4 206.478.04 Training 14,428.44 3,747.28 5,505.00 -- 23.680.72 Salaries 690,S30.84 634,155.S2 184.100.00 205.436.60 463.007.81 532.235.69 565.321.59 3.254,788.05 Physical con- tingency & Misc. E*pedr. 149,272.11 216.499.92 74,915.54 S.972.82 -- -- -- 449.560.39 2.068.992.47 1.431.447.41 605.975.24 455,082.31 463.007.81 532.235.69 565.321.59 8.100.062.52 -5 5oUtERRr GOA - 204 - TabLe 23 INDIA ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT CREDIT 728-IN Schedule of Disbursements (as of Jan.31, 1985) Accumulated Disbursements (US $ million) FY & Actual Apr. Last rev. New Actual/latest est. Quarter total estimate estimate estimate as % apr. est. 78-3 0.1 -4 0.2 0.3 67 78-1 0.6 *2 1.0 *3 1.4 -4 0.6 1.9 32 80-1 0.7 2.4 29 -2 0.7 3.1 23 -3 1.0 3.8 26 -4 1.0 4.6 22 81-1 1.0 5.3 19 -2 1.1 r.9 19 -3 1.6 6.5 25 -4 2.4 7.0 34 82-1 2.5 7.4 34 -2 2.6 7.7 i4 -3 2.8 7.9 35 -4 2.9 8.0 36 83-1 3.1 39 -2 3.1 39 -3 3.2 40 -4 4.0 50 84-1 4.0 50 -2 4.0 50 -3 4.6 58 -4 6.1 76 85-1 6.6 83 -2 7.2 90 -3 8.0 1/ 100 Closing Date 3.31.83 3.31.85 1/ Project was fully disbursed on January 31, 1985.. INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DCLOPMENT PRDJECT PROJECT COWLETI10 REPORT Department of Agriculture: Reifbursement Position for Expenditure to 31 March 1984 (Extension, Field Trials Stations and Monitoring/Evaluation Components) (Rupees x 1000) Item 1977-78 1978-79 1979-80 1980-81 1981-82 1982-83 1983-84 T#tal 3 Claimed Expendt- Amount ture Accepted Civil Works - - 605 1763 3989 7176 8893 22426 801 17940 Training 89 139 179 141 201 473 708 1930 80% 1544 Equipment & Vehicles 2300 2803 943 2798 1573 2174 823 13414 802 10731 Incremental salaries 8?8 3818 6557 9724 11038 11474 16823 60262 45% 27118 Total 3217 6760 8284 14426 16801 21297 27247 98032 57333 INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Unit Cost of Construction (Year Wise) (Rp) Item March 80 March '81 March '82 March '83 March '84 March '85 Houses for VLEW 19,000 26.00 40,000 40,000 46,300 50,000 Houses for AEO -- - - 69,200 70,000 Houses for SMS (Sub Oiv.) 70,000 touses for SMS (Division) - - , - - 1,20,000 touses for O.A.0. - - - - - 1,40,000 Houses for S.D.A.0. - - - - 1,08.600 Office Building (Sub Division) - - - - - 2,26,700 F.T.S. Complex - - - - - 10,00,000 *4 Iv cr, INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL EVELOPMENT PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETLON REPORT Yields of Hajor Crops; Annual, Five-Year Moving Average of Index 71/72 72/73 73/74 74/75 7S/76 76/77 77/78 78/79 79/80 80/81 81/82 B2/83 83/84 1. ANNUAL YIELD Total Rice 984 10.,8 1010 989 1038 977 1042 979 896 1126 1005 .438 1107 Total Pulses 363 489 471 408 393 397 381 410 400 410 445 417 417 Total Otiseeds 407 417 541 392 395 369 405 439 456 479 459 493 496 Jute 1437 1353 1372 1233 1387 1203 983 1409 1385 1463 1552 1476 1525 Wheat 1200 1347 1155 1258 1200 1100 1154 015 1122 1158 1130 1.,9 1289 Suqarcane 33568 38235 40398 38367 37001 35841 31489 346?1 35698 35833 43564 42691 43867 II. 5-Year Average 71 . 76/80 1781 78{82 93 Total Rice 1018 998 1010 1029 1050 total Pulses 425 401 410 415 419 Total Oilseeds 433 430 448 465 477 Jute 1356 1289 1355 1457 1480 Wheat 1232 1110 1116 1109 1164 Sugarcane 37514 34696 36241 38483 40332 III.Index Fioures Total Rice 100 98 99 101 103 Total Pulses 100 94 96 97 98 Tntal Oilseeds 100 97 99 107 109 Jutep 100 95 99 107 109 g Wheat 100 90 90 90 94 Suqarcanp 100 92 96 102 107 - tON - 208 - Table 27 INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT; PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT List of Technical Recommendations Important technical recommendations generated and adopted by large sections of farmers are as follows: Rice - HYV suitable for non-traditional period of early ahu (Feb-May) with irrigation facilities have been recommended and adopted. - Tall and medium tall photoperiod sensitive HYV like Manohar sali and Pankaj have been recommended as better varieties for the main sall season. - For pre-flood season, short duration HYV like IR-50, Govind, and Cvlture-1 have been recommended. For post flood period the same varieties for direct seeding and Manohar sali for late transplanting have been recommended and adopted. - Indigenous sali and ahu rice varieties have been identified and recommended zonewise. - A tall HYV Mahsuri has been recommended and adopted for the Boro season (rabi). - Nursery treatment and root dip treatment with pesticide have been recommended, and adopted to some extent. - Fertilizer tad pesticide doses have been modified according to zonal needs, Jute - Promising jute cultivars recommended by AAU are in the process of trials in the FTSc zonewise. - Production technology of jute seeds has been formulated and suitable locations for production have been identified. Pulses - Summer green gram and black gram have been introduced and suitable times of sowing have been recommended zonewise. - Three promising varieties of pea have been identified for release. LR-TABLE27 - 209 - - Suitable and specific Rhizobium CL*-ures for the main pulse crops have been evolved and multiplied for distribution. Olseeds - Better management of the rapeseed 'ndigenous cultivar M-27 and fertilizer practices have been ident4fied and recommended. - Micronutrient requirements of reeseed have been identified zonew se. - Soyabean as a non-traditional crop has been recommended for both Kharif and rabi seasons, with modifications of sowing time zonewise. Sugarcane - Early, medium, and late groups of va-ieties aere identified and suitable combination of mixed croppir. with them were recommended. Others - Relay cropping of pea, lentil, lathyrus (as fodder) and linseed with rice was recommended, and adopted widely. - Cropping systems of different locations in the zones are identified and recommended. - Package of practices for important indigenous fruits, vegetables, spices, fodder and flowers were worked out. - Prototypes of suitable moldboard plough and lift irrigation pumps have been developed and recommended. L abLt.2 tN0JA: <RiU41 7*le._IN ASSAM. AG;RULTVRAL U_Ey;LQPME.N.. PR,iOECT Ctiasgte it C In, Pattetit undte A.A.D.P. 1977-78 to 1984-85 Kar if Area Rati A ed Total area Crop 1977 78 1984 85 % Increase 1977-78 1984-85 % Increase 1977 7e 1984-85 increase 1. Rice /21/ 2277 3 39 45 15 2251 2322 3 /. Wheat 73 150 105 73 150 105 4. Maire A other u-etealt- /-4 4 8 1ø 25 3? 35 9 Total cereals 1<u 5 3 120 un 71 2356 2501 6 4. Pulses 15 150 95 131 37 litt 145 44 Total Foot Gfaitt /47 /11/ 3 215 .35 56 2457 265/ 8 % of Total At ea (9:3%> 11%> - (53.5%) 5UI> (87%) (837. ? 5. Cash Cfops (a) Oilseeds 13 /4 85 186 330 77 199 3%4 78 (b) Jute Ill 1:34 21 - - 111 134 21 (c) Sugarcane 45 53 18 45 53 18 Total Cash-Crops 169 .11I 25 186 330 77 155 541 52 Total area under main 2411 4528 5 401 665 66 l>14 3191 14 crops. t R- TABt - ., N DI A PROJEOT COMPLEffl(ON REPORT ASSAM AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT .. Sukullbora 8 H U T A N •o • . ---- orhat r7- -x -- thush 7ShIllongant DISPUR . (GAUKlATI)* ... INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY ....... STATE BOUNDARY MaaklAAU RESEARCH STATION INDIA :KarlmganI A FIELD TRIAL STATION ~ ASSAM AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY PROJECT GROUNDWATER AREA 0 40 80 Km ーPノP一 ，汐ガハ乃とぶルズ冷 メクばガグて，し－ 213 - IND OMP-28111 ASICRIM.M031IO _rROJEC! (credit 162-111 I= ftel3io!j of the p1giest -coup let ioll.122011 Jreyare4 _kX M/cp. 1. The Project Completion Report (PCR), consisting of a summary document (presented here) plus individual state reports (available in the Project File), for the Composite Agricultural Extension Project (Cr. 862_IN) was prepared by FAO/CP. The draft documents were discussed and cleared by the PCR mission with the Goverment of India and the concerned States. The summary document is self-contained and outlines implements- tion results, as well as the major issues affecting project execution. This overview is intended to complement the FAO/CP report with several additional observations. Usic Raja Jhget 2. A basic data sheet, has been completed and is included in the summary document. S-Oury 4rA Qnslus, 3. The Goverment of India and the States had designed and i le- mented a number of programs to improve agricultural development: Community Development Program, Intensive Agricultural District Program, Small and Marginal Farmers Program, Drought Prone Areas Program. However, only a small proportion of farmers benefited from these programs and results were disappointing. in order to achieve wider based agricultural development, GOI, with the assistance of IDA., introduced the T & V system of agricul- tural extension in 1974. The Composite Agriculural Extension Project (CAEP), modelled on the T & V system, was prepared by the three States (Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka) and the central Ministry of Agriculture (MOA). Although credit effectiveness was delayed by seven months, the states started implementation of the project under the terms of retroac- tive financing provided under the project, thus avoiding excessive implementation delays. 4. The PCR correctly concluded that "remarkable progress has been made in Gujarat, Karnataka, and Haryana in what has been in effect an institutional revolution (in setting up an effective extension system.)" However, the Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DAE) component maae a slow start, and even at project completion all the staff positions were not filled. Additional staff were needed to make DAE an effective organization within the Department of Agriculture of MOA in order to - 214 - monitor project implementation and provide technical assistance to the States. Although GOI was totally committed to the project, bureaucratic procedures required to create the new positions and recruit staff caused serious delays. To some extent, these delays may be attributed to IDA, since the SAR gave titles to various positions which were not familiar to officials, with job descriptions requiring clearance by the Public Service Commission. Avylability of TechRial RoMm&dations 5. The POR (paras 9.4 and 9.5) questions and suggests that the appraisal mission had overestimated the amount of appropriate technology already extsting in a directly applicable form; further, that the decision to omit financial provisions for research, because of a parallel invest- ment in the National Agriculture Research Project (NARP) was misguided. Although technology development and its refinement is a continuous process, it would not be correct to say that some important appropriate technology did not exist at the time of project appraisal. Low cost technology in terms of various agronomic practices, seed treatment and recommendations for suitable varieties was available, and monitoring results show maximum adoption. One area where available technology has been refined during project implementation is in fertilizer recommenda- tions. Efforts have been made to change earlier blanket recommendations to suit local conditions and farmers' resource bases. The project provided funds for field trials under the direct guidance of subject matter specialists, with technical support from agricultural university researchers. NARP, on the other hand, provided for location specific research. essment of Impact 6. Although it is difficult to measure quantitatively the impact of the new extension approach on farm production, project monitoring and evaluation reports have produced sufficient evidence to indicate project success in ensuring a steady flow of regularly updated and relevant infor- mation to many farmers. The pressure exerted through regular feedback from farmers and through extension staff to the agricultural input delivery agencies have led to significant improvements in the input delivery system as well. More significant for the longer run, however, have been important changes in the cropping patterns, particularly in the states of Karnataka and Gujarat. Increase: in the area under the sun- flower and safflower crops and in cultivation of gram in tank-irrigated areas of Karnataka, and introduction of groundnut in the newly irrigated areas in Gujarat during the summer season, are major examples of such changes. With further improvement in the monitoring system and with additional time, the impact can be assessed more effectively and in greater detail. - 215 - FiskassilTeforMS2 7. Due to law and order problems, the PCR mission aid not visit Gujarat state and could not collect information on adequate and regular budget support, and financial performance. The Gujarat State subproject, however, did not suffer from lack of budgetary support and performed better than the other two States in terms of budget availability for construction of civil works and purchase of vehicles and equipment. ssos.Leant.and Sustainabilit. o Extenion ProAram 8. When the T & V approach was first introduced on a large scale in India, it was recognized that with an entrenched bureaucracy the institu- tional changes required would take time and many administrative problems would emerge. This assertion was confirmed during project implementation of CAEP. Field staff were involved, particularly in the beginning, with considerable amounts of non-extension work. This resulted mainly from the underestimation at appraisal of non-agricultural work done by the Com- munity Development/Panchayat Department. 9. The formal relationship between the State Agricultural Univer- sity/Universities (SAU) and the extension service was not formally estab- lished during appraisal and this subsequently created problems of coor- dination. CAEP provided for specialist advice for the main crops, whereas farmers wanted advice for a number of crops grown under different agro-ecological conditions. However, experience gained and lessons learnt have been helpful in designing follow-on projects (NAEP). More staff, where necessary, have been proviled to complement those duties of the Panchayat in order to reduce pressure on the extension staff to undertake these non-extension tasks. Formal letters of understanding are now exchanged between the State Agricultural Department and the SAU. These letters spell out the responsibility of the SAU in matters of training and formation of location specific technology. This is expected to bring about qualitative improvement in both staff training and farmer demonstra- tions. New positions of SMS have been provided to render technical advice to farmers on rainfed farming, irrigated agronomy in newly irrigated areas, agricultural implements, and for input coordination. The follow-up project (NAEP II) allows for fine tuning of the extension systems estab- lished in these States. The State Departments and the DOE are deeply committed to the T&V extension system. Therefore, continued suppo-.. of the extension program in these States, in terms of finance and manpower, is assured. 4~ 5 - 217 - INDIA CREDIT 862-25 PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT COMPOSIT AGRICULTURAL SEISO1 PRJ AL COMPONENTS I. INTRODU N 1.01 During ten to fifteen years prior to the formulation of the project, Government of India (GOI) development plans had emphasized agriculture and sought to raise food grain production by increasing the use of irrigation, fertilizers, plant protection chemicals and seeds of improved varieties. In support of this, GOI had modernized and expanded its agricultural credit institutions and accelerated the development of irrigation. To complement these developments, attention was next directed to improving extension services and upgrading agricultural research. 1.02 The proposed Composite Agricultural Extension Project (CAEP) would be the seventh in a series of IDA-assisted projects designed to reorganize and strengthen agricultural extension operations in India. It would be the first of the series to include more than one state. It would be imple- mented concurrently with the National Agricultural Research Research Project (NARP) which would be addressed to upgrading the research capabilities to the extent necessary to support the new extension effort. Under the proposed project, the governments of the states of Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka would undertake a reorganization of the extension services in their states. Active encouragement for this was given by the Government of India (GOI) which considered the nationwide adoption of the Training and Visit (T&V) system of agricultural extension to be basic to successful implementation of national agricultural policy. The project would include strengthening the Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in the GOI Ministry of Agriculture to enable it better to assist the states in the implementation and operation of their extension services. The project would also improve the ability of the DAE to provide expanded services such as staff training, to the states. 1.03 In India, agriculture is a sector which is governed autonomously at state level; therefore, the CAEP was formulated in four separate com- ponents, each to be implemented by a different authority, namely the three state Directorates of Agriculture and the DAR of GOL A separate Project Completion Report was prepared for each of the three state components. These components were to strengthen and reorganize the states' agricultural extension services by providing additional staff, housing, equipment, vehicles and staff training. This compo.site report covers the common aspects of the state components together with the DAR component which was to strengthen the DAE by providing staff, equipment, vehicles and funds for consultancy services and training. 1.04 The CAEP was appraised in March/April 1978, negotiated in Septem- ber 1978, and received Board approval in December 1978. Credit agreements - 218 - were signed in February 1979 (Credit No. 862-IN). Implementation in the states had started before signature and some retroactive financing was agreed. The project became effective in December 1979, seven months later than planed, largely due to delays in meeting covenants applied to the DAE/GOI component (mainly appointment of staff). The completion date was March 31, 1984; this was extended and disbursements were to be completed by June 30, 1985. 1.05 The estimated total cost of the project was US$53.4 M including contingencies, to comprise US$25.0 M IDA credit and the equivalent of US$28.4 M from state sources and GOI, as follows: Iocal Sqpport 223P.0aat 1ssucs Mus 1V6 MIsl Gujarat GOG/GOI 7.7 7.0 14.7 Raryana GOB/GOI 7.0 6.2 13.2 Karnataka GOK/GOI 12.8 11.1 23.9 DAE GOI L J " Grant Total 28.4 25.0 53.4 1.06 Information sources used for the PCR included: the CAEP Staff Project (Appraisal) (Report No. 2171a-IN of November 30, 1978) and all CAEP supervision reports; Bank appraisal reports for related projects in the three states concerned and for extension projects in other states; New Delhi Office (NDO) correspondence and information files; and discussions with farmers, local goverment officials, Bank and project staff during field visits in September 1984 and March 1985. 1I. TMZ MRCUITURL _SUCO Agriculture in India 2.01 India has a population of about 750 M growing at about 2.1% annually. The total surface is some 3.7 M km , 49% cultivable and about 11% irrigated. National income has grown at nearly 4% per annum since 1950. Agriculture is the dominant sector and in round figures engages 70% of the labor force, contributes 40% of GNP and provides the basis for 60% of exports. During the past 15 years, GOI development plans gave priority to agriculture and sought to raise food grain production by increasing the use of irrigation, fertilizers, plant protection chemicals and seeds of improved varieties. In support of this the agricultural credit institu- tions were modernized and irrigation development was accelerated. From the - 219 - mid-seventies, increasing attention was given to establishing improved extension services and upgrading the related research capabilities. 2.02 Since 1960, per capita income has risen at an annual rate of 1.4% reaching US$260 in 1984. Food grain production has grown at about 2.3% annually, approximately equal to population growth. Living conditions in the cities and among landowners have improved considerably. However, for the rural and urban poor, who comprise around 50% of total population, there has been little change in living conditions. Consequently, GOI is emphasizing the need to raise the growth rate of agricultural output from 2.3 to 3% per annum, in an effort to cope with the growing population and to improve the lot of the poorest. Much of this increase will have to come from rainfed agriculture, and an effective agricultural extension service is considered to be a necessary vehicle to achieve this. Agriculture in Gujarat 2.03 Gujarat has 37 M inhabitants and a total surface of 19.6 M ha. Population growth is 2.5% per annum, slightly above the national average. The net cultivated area is 9.4 M ha, 48% of the total surface area. Agriculture accounts for about one-third of the state's income and provides work for 60% of its population. The state is relatively more urbanized and thus has a wider industrial and services base than India as a whole. About 50% of the industry is agriculture-related, calculated on the basis of employment. From 1960 to 1982 the overall income of Gujarat grew at 3.7% annually: in 1983 the per capita income was estimated at US$320 compared to the national average of US$260. Yields of the most important food crops, except paddy, are higher than the national average. About 1.2 M ha net are irrigable and about 55% of irrigation potential is already utilized (18% of the cultivated area being irrigated). Most increases in agricul- ture production have been due to exploitation of irrigated ar-*.culture. In future relatively more production growth will have to come from rainfed agriculture. 2.04 Gujarat has a tropical monsoon climate with temperatures suitable for year-round cropping. Mean monthly Celsius temperatures range from 18 to 23 in January and 32 to 34 in May. The total annual rainfall ranges from less than 300 mm in the northwest to over 2,000 mm in the southeast, mostly between 500 and 800 mm, with about 95% usually falling during the June-September monsoon. Variations in amount and time'.iness of rainfall are substantial, which makes supplementary irrigation during the Kharif season necessary for stable and high crop yields. Intensive cropping in the Rabi and dry seasons (November to April) is not feasible without irrigation. 2.05 According to area sown, Bajra (Pennisetum Millet) is the most important food crop, with some 1.3 to 1.5 M ha annually. Almost all is - 220 - hybrid Bajra, and new seed is generally purchased every year. Jowar (Sor- ghum) follows with some 0.9 M ha, then wheat 0.7 M ha and paddy 0.5 M ha. Of the commercial crops, groundnut with 2.0 M ha is the most important followed by cotton with 1.7 M ha. Mixed farming (integrated crop produc- tion/dairy farming) is widely practiced and Gujarat has one of the best milk collection/dairy organizations of India, operated principally on a cooperative basis. Usually buffaloes are kept for milk production and cattle serve as draught animals. 2.06 Tribal people account for some 4% of total population so their agricultural production is significant. Brt their holdings tend to be smaller than average, and the disadvantage of smaller holdings is only one of a range of general problems of the development of the ethnically dif- ferent tribal people. Being sparsely settled on marginal land, there are problt-ms in giving adequate cover of T&V extension in the tribal areas. Aricu1tSral TechnologX and 19put Supply Situaton.in-Gsfarat 2.07 Gujarat has a relatively high level of agricultural technology. In a 1983 economic study I/ it had the second larg st average size of opera- tional holdings at 3.7 ha, while the all-India average (1976-79) is 2.0 ha; it ranked fourth (1976-79) among the states in per capita rural income, which was partly explained by the size of holdings. Cash crop production was relatively more important than food grain production. Gujarat produced only 133 kg food grain per capita, while the all-India average was 181 kg, and Punjab 746 1g. However, Punjab (and Haryana) have more than 50% of the cultivated area irrigated. The growth rate of production of food grains has been high at 4% p.a. between 1961/62 and 1981/82 (the all-India average was 2.2% p.a.). This indicates an adequate level of input supply and technology. On the other hand yields have only reached 1.16 tons/ha food grains, while the all-India average is 1.03 and that of Punjab 2.67 tons/ha. Thus there is still scope for increase. In terms of non-food grain crops, Gujarat ranks second in groundnut production, and third in cotton and rapeseed production (1978-79). Having a high concentration of supporting institutions for agriculture and being in second place in terms of per capita investment explains further this generally positive picture for Gujarat. 2.08 Factors affecting yields and production are (a) the years 1968/69 to 1974/75, except 1971, experienced set-backs due to droughts or floods, also 1979/80 anA 1982/83; (b) during recent years, rainfed agriculture has expanded rapidly into areas with marginal soils, giving a downward trend in 3,/ "Basic Statistics Relating to the Indian Economy", Vol. 2, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Economic Intelligence Service, Bombay, 1983. - 221 - yields; and (c) over the past 20 years or so, the irrigated area has increased from 0.75 M ha to 1.72 M ha, equivalent to 18% of the sown area. arculture in Haryana 2.09 Haryana has about 15 M inhabitants (1984) and a total surface of 4.4 M ha, Population growth is about 2.2% annually. The net cultivated area is nearly 4 M ha, 91% of the total surface area. Agriculture is the predominant industry. The state has just over one million farm families with a average farm size of about 3.6 ha. Some 50% of the farms are less than 2 ha. The cropping intensity is about 150%; 45% of the cropped area is irrigated. The per capita income in 1983 was about US$320, second only to Punjab and some 25% higher than the all-India figure of US$260. In terms of agricultural income per ha, Haryana is ranked ninth of the states. 2.10 Haryana's climate is sub-tropical and semi-monsoonal. Mean monthly temperatures vary from below 15 degrees Celsius in January to over 34 degrees in June. oetween December and February frost may occur in some areas. Rainfall varies from less than 300 mm per year in the southwest to over 1,200 mn in the northeast. More than 80% of the rainfall is con- centrated in the June to August period. Variations in P3ount and timeli- ness of rainfall are substantial, which makes supplementary irrigation during the Kharif season necessary for stable and high crop yields. The state has two main cultivation zones, the hot, semi-arid southwest which coiers about 40% of the state with less than 500 m rainfall and the sub-humid zone with rainfall above 500 mm, covering most of the remainder: in the latter zone the main crops of wheat, paddy and sugarcane are grown. 2.11 According to area sown, wheat was the main crop in 1983/84 with 1.8 M ha, followed by bajra (millet) with 0.9 M ha, gram (pulse) with 0.6 M ha, paddy (rice) with 0.5 M ha, cotton with 0.4 M ha and sugarcane with 0.2 M ha. Agricultural TechaogogY and .npt Supp\y Situation in Raryana 2.12 Haryana has a relatively high level of agricultural technology, ranking first together with neighboring Punjab. "echanization, especially tractor use (each year 7,000 to 8,000 new tractors), is far advanced com- pared to other states. The relatively large holdings explain partly the rather high rural income. Food crop production is more important than non-food crop production. Haryana produced 443 kg of food grain per capita. The growth rate of production of food grains from 1961/62 to 1981/82 was 4.5% annually, after Punjab with 6.3%; the all-India average was 2.2%. This indicates a high level of input supply and technology of production. For example, some 56 kg fertilizer have been used per ha. - 222 - Yields have reached 1.39 tons/ha. There is still scope for increase, as the example of Punjab shows. L/ 2.13 For the assessment of the growth of production, natural conditions prevailing in recent years as well as levels of inputs have to be taken into consideration. In Haryana the following factors are relevant to production: - weather conditions in 1972/73 to 1974/75 were not favorable to agricultural production; 1979/80 was also a bad crop year; - soils are on the light side, with 30% of all land endangered by salinity; expansion of cultivation has been into uarginal soil areas so that while overall production has increased, yields in many cases have decreased; - irrigation (in 1976/77 45% of cultivated land) plays an increasing role; Tubewell irrigation has expanded rapidly in conjunction with canal irrigation; - rainfed agriculture (northeast and south of the State) moved into areas with marginal soils, resulting in a trend towards lower yields, as shown by the agricultural statistics; - hybrid seeds are being increasingly used; - agricultural credit which enables high levels of inputs, is also a factor in this context, sidce after years of bad weather, farmers may not qualify for loans if they are not able to repay their debt; yields can therefore be lower than otherwise expected; and - marketing is not a constraint; Haryana has one of the best market- ing organizations of the country. wgriculture..in Karqataka 2.14 This state in the southwest of India with 39 million inhabitants has a total surface of 19 M ha. Its population grows at 2.2% per annum, which is about the all-India average. The net cultivated area is 10.4 M ha or 55% of the total surface. Agriculture accounts for about one-third of the state's income and provides work for 70% of its population. Rainfed agriculture (85% of cultivated area) plays a major role. In 1981/82 agricultural yields of food grains weie 1,022 kg/ha compared to 1,033 kg for all-India. About 1.5 M ha net were irrigated, and of the estimated 1/ GOK Economic Survey, p. 67 and Basic Statistics (1983). - 223 - potential in irrigation already 50% was utilized. 1/ In 1976/77, 57% of farms were under 2 ha and only 5% were above 10 ha. The average opera- tional holding was 3 ha. More than in other states, future increases in agricultural production will have to come from rainfed agriculture. 2.15 The climate is tropical monsoon with temperatures suited to year-round cropping. The geographic location at 12 to 18 degrees north gives the state a more even tropical climate than the more northern states. The altitude between 500-800 m on the Deccan Plateau reduces temperatures somewhat and the Western Ghats mountain range has a decidedly moderate climate. Rainfall is between 600 and 1,000 m in most of the cultivated areas, dropping to a low of 375 mm in the north of the state. Irregular rainfall and frequent droughts are characteristic and the importance of expanding irrigation by developing the water resources is evident. 2.16 According to area sown, sorghum (jowar) is the most important cereal crop, with some 2 M ha annually. Fingermillet (ragi) and paddy come next with 1 M ha each and then wheat and minor millets with about 0.3 M ha each. About 1.3 M ha are planted annually to pulses. Of the commercial crops, cotton with about 1.1 M ha, is the most important crop, followed by groundnut 0.8 M ha and sugarcane 0.18 M ha. Coffee and tea are grown in the Western Ghats: these crops have their own extension service and similar supporting services. 2.17 Tribal people account for some 5% of total population, and their agricultural production is not very significant. More important is the 15% of scheduled castes that now gets support under special Goverment programs, also receiving allocations of previously uncultivated land. Atricutural Technolomand-Input SupplXJSuation iq KargatiaA 2.18 The per capita food grain production is rather low, 179 kg only. This is due to the predominance of rainfed agriculture. In cash crop production Karnataka keeps a medium position among the states with 7-10% each of the national groundnut, cotton and sugarcane production. The growth rate in food grain production was one of the highest in India, with 2.6% annually from 1961/62 to 1981/82, in fourth place after Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat. This indicates a higher growth in the level of input supply and improving technology in general. 2.19 More recently industrial development has accelerated and Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka, is the fastest growing Indian city. Population growth is high at 2 to 2.5%, about the all-India average. The trend in overall per capita state income had fallen from the index of 100 in 1960/63 1/ GOK Economic Survey, p.67 and Basic Statistics (1983). - 224 - to 90 in 1978/81. Karnataka was sixth in 1980 with Re 1,352 (all-India average Ru 1,571) and by 1983 had risen to Rs 1,766 (US$180). 2.20 In reviewing production growth, natural conditions, levels of inputs prevailing in recent years and other factors have to be taken into consideration. In Karnataka the following variables are significant when considering the impact of extension on production: - weather conditions were unfavorable for agriculture in 1972/73, 1980/81 and 1981/82; - soils are poor to fair, but in recent years poorer soils came increasingly under cultivation; - in net terms irrigated areas grew from 9% of net sown area in 1961/62 to 13.7% (1.4 M ha) in 1978/79, and this was 80% of the irrigation potential created. Tubewell irrigation grew from 16,900 in 1960/61 to 310,000 in 1980/81; modern water management rules are being introduced; - planting is 60% with high yielding varieties. Use of hybrid cotton seed has risen sharply; - fertilizer consumption has gone up from 32.9 kg in 1979/80 to 44 kg/ha in 1984/85, while the all-India average was 36.6 kg/ha; - agricultural credit has increased in recent years, enabling farmers to purchase more inputs. However, after drought years smallholders often did not qualify for new loans due to default in repayments, which hampered growth in consumption of fertilizers; and - the modernized marketing system encouraged agricultural production, and there is no constraint in markeZ:ng. III. PROJECT FORM6UATION Orisia 3.01 Soon after independence, GOI began sponsoring a number of programs designed to meet the need for more effective, countrywide agricultural development: the Community Development Programs in 1952, National Exten- sion Service Blocks in 1953, Intensive Agricultural District Programs in 1960, Intensive Agricultural Area Programs in 1963-64, Small and Marginal Farmers Development Program in 1969-70. Despite their proliferation, these - 225 - programs covered a mall proportion of the farmers, generally the weal- thier. Recognizing that a better approach would be required to achieve a more broadly based increase in agricultural output and in response to changing rural and administrative conditions, the GOI, with IDA assistance, introduced a different approach, previously tried in several countries and generally known as the "training and visit system" (T&V). It was intro- duced in India through pilot projects in the Rajasthan Canal Command Area Development Project (Credit 502-IN, 1974) and the Chambal Command Area Development Project, in Madhya Pradesh (Credit 562-IN, 1975) and from 1977 adopted in several states. The CAEP was the seventh of the series and the first in which more than one state was covered by a single project. The main elements of the project were clear before formulation started and have remained unchanged. Project FormulAtion 3.02 Staff from the Bank's Resident Mission in India (New Delhi office-NDO) began a series of visits to the states concerned from July 1977. They reviewed existing extension operationst discussed principles with relevant state officials and suggested guidelines for project prepara- tion. Initially it was conceived as an extension and research project but the research component was not proceeded with at preparation because of the concurrent formulation of the National Agricultural Research Project (NARP). Preparation was carried out by the state governments and as draft reports became available, they were reviewed and modified as necessary. By February 1978, all states and GOI had submitted final reports as a basis for appraisal. Appraisal took place in March/April 1978, resulting in Staff Project Report No. 2171a-IN dated November 30, 1978. 3.03 There were no significant differences in scope, size or content in the project as formulated and as appraised, except for the deletion of the research component. Gaining from experience in implementing earlier T&V projects, the correct issues were addressed during formulation and appropriate conditions of effectiveness and dated covenants were applied. Goalsjd Targets 3.04 The immediate target was to achieve early and sustained improvement in crop production in the three states by revitalizing, reorganizing and intensifying agricultural extension activities in the T&V pattern. This action was to complement developments over previous years in other subsec- tors of agriculture (para 2.01). 3.05 The eventual goal of the project was to achieve long-term, statewide, integrated development of institutions concerned with and con- tributing to the extension process in order to maximize the impact on the improvement of agricultural production. - 226 - general Description of the P1r2oec 3.06 Stte CMpoe9ts. By the introduction of T&V throughout the states, farmers would be provided, on a regular and systematic basis, with up-to-date advice on farming practices best suited to the specific condi- tions, especially proven practices having immediate impact on income. Preconditions for introducing T&V were the establishment of a single line of command from the state Directors of Agriculture to the village level workers; and the transfer to the state Departments of Agriculture (DOA) of about 80% of existing village level multipurpose workers (to be redesig- nated Village Extension Workers--VEWs) and merging them with other DOA staff into unified extension services employed exclusively on agricultural extension. 3.07 Taking account of these changes, the project would provide addi- tional cadres to achieve staffing patterns in accordance with T&V norms to enable the extension services to react closely with selected contact farmers comprising about one-tenth of all crop farmers. Extension messages communicated to farmers would be simple and relevant to seasonal aspects of the area's crops and initially would emphasize low-cost Improved cultural practices; introduction of high-cost inputs and practices would follow at a later stage. Visit programs of VEWs, supervisory staff patterns, and training and technical support of all extension staff, would be strictly in accordance with published T&V methodology. I/ Additional staff appointments would be made to achieve these norms. 3.08 To enable extension staff to maintain the required regular and frequent farm visits, housing would be provided for field-level workers by renovation of existing houses and new house construction, or housing allowances would be paid, so that field-level staff could live in or near their assigned area; also loans for bicycle and motorcycle purchases would be made available for field staff and additional vehicles provided at headquarters, district and sub-divisional levels. Incremental vehicle operating costs and staff travelling allowances would also be provided. 3.09 In order to strengthen field supervision and technical support and further decentralize extension activities the newly created sub-divisional level would be provided with furnished and equipped office-cum-training buildings at every sub-divisional centre. A centre for conducting in-service training would also be provided in Haryana. / Agricultural Extension: Training and Visit System (World Bank, 1977, revised 1983). - 227 - 3.10 Training activities would be promoted by providing, for both new and existing staff, attendance costs for orientation, seasonal and special short courses, and scholarships for advanced training of selected staff. 3.11 Finally, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) units would be created under the state Secretaries of Agriculture, to carry out sample surveys and special studies to provide information needed for day-to-day project management and long-term policy planning. 3.12 DAZ CoM . Additional support for agricultural extension in the states would also derive from the strengthening of DAE. A Joint Com- missioner would assume full time responsibility for routine supervision on the six states in ongoing IDA-financed extension projects and the three additional states to be covered under the CAEP. Funds would be provided for support staff, their operating costs, and for short-term consultancies to provide technical support for project supervision. 3.13 A Field Extension Unit (FEU) would be established consisting of two sections, each headed by a Joint Director. The first section would assist states in project implementation and provide advice on the solution of specialized technical problems. To carry out this role, the project would provide suitably qualified staff, whose capability would be supplemented by providing funds to recruit consultants who would be personnel directly engaged in ongoing extension projects in other states; they would visit the CAEP and other IDA project states and assist in developing more effective project organizations. DAE staff and consultants would undertake intensive field visits, and discuss methods of improving implementation of on-going projects. Where necessary, DAE would also arrange for the services of experts in selected areas of specialization to visit the states. The second section of FEU would be a monitoring and evaluation unit which would collect, summarize and assist the states in the utilization of monitoring and evaluation reports. The FEU would also check on the execution of dated covenants by the states participating in IDA-funded extension projects. 3.14 The existing Training Unit of DAE would continue to be responsible for providing leadership and guidance to states in planning, implementing, coordinating and evaluating training programs for extension workers; also for organizing all-India and regional training programs, particularly for SMS and senior officers, at agricultural universities and central research and training institutes. Under the project, funds would be provided for about 40 training courses yearly for SMS at selected institutions throughout India in selected topics such as improved crop husbandry prac- tices, water management, crop protection, etc., ar.4 to provide training by such organizations as IRI, ICRISAT and CIMMYT, and for DAE personnel to visit participating states and help in the design of appropriate training courses, - 228 - 3.15 The Farm Information Unit would continue to produce audiovisual training materials and publications, organize training in effective use of audiovisual aids in extension work, and assist states in the identification of appropriate equipment and materials for various types of extension activities. Under the project, the unit would be strengthened to help it meet the specific needs of states by assisting in the production of train- ing materials which would be difficult to produce at state level or would have general application in a number of states, and to arrange training programs in communication techniques. IV. IPLEMNTATOLN OERTING P A. State Compo!egts I9troduction 4.01 In spite of delays and difficulties experienced early in the project period, all three states have done remarkable work towards achiev- ing physical and financial targets, and have made especially good use of the extension of the project period to further the achievement of project objectives. rea Covered -a4 Tar&et GroU 4.02 The T&V framework was to cover the whole of the three statas except one untypical district in Gujarat. In the three states, out of a popula- tion of around 72 M, the estimated number of farm families was 6 M. Before and during the first project year the farmers were all allocated into "VEW circles", each of which would be covered by one VEW, on the basis of an average of about 700 farmers per circle, with variations according to farming intensity between 400 and 800 farmers. Each circle was further divided into eight groups of 60-100 each, so that, in accordance with T&V methodology, each group could be visited by its VEW for one full day each fortnight. When each VEW was given his circle, he helped to select 10 contact farmers from each group to be the principal targets for extension advice, with the expectation that through the contact farmers, all farmers would derive benefit from the project. Staff Cadres 4.03 The development and effective deployment of staff cadres has been vigorously pursued by the DOAs of the three states with a large measure of success, in spite of hindrances beyond their respective control. 4.04 All available staff were redeployed and all relevant levels and units of T&V were created as planned, during the early years of the - 229 - project. However, not all units were fully staffed. Although all the VEW circles and groups were identified in the first year, the recruitment of new VEWs fell behind schedule and the farmers of some circles were left unattended until their VEW was appointed or transferred from elsewhere. VEWs were rotated in some cases to pacify farmers who objected to being excluded. In Karnataka, it was made a responsibility of the AEO to pay regular visits to otherwise unattended circles. By completion date about 95% VEW coverage is likely to be attained; about 90% of the planned requirement was already in place by May 1984. 4.05 In addition to slower than estimated recruitment of VEWs, most other categories of staff required in the districts for proper T&V opera- tion have also suffered delays and fluctuations in deployment. Criteria for selection unrelated to job descriptions, promotion by seniority, and frequent staff transfer are key practices in all Goverment departments that adversely affect extension. In Gujarat, because of rigidly enforced rules for promotion by seniority, up to 40% of subdivisional SMSs do not have a basic degree in agriculture. 4.06 Details of staff situation are given in Tables 1 to 3 and sum- marized in the following table. Total Nur o All Cteorieseaged -in T&V Duties. CAEP Planned Date Planned Existing Staff in Post at Date for Full No. of Base March March March March March March State StCfin Staff A979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Gujarat March 81 4,146 3,268 3,322 3,557 3,483 3,571 3,558 3,740 Haryana March 80 1,885 1,179 1,725 1,707 1,738 1,831 1,754 1,763 Karnataka March 82 L&3 t 14 1J4g 428 ia8LZU 5j.031 LLU Total -J 2A2 I&L LO = 1 10343 10. a. Z96- Deficit - JI2A LIM~ L2 1.6 .1J 2.l,112 L.471 4.07 Throughout the project period, commitment of many VEWs to their work in T&V has remained low, resulting from their non-voluntary transfer to agriculture-only duties at the start of the project, following long service (mostly 15-20 years) as multipurpose community development village level workers. The conventional wisdom at the time, derived perhaps from wishful thinking by the proponents of the T&V system, was that these vil- lage level workers would be fired by a new sense of purpose after their "fallow years" of loose programming and diffused activity. This appears to have been an over-optimistic interpretation of the situation because when a new Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) was implemented in 1982-83, those VEWs who had been transferred from the Panchayat Development (PD) at - 230 - the start of the project were given the option to return to general purpose duties in that department or to remain with T&V. More than half of them expressed a vish to transfer to IRDP, giving a3 reasons a higher job esteem and better promotion prospects. Many of those requesting transfer were found posts in IRDP and those who were not found places have continued to make clear their wish to transfer as soon as places become available. In the same operation, some AE0s who had been promoted from VEW rank Waile with T&V, also returned to PD. 4.08 Recruitment is still in progress of new VEWs, especially to fill those vacancies caused by the transfer to PD. There have been and continue to be many procedural delays in recruitment. Also political pressures have meant that technical merit has not always been the main criterion for appointment. VEW selection boards have been dominated by PD in Gujarat. The fact that in Karnataka there are about 80,000 applications now being processed for a few hundred VEW posts is indicative that considerable pressures are likely to be exerted on the selection boards by some applicants or their families. 4.09 There were delays in obtaining contractors for all civil works due to both administrative procedures and difficulties in persuading contrac- tors to renovate or build inexpensive structures in isolated situations; problems also arose over selecting and appropriating sites, and the supply of cement. As a result, all new construction occurred only in the last three years of the project instead of the first three years, as planned. Many works were still in progress (at the time of the PCR mission) although most are expected to be completed by the credit closing date. Details are shown in Tables 4 to 6 and the following table summarizes the position as it was expected to be on December 31, 1984. PX2o.ress,iU.Civil Works Staff Houses Sub-Div%_OAffjs TrAiuigMentre , an9ed MctuaI Pla&ged Actual Planned Actua Gujarat 718 (1,715) / 717 (650) /. 37 37 - - Haryana 557 195 30 28 1 1 Kanataka 1,400 1,141 80 33 - - T ;brackets is the additional number of houses to be renovated. 4.10 Tendering procedures were conducted within the terms of state governments' regulations. No major defects in building construction have been observed or reported. Constructions inspected by the PCR mission appeared sound. - 231 - Vehicles and u.ipment 4.11 Virtually all items of vehicles and equipment were procured more or less as planned. Vehicles were of local manufacture and purchased under government tendering procedures. Small equipment was purchased locally by shopping around, and no delays were experienced. However, the inventories of equipment (example in Table 18) included a number of relatively sophis- ticated items concerned with the preparation of audiovisual teaching aids which have not yet found much application. 4.12 The overall situation on vehicles is shown in the following table. Vqhicles: Purchasegs and PersonAl oangs Purchases Personangse Sed29 Cars/Vags 4~_Mbeel Drivq .MtrcYcles PBicXcles Plyd cu4 laadActualP4ne ActualPl ed cta Gujarat 7 7 132 133 325 230 2,580 956 Haryana 18 20 49 49 570 376 - - Karnataka 11 11 108 108 1,045 216 4,425 883 4.13 The take-up of personal loans for the purchase of bicycles by VEWs and motorcycles by AEOs was considerably lower than planned. VEWs receive a consolidated permanent travelling allowance for all travel costs includ- ing use of bicycle, irrespective of whether they live within their area of work or outside. Because no specific allowance was made for bicycles, VEWs had little incentive to commit themselves to a bicycle loan of some Rs 500; many preferred instead to use existing or purchase second-hand bicycles, or use public transport. 4.14 In Gujarat and Haryana, motorcycle loans were restricted to Ra 6,000, raised in 1983 to Rs 8,000, whereas the actual cost has risen to Rs 10,000-12,000. Some AE0s have been unable to find the necessary balance for the cash down-payment. Only in Kanataka have full-cost loans been available. Of the planned totals of Rs 1.29 M for bicycles and Rs 1.95 M for motorcycles, the take-up was Rs 0.46 M and Rs 1.62 M respectively. Of the total planned loans for both motorcycles and bicycles, the number of personnel taking loans was 41% of the planned number and the financial amount taken up was 64% of that planned. 4.15 Related both to civil works and transportation is the question of housing allowance. During project formulation it was envisaged that, in order to encourage VEWs in particular to live within the area of their work, they would be provided either with houses or with housing (rent) allowance. However, in most cases a separate housing allowance is not paid - 232 - but is incorporated in the fixed permanent travelling allowance: special allowance is only paid to staff obliged to live in or within a few miles of urban centres and the amount paid relates to the living costs of the par- ticular town. 4.16 Implementation of the training program was generally good, although the pattern of training courses departed considerably from the appraisal proposals (Tables 7 to 9). The delays and deficiencies in recruitment of staff cadres caused the number of staff for training to be less than planned. In the training annex of the appraisal report, the descriptions of the various categories of courses were very generalized. Lre input into that report by a training specialist to specify the objectives of all types of courses and workshops, would have been of considerable assistance for the purpose of implementation. In particular, special orientation courses were not implemented because their intended purpose was not fully understood: instead the T&V philosophy and methodology was dealt with in a diluted fashion in routine training sessions. 4.17 The monthly workshops which have become such an important feature of T&V methodology in recent years were not yet envisaged at the time of appraisal, and so were not provided for specifically. However, this did not hinder the program. Overall, although training targets and achieve- ments showed significant variation by year and category, the end result was that the total number of courses of all types actually held was rather more than the total envisaged at appraisal, largely because of the extension of the project period. 32onitoig an 1valUatio9 4.18 The appraisal report foresaw that monitoring and reporting of physical and financial inputs (i.e. normal management information) would be the responsibility of the ADA (Extension) in each state. The special unit for M&E to be set up by the project under the control of the Secretary of Agriculture, would be for "systematic evaluation of performance". However, with experience monitoring and evaluation was interpreted to mean the procedures laid down in the World Bank working paper on that subject L/ with subsequent agreed changes introduced on the basis of experience. These procedures emphasized a systematic approach to the analysis of the methods, progress and economics of project implementation as well as to 1/ World Bank Staff Working Paper No. 272: "A System for Monitoring and Evaluating Agricultural Extension Projects", 1977, by Cerea and Tep- ping. A full list of documents is appended. - 233 - production increases as such. Ad hoc studies, focussed ce specific topics, supplemented the routine analysis work. Work generally has been hampered by limited mobility and by the fast rotation of staff, a universal problem related to promotion procedures. Difficult evaluation activities like impact of the extension on production have been particularly affected because they would require a long-term experience in order to get a feeling for the problems involved. 4.19 In all three states the spirit of M&E activities and the general performance has been good, if compared to the limited amount of experience in this new activity. All three states have had to struggle with personnel questions in staffing their cells properly and fully, and all are still understaffed, both in the headquarters office and in the field. The trained statistical staff had difficulty in getting to grips with the survey work for ME because it differed greatly from the work to which they were accustomed. All three states have (rightly at the present stage) emphasized monitoring at the expense of evaluation. Rowever, as a result there is little existing in terms of evaluation results, neither a good series of crop cuttings nor the establishment of a base-line from which to investigate the impact of the project on yields or production. The M&E cells need to be encouraged to start a thorough approach to evaluation work. In particular, emphasis is needed on sociological aspects in order to tackle problems of the rural household and the role of women in develop- ment, which are important in agricultural production. 4.20 The M&E surveys may be broadly divided into: - those monitoring the operational implementation of the project, and - those concerned with the adoption of technology. WMpeeatation Perforauce as Observed by M&E 4.21 The aim of the first group of surveys was to obtain knowledge on the progress and status of the introduction and institutionalization of the T&V system. Analysis of farmers' reactions showed that awareness of the T&V program is high among contact farmers, but lower among non-contact farmers. Frequency and regularity of VEWs' visits and other connected criteria were monitored. Data on performance monitoring are given in the PCRs of the state components of the project and in Tables 10 to 12. Surveas -of Udoption of Techaologgy 4.22 One group of surveys assessed if farmers were familiar with recom- mended practices and whether they had adopted them. If negative they were asked why they had not adopted them. Although not answering the ultimate question of the growth rate in production, these surveys did express measurements of the appeal of the technologies being introduced (as a - 234 - feed-back to research) and the effectiveness of the extension service in transference to farmers. There were limitations in the surveys related to data gaps and over-simplification of the technology content and the results were seen merely as indicative (Tables 13 and 14 and also PCRs of state components). 4.23 A significant conclusion drawn by extension staff from the surveys was the importance of the commercial delivery system, especially at village level, for inputs, credit and marketing. Progress in the adoption of recommendations has depended on coordination of extension advice with complementary action in the other sub-sectors. 4.24 Some results of adoption surveys have appeared discouraging. Hovever, the breakdown to district leve. reveals that there are districts with a high rate of adoption of recommended practices and it is the low showing of some other districts that gives the gloomy picture. Those districts, however, are often disadvantaged by nature, having agro-ecological conditions not so favourable to agriculture, like*in-the arid areas of Haryana. The district comparisons obtained from M6E surveys have been among the most useful data that have emerged, especially from the management point of view, as it has encouraged comparative analysis and enabled supervisory efforts and other resources to be directed towards the weaker districts. 4.25 Special studies were carried out by the M&E cells to supplement the routine seasonal monitoring and evaluation studies. The guidelines for the studies were that they should be "both flexible and versatile, easy to carry out and should focus on well defined topics and small social or geographic units". The early studies may be regarded mainly as training exercises for the M6E cells in designing and implementing studies and handling data. In future, guidance from the newly strengthened DAE (001) should result in more substantial special studies. (The studies are listed in the PCRs of the state components.) Reportigg 4.26 After a somewhat patchy start, the reporting, both financial and operational, has been by and large timely and of acceptable accuracy and quality. Schedules of reports received have been included in the state PCRs. B. DAE Comnent 4.27 Progress in implementing the DAE component was very slow. In December 1982 a supervision mission reported that the DAE's contribution to agricultural extension was limited and important areas where the DAE should - 235 - be active were largely untouched; that unless incremental staff and innova- tive leadership were provided the DAE could not fulfill its required role. The DAE was also in default of the financial reporting covenant. 4.28 only in 1984 was reasonable progress reported. With a change in leadership the DAE had expanded its workload and implemented some key initiatives and a sense of purpose and productivity was observed. DAE is now engaged in a reinforcement of WB efforts which should lead to a progressive take-over by DAE of supervisory and advisory functions related to T&V. Initiatives undertaken in 1984 were: - clarifying selection and payment guidelines for overseas training, and systematizing the selection process; - revising into a relevant form an incentives scheme for extension staff; - expanding the scope of the internal consultancy scheme; - preparing special schemes for (a) strengthening SAU extension activities and (b) media support for extension; - holding a national two-day workshop for some state Secretaries and Directors of Agriculture; - commencing preparation of a national extension newsletter; - improving monitoring, analysis, and feedback on state monitoring and evaluation work and internal consultant reports; and - establishing closer working relations with ICAR and the Crops Division of GOI (including joint participation with ICAR on an agricultural research and training review). 4.29 DAE is developing an expanded role in organizing national, regional and state-level workshops, internal consultancies and in dealing with foreign delegations and study teams. A statement of DAE's activities in these fields is given in Table 20. V. FNNCIAL PERFORNCE 5.01 The base cost estimates for the whole project, comprising the three states, amounted to Rs379.97 M or US$44.1 M. With contingencies added, the total was Rs459.89 M or US$53.4 M. The IDA credit of US$25.0 M was to meet about 47% of the total project costs, including 100% of foreign exchange costs. - 236 - 5.02 Within the total base cost of R9379.9 M, the physical facilities, civil works, equipment and vehicles, comprised Rull6.71 M or US$13.57 M. As common for extension projects, a very considerable portion, some Rsl36.99 M, was earmarked for salaries. In addition, Ra88.19 M were for incremental operating costs, Rs27.69 M for training and RslO.38 M for monitoring and evaluation. (See Table 21). 5.03 The individual portions for the three states Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka varied in the amounts allocated according to the size: Rsl26.5 million, Rall3.5 million and Rs205.8 million respectively. The Directorate of Agricultural Extension of GOI was allocated Rs14 million. These amounts are including physical and price contingencies. 5.04 Since the final Gujarat project expenditure could not be collected by the PCR mission, no comments can be given on the speed of spending and the financial performance through the period of the project. All three states had started the T&V reorganization before signing of the loan agree- ment. (See also PCRs of the state components). 5.05 The credit was fully disbursed by May 28, 1985. The final disbur- sement position is as follows: Dsbrseqept~ (US$lM.1(oq Ue1Da1 Girat araa Ail Equipment/Vehicles 0.03 1.47 0.79 1.64 3.93 (4.27) Civil Works - 3.12 1.41 3.73 8.26 (7.8) Consultants/Training 0.17 - - - 0.17 (0.34) Incremental Salaries 0.08 3.97 2.69 5.90 12.64 (11.45) Unallocated - - - -4' 0.28 8.56 4.89 11.27 25.00 MggE: ( ) Show figures according to DCA. - 237 - VI. INSTITUTIONAL PERFO A MM1 6.01 The main thrust of the project was institutional reorganization and strengthening to achieve an effective agricultural extension service. 6.02 Two main organizational changes in the states were considered to be fundamental: (1) the establishment of a single line of command from the DOA to the VEW; and (2) the merging of about 80% of existing multi-purpose village level workers with all other agricultural field staff including those engaged in special projects, into an unified extension service employed exclusively on agricultural extension. 6.03 The single line of command was achieved in Haryana and Karnataka but not in Gujarat, although working compromises there have resulted in a 4e facto operational line of command and technical supervision from DOA to VEW which has been effective for much of the time. Nevertheless problems have arisen in all states, though more seriously in Gujarat, due to ad hoc intervention and over-riding of instructions by the District Deputy Commis- sioners who, whatever the official position, have influence not only from the power of their office but also because they have final responsibility for clearing or amending the annual confidential reports of the VEWs, AE0s and sub-divisional SMSs. The interferences have been not only in justifi- able urgent matters but also in some aspects of day-to-day activities. 6.04 The situation has eased somewhat from 1983 when a new Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) was started. Many of the village level staff who had earlier been transferred from PD to T&V were transferred back to PD and new staff were appointed; the consequent increase in the number of PD staff at village level has reduced the diversionary demands on T&V staff. 6.05 The transfer and merging of village level staff into T&V was achieved more or less as planned. Recruitment of new VEWs was rapid at the start of the project and again in 1983 to replace those transferred to IRDP, although the numbers never quite reached the target. atension Visits 6.06 The efficacy of the TV system of information flow is spear-headed by the rigid timetable of visits of VEWs to particular groups of farmers on certain fixed days. The timetables have been efficiently designed and implemented, and VEWs appear to make their planned visits with reasonable regularity. There is evidence from M&E data that non-contact farmers are also benefitting from the visits of VEWs, through actually meeting the VEW, or through discussions in the village with contact and other farmers and - 238 - also by observing the happenings on other farmers' fields. However, many VEWs demonstrate one or more of the following faults: late arrival at place of work; poor communication skill; lack of motivation; unwillingness to go far on foot; and lack of confidence in practical demonstration. These faults would be reduced if supervision was more supportive than disciplinary, and more frequent; also if more communication skills were injected into the T&V system as a whole. Good progress has been made to overcome these problems. 6.07 There is good evidence, at least in Haryana (Slade and Feder study), that contact farmers constitute a reasonable cross-section of all farmers, large and small. Larger farmers have been somewhat over-represented, but not overwhelmingly so, and only as to be expected since larger farmers are more likely to be innovators. 6.08 Early in the project period, the opportunity to make visits more effective by catching the farmers in the fields during their peak working hours in the relatively early morning was missed, because VEWs followed the customary late civil service starting time of 9 to 10 a.m., as did the supervisory and senior technical officers (except for some adjustments in the hot season mainly for the benefit of the staff). New guidelines to field staff in T&V have resulted in an improvement in this practice, with VEW's reporting for work much earlier, though some problems still exist. 6.09 Supervisory visits by AE0s are usually according to norms and to schedule, though they still lack technical competence. In many cases, especially where the AEO was formerly a general purpose village level worker without technical qualification in agriculture, he does not have the technical superiority to be capable of giving proper support to the agriculturally qualified VEW. VEWs entering T&V after the start of the project have been recruited directly and must have an agricultural qualification, whereas many AEOs have been promoted on time seniority which favours the long service person who, for historical reasons, is less likely to be qualified in agriculture. Promotion by seniority instead of by merit or qualification also applied to posts of sub-divisional SMSs. 6.10 Supervision/guidance visits by sub-divisional, district and zone level officers to the VEWs and AE0s are less frequent than planned and are insufficient for effective operation. This is partly due to paper work and non-extension duties competing for the time of the higher grade officers thus hindering firm supervision from the top; and partly, in the past, to ahortage of travel funds resulting in some cases in the imposition of a travel ceiling of 10 days per month (restriction now lifted). Also, as already described, there is some disruption of visits and supervision schedules within the districts due to conflicting instructions from PD officials who exert a powerful authority. - 239 - 6.11 Supervisory visits by all grades have tended to be more concerned with administrative checking instead of proper technical advice and sup- port. This shortcoming has been well recognized and vigorously addressed. The new guidelines to field staff will help, and increases have been achieved in the technical content of training sessions. 6.12 The full staffing envisaged by CAEP did not provide for additional staff to maintain visit coverage according to T&V norms for areas which have been newly irrigated since the project started; also it did not take special account of the needs of tribal areas where sparse population makes it impossible for a VEW to maintain a proper visits schedule over the normal size of farmers' circle. There has also been the natural population increase, leading to further fragmentation of farms and more farmers. Therefore, some further expansion of staff cadres is now required to main- tain performance. Training and IaforMation Flow 6.13 Fortnightly training of VEWs and AEOs is well organized and attended by all appropriate categories of T&V staff. At every session there are duplicated hand-outs of the main points covered. The hand-outs, which are prepared at sub-division level, are of good technical quality, though sometimes rather generalized instead of concentrating on timely impact points, although progress to improve the technical content is encouraging. Attendance by other organizations concerned with the sector (e.g. input and credit suppliers, on-farm water management staff, market- ing personnel) is infrequent, giving rise in some cases to poor coordina- tion in assembling in a timely manner all the farmers' requirements for maximizing production. There is increasing awareness of the broader useful- ness of the fortnightly sessions. 6.14 The basis of the training sessions (including impact points) is prepared in monthly zonal workshops. Overall planning of the monthly workshops and definition of major packages of practices was carried out in the twice yearly pre-season workshops. Pre-season and monthly workshops were attended by all available senior supervisors and SMSs from DOA and the state agricultural universities (SAUs). Preparation in advance of these workshops has been less than adequate, although it is improving with prac- tice. Technical input from SAUs has generally lacked specific orientation to the problems of the moment and attendance by university specialists has lacked continuity, but again, progress is positive and steady. 6.15 The key personnel in routine training are the SMSs. The develop- ment of quality, particularly of the all-important fortnightly training, has been hindered by problems in recruiting sufficient numbers of ade- quately qualified SMSs, as well as by the blocking of sub-divisional SMS posts in the case of Gujarat. SMSs have had to develop in the job and their performance has been generally barely adequate though improving. - 240 - Also, the range of subject matter expertise has been limited mainly to crop production and protection. So-called training officers have usually been agronomists not trainers. Furthermore, as extension has gained momentum, so has an unfulfilled need arisen for technical specialists in soil and water conservation and management, farm implements and land preparation, and drainage and pasture improvement, though some states are taking steps to overcome the shortage. 6.16 Non-routine training activities (special courses) have been much less than planned and insufficient to maintain technical quality, espe- cially as regards VEWs. Courses for all categories of staff have been mainly on plant protection and crop production. Courses for staff respon- sible for organizing and implementing training, on the conduct of workshops and training sessions, also on communication technology and organization and methods of practical training, would have improved the quality of information flow, but have been held only rarely, whereas they should be routine. Expertise for pedagogical training of this sort should be brought from ottside the agriculture sector, at least until departmental expertise has been built up. 6.17 Practical and skill based aspects of training have not developed significantly. Fortnightly and other training sessions usually contain one practical item, but this is often a minor affair, carried out by demonstra- tion only, with no active participation by trainees. Even the SMSs doing the demonstration use subordinate staff to carry out the manipulations. There would be considerable scope for improvement in practical training if more teaching expertise were to be injected into the system as a whole as described in the previous paragraph. 6.18 Related to teaching methodology is the underutilization of visual aid equipment provided by the project. Much of this equipment could be used to better effect. However, even with good teaching skills, some items of equipment were provided which were too sophisticated for the level of instruction (Table 18). It was interesting to note that a provisional list of equipment, filed in NDO before appraisal, had been anonymously annotated "Not No!" against several items, but the same equiqment nevertheless turned up in the project. 6.19 The project appraisal report made only peripheral reference to adaptive trials in farmers' fields and made no financial provision for them for a considerable time. It was envisaged that assistance for research would come from the parallel National Agricultural Research Project, but it did not materialize in good time. Thus this potentially very profitable meeting ground between T&V and university research staff was not exploited. However, implementation of field trials has started and is to be developed under the new National Agricultural Extension Project Phase II (NAEP II). - 241 - Project 6dtinistrtion 6.20 The institutional framework of T&V was established as planned and the administration was organizationally and technically sound. Overall responsibility for implementation remained as planned with the respective Directors of Agriculture, with a newly appointed ADA (Extension) in each state responsible full-time for day-to-day administration. Early problems of financial administration caused delays in disbursements, but procedures improved with experience to an effective level. 6.21 The most important coordination requirement was between the DOAs and SAUs. This has not yet been achieved to the extent expected or required. A dated covenant was included in the Credit Agreement "that the state would review and, where appropriate, strengthen arrangements for close cooperation between DOA and SAU". The deadline for meeting this covenant had to be twice postponed and it became clear that the state authorities were unclear as to what they were expected to do. The appraisal report had given inadequate guidance as to how the proposed review should be structured and whether the "strengthened cooperation" referred to certain specific proposals for coordination which were set out in some detail in the appraisal report, or to some other more comprehensive form of strengthening, as was in fact required. It has taken a long time to iron out institutional problems and good progress has been made only in the last years. 6.22 Coordination between DOAs and SAUs was planned to become estab- lished through district technical committees, seasonal zonal workshops, zonal research advisory committees and state technical committees. There have been difficulties in forming and convening the district technical committees. Their function appears to have been interpreted more as the coordination of support services than the development of sound technical programs. The zonal workshops have been held before each of the two plant- ing seasons and have generally been successful. Monthly workshops have also been introduced and coordination at the field level, especially through these workshops, shows encouraging improvement. There have been problems in all the states in constituting the state technical committees, though the need for them has now been recognized and steps taken to bring them into effective operation. 6.23 Supervision missions have recommended that the zonal workshops and zonal research advisory committees should be merged, as they have similar functions and membership. This change has been implemented in two states and is under discussion in the other. - 242 - Seamary of 14tiinal Per formance 6.24 The institutional performance of the DAE (GOI) component was closely linked to implementation factors and has been described in Chapter IV. 6.25 The institutional performance of all three states in the CAEP has taken a similar course to that experienced in other states in India. Introduction of T&V systems has required very considerable institutional change. In any large bureaucracy, the in-built inertia limits the rate at which institutional change can occur. The conversion to the new system has required major attitudinal changes on the part of extension staff, farmers, researchers and officials of all ranks, both within and outside the depart- ments of agriculture. Given these circumstances, the amount of institu- tional development which has been achieved by CAEP from 1978 to 1983 has been impressive. The fact that the changes were slower and somewhat less in extent than envisaged was because the targets themselves were unrealis- tically optimistic, probably resulting from the need of the project for- mulators to squeeze the whole development of the T&V concept within a maximum allowed project period of five or so years. 6.26 The use of the Staff Project (Appraisal) Report by project manage- ment as a binding implementation manual (para 6.28) was interesting. Used for that purpose, there was naturally insufficient detail of some aspects and implementation was hindered as a result. In the case of a project such as this, with a large component of institution building, some sort of "Institutional Development Implementation Manual", prepared after credit signature, would seem to be indicated. A particular case in point was the creation of institutional links between the extension services and the agricultural universities, which was left to the two organizations to work out during implementation. As the project director had no direct authority over the universities, there was no framework on which to build linkages. If firmer proposals had been included in the appraisal report they would probably have been implemented. Also, the purpose and content of various categories of training courses proposed and financed by the project were not spelled out in detail in the report and here again, implementation was not good. Although all types of training are well described in the WE manuals on T&V, the fact of omission from the appraisal report seems to have been critical. 6.27 Significant problems have been commonly experienced in all agricul- tural extension projects financed by the Bank Group, especially during early years of implementation: involvement of extension staff in non-extension activities; excessive reporting and statistical workload on field staff; insufficient research-generated technology, especially for rainfed areas and tribal areas; poor feedback from field to research; weak inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination; transportation shortages and restrictions; poor monitoring and evaluation; late submission - 243 - of audited financial reports; weak technical supervision and shortages of appropriately trained subject matter specialists; slow provision of housing for field staff; and slow use of training funds. These problems have been continuously addressed during project supervision and most have diminished over time. The continuing involvement of extension staff in non-extension activities and the poor quality of the technology being extended to farmers are two of the most intransigent problems but even these are being steadily overcome, 6.28 Although performance has in many ways fallen short of expectations, this should be kept in perspective. The structure that is in place is fundamentally sound and has been well received in general by staff and farmers alike. The constraints that have been expressed are, in most cases, reasonably straightforward to resolve and are well recognized by the senior officers concerned who are acting as quickly as circumstances per- mit. Following the recent re-staffing of the general purpose village level workers in the IRDP program, the non-technical demands on VEWs should substantially diminish. Coordination has grown continuously between DOA and the SAUs. The operational capability of the system has been clearly demonstrated and has been satisfactorily sustained by and large despite the difficulties highlighted above, which is in itself an indication of the basic soundness of the system. 6.29 Throughout the review of institutional development it can be observed that no special mention has been made of the role of women in either the farming or official sectors. Although women perform equally with men (though not necessarily in the same tasks) in agricultural produc- tion activities and decision making, nevertheless agricultural extension is still exclusively a man's world. Extension could be made more effective if measures were taken to ensure that transfer of technology was less one-sided. VII. ASSF§6MENT OF IPCT The Impact, qu Prodtion 7.01 Although it is still too early in the course of project implementa- tion to expect a measurable impact, the official yield data of the pre-project and project years have been compared and indexed (Tables 16 to 18). Yields of major cereal crops have increased moderately in Gujarat and Haryana but have fallen in Karnataka, as follows: - 244 - Yields of Cereall 1978f79.to 183(84 I/ (kg/ha) L978/Z9 1212LO /8±g 19oalLlAt2 12=114 1983/84 Gujarat 1,042 916* 1,106 1,234 1,060* 1,318 Karnataka 1,412 1,447 1,302* 1,327* 1,286 1,233 Haryana 1,287 1,055* 1,397 1,347 1,404 1,399 S/ Rice, wheat, jowar (sorghum), bajra (millet), maize and in the case of Karnataka, also ragi. * Bad crop years due to floods/droughts. 7.02 The index figures of rolling 5-year averages, with the pre-project period 1975/79 as the base-line are for major crops in each state as fol- lows: - 245 - 129-17- 12-t 121t 2Z§-§Z L91-j Bajra 100 103 108 112 115 Rice 100 98 103 96 100 Wheat 100 105 112 116 119 Jovar 100 103 108 112 115 Groundnut 100 90 89 84 85 Cotton 100 103 111 111 108 17,6. 1976-80 -197-81 ,7-L 197- Rice 100 104 104 104 103 Wheat 100 103 106 :10 113 Jovar 100 114 122 135 130 Bajra 100 97 98 112 122 Maize 100 123 101 101 110 Groundnut 100 103 100 91 - Gram 100 95 83 75 63 Tur 100 116 110 - - Potato 100 96 92 89 88 Sugarcane 100 98 97 93 97 Cotton 100 102 103 107 100 S4rataM4 1975-7 1976-80 IL17-8 -2 g -§979-83 Rice 100 101 105 104 103 Wheat 100 97 96 94 90 Jovar (sorghum) 100 100 103 101 98 Bajra (millet) 100 96 88 83 85 Ragi (finger 100 104 112 112 111 millet) Maize 100 97 99 97 96 Groundnut 100 98 108 107 110 Cotton 100 132 171 210 250 Gram (a pulse) 100 105 112 148 148 Sugarcane 100 102 102 104 104 - 246 - 7.03 Change in yields would be the ultimate criterion of project impact. However, there are many problems in assessing this impact, such as the extremely high variation of tatural factors like amount and timeliness of rainfall. Soil quality is a variable, because in expanding cultivation areas, crops have been planted increasingly on marginal soils. Also availability of credit is related to the use of inputs like fertilizer and has a major effect on yields. To normalize inter-year variations a much longer period of project implementation would have to be measured for trend analysis. 7.04 Also, the base year selected can be of major influence. Indexed yields look much better for Gujarat, if the five year rolling average of 1973-77 is taken instead of 1975-79. The 1979-83 index figure for ground- nuts then would be 97 instead of 85. And for choosing 1973-77, a jus- tification does in fact exist, since the project started early in 1978, at least in some of the districts. 7.05 Probably an analysis at full development, which might be taken as 8-10 years from the start of the project, would bring acceptable results. Changes in the uniformity of the data base of official statistics hamper long-term analysis. Also, the standard error in district level estimates is often in excess of the normally accepted 5%. Further, the disaggrega- tion of project and non-project factors presents considerable difficulties. Although a multi-factoral regressional analysis is theoretically possible, it would only be worthwhile after improving the accuracy and uniformity of data. DSeef its 7.06 It is not useful to apply a rate of return calculation. The yield increase of 1% by 1985 which would generate a rate of return of 50% (vide appraisal report) cannot be disaggregated from non-project factors. 7.07 Measuring the benefits of improving the extension service is espe- cially difficult because the institution is newly established. However, although the economic results of the project cannot be expressed mathemati- cally, the benefits of changes in farmers' attitudes about (and in the rate at which they adopt) improved farming methods were enthusiastically stated by the farmers and the agricultural officials. These benefits were con- firmed as clearly visible by the observation of a mission member who was able to compare the present situation in Karnataka with that observed during an irrigation mission 10 years previously. ZvAuatonStudies 7.08 The Monitoring and Evaluation cells in the states have carried out evaluation studies based on crop cutting experiments. In most cases, the average yields recorded have been considerably higher than those recorded - 247 - in the official statistics. However, there is evidence that yields are higher on farms which received extension advice than on those without advice. Summary results of crop cuttings and other correlation compila- tions are presented in Tables 15 to 17. IStitutional Impact 7.9 The long-term effect of the project on institution building in the departments of agriculture is expected to be positive and significant and to lead to increasingly high rates of adoption of new technologies. Although the build-up of operational capability was slower than planned, it has by and large been achieved in the final stages of the project. The institutional framework of T&V is in place as are about 80% of the required staff; the mechanics of T&V are accepted and practiced routine; training sessions are well prepared with visual aids and technical circulars in regular use. The momentum and gains achieved will, however, require rein- forcement by continued WB and DAE (GOI) supervision for many more years to avoid reversion to outdated procedures. The same bureaucratic inertia which has been the cause of delays in making desired changes will, if sustained in the desired direction for long enough, be the very factor which can entrench the new procedure in the system. The need for continued institutional support has been recognized in the follow-up project NAEP-II. 7.10 The institutional impact is not restricted to T&V alone. There appears to be a spin-off of improved management discipline and skills - and an appreciation that monitoring and evaluation can be a significant tool of managment in all sectors - in the agricultural department generally. Once ingrained in the system, these benefits should spread further in the civil service. VIII. AM PEMFO2U CF 8.01 The World Bank, mainly through supervision missions and other technical back-stopping by NDO staff, has contributed significantly to project achievements and to maintaining the momentum of T&V at field level. The comprehensive field reports prepared during supervision have been particularly valuable: going far beyond the scope of the usual supervision report they have provided specific observations and recommendations which have given continuity and substance to the supervision/development process. Continued support for the process has been well formulated in NAEP-II. 8.02 With hindsight, more pressure could have been exerted early in the project period to stimulate action to achieve a more timely completion of the civil works component. The inclusion of an architect in an early supervision mission would probably have been advantageous as he would have - 248 - had a more professional insight to identify constraints and promote viable courses of action to circumvent the problems. IX. CONRLUSg0S ProjetJustficatino ad becive 9.01 The objective of the project was to strengthen and reorganize the extension service in order to increase agricultural production especially among small-scale farmers. That objective was appropriate at the time of project formulation and remains relevant today. retonte and Schedlig 9.02 The project content was boldly conceived to comprise virtually the whole area of the three major states. Until that time, most individual T&V extension projects had covered only one part of one state and some the whole of a particular state. The results have justified the original boldness, in that the envisaged institutional transformation has been largely implemented and the senior state authorities are convinced that the extension service will be effective in raising agricultural production when it reaches an optimum level of performance. 9.03 The project component to develop the DAE of GOI to service, monitor and technically supervise the state constituents was also bold but it was over-ambitious. The strong and jealously guarded autonomy of the states in the agricultural sector was insufficiently accounted for and the commitment of the GOI authorities to the component was over-estimated, as indicated by the record of poor implementation during the early project years. However, since 1984 the DAE has taken a new lease on life and has started to assume a positive role which should lead to its eventual ability to assume a general monitoring and back-stopping function over the development of T&V. 9.04 Also over-estimated were the amount of appropriate technology already existing in a directly applicable form ready to inject into the T&V system and the contribution that the SAUs could make to collecting and adapting new technology imported from elsewhere or to generating it through research. It has taken time to gear up the generation of technology and although much has been achieved, a lot more attention has to be given to these aspects. 9.05 The decision before project preparation to omit financial provision for research because of the parallel NARP was probably misguided, because adaptive research in the states was not among the early priorities of NARP. - 249 - 9.06 With regard to scheduling, the project was undoubtedly over- ambitious in assessing the time it would take to introduce major reor- ganizations in already strong institutions. The amount of progress achieved only near the end cf the project period was planned to occur within the first two years. However, the eventual achievements have been notable and have approached the project objectives. Project forMulatioq a9d OperainD Outcmles 9.07 The project design was well-conceived and comprehensive. However, there were some gaps in detail in project formulation which hindered implementation. The project required links to be established between the respective departments of agriculture and state agricultural universities, but it was left to those institutions to work out the ways and means. This proved difficult, especially as the DOA and SAU had no comon controller. Coordination could have been accelerated if better guidelines had been given in the project document. However, efforts by the state authorities and NDO have borne fruit and the problems are being tackled effectively. 9.08 Also, the Training Annex in the appraisal report was insufficiently specific in describing the aims and objectives of the various types of courses and training sessions included in the project. As a result, implementation of training was patchy and in particular, little attention was given to orientation courses. An input by a training specialist during formulation would have given much clearer and specific guidance for implementation. 9.09 The DAE/GOI component as formulated also lacked detail, par- ticularly on the direction that institutional developments should hve taken in order to promote the growth of influence of DAE over the authorities implementing the project in the states. Effective development of DAE has occurred only since 1984. 9.10 The forecast of implementation capacity was generally correct with regard to the states except that difficulties in obtaining sufficient numbers of adequately qualified SMSs were not foreseen. Implementation capacity in DAE/GOI was over-estimated and did not materialize or develop as in the time envisaged. 9.11 Civil works components are well conceived but all fell behind schedule. Some of the delays could have been foreseen and perhaps fore- stalled by the involvement of a professional architect either during project formulation or during the early stages of supervision. EvalMaioof Tnplementationand Outcome 9.12 The PCR is too early for an evaluation to be possible of the impact of the project, which would have to be measured in terms of improvements in - 250 - yields and production. The aims in respect of institutional development have largely been achieved in t4rms of manpower and operational framework, but generation of an adequate amount and quality of "software", i.e. tech- nical knowledge and packages of practices for transference to farmers, has been - and continues to be - slow. The project can have a major impact on agriculture only after further institutional improvement has occurred and the system has built up greater momentum. It is too early to predict with certainty what the impact will be. However, responses of farmers and DOA staff have been enthusiastic and new practices are found to spread more quickly than before; the improvement has been particularly noticeable in rainfed areas. 9.13 A major risk at appraisal was considered to be the creation and maintenance of a single line of command from the Director of Agriculture to the VEWs. The risk assessment was correct and related problems continue until now. In Gujarat the single line was never achieved, even on paper: in the other states, the line of command was formally established but in practice has not operated smoothly because the local power structures in the district administrations have been able to frustrate it. 9.14 In general, there was no fault in the direction or the scope of the project, but some over-optimism in the time required for implementation. This fact was recognized by WB early in the implementation period and firm and effective measures were taken, through intensive project supervision, to minimize the delays and maximize the gains. Gains achieved are to be consolidated and project shortcomings rectified in the well-conceived NAEP II which will be implemented in such a way that there will be no break in project operations after the closure of the CAEP. 9.15 The overall outcome of the project has been that remarkable progress has been made in Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka in what has been in effect an institutional revolution. The respective Agricultural Produc- tion Commissioners have lent their full reight to the process and the Directors of Agriculture and their staffs have shown devotion, commitment and sustained application in project implementation. §UDIA: CMEaI W2-in ffemwcy Omffifi MISSBORM CO0S IT AE aI . Emxn,Is5 PiWCmm - 18JA1 IET Particulars of lv Exteansto Statt kiLpaltloo Officer Pay Scale a Rp t S fr sAiw ath be aodess PRs./ath IiiiVtiI 1979 1980 1 3 98 9"~ eedd y base y March Mtarch March March March Murch #by wIw tig 339-500 3440 2600 1534 2619 2a3 2881 3126 2938 3133 Ato It 425-70 431 513 349 431 431 387 390 391 392 Stih-divisiona 5§6 DI 550-900 78 53 31 53 53 42 45 43 36 ~04A/A0m0 It 0110-133 58 36 41 sa sa 45 53 55 55 Destrect SM6 I J00-S3 48 48 30 48 50 40 47 48 48 om0/~00 t 1100-160 34 I8 10 34 34 32 33 31 31 lonaJ a 1600-2200 4 - - 3 4 4 4 3 4 V39. 1100-1600) 3 - 2 3 3 4 4 3 3 AM4'.-tensana 5 2250-2500 } 1 1 1 5 e m 1 #;oitoring a (valuatio. - - - 28 36 37 32 .32 Other profesonal staft 126/ - - 12 12- 12 12 12 12 1/ Appralsal target was to reach ftll %taffIng by 1981 joarch. 2/ tNc~udes so*e staff In other posts dho will be redesigtated to UBV without charge to project. W Pre-project siteation. 4/ Som lncreases paced before effectimeness date and flaced retroctively. 5/ Comprises I .IA. 2 MA, 2 lechulcal Officers, 28 SWpervisors and 4 A. $/ 3 10. 2 StatIstical Officers at #. 1 10 at lae leve§ and other professiffal statt. feded Is apprasat report utder stmparting staff. 50m~C: Statt Project eoort 2171a-1I und 906 record INDIA: CREDIT 862-11 PROJECT MLETIO RISSIM COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSIN PROJECT - MARAMA CWfENT STAFF uEVELOPIENT Particulars of T&8 Extension Staff Designation Officer Pay Scale ralsal rt 1980 1981 1982 1983 1966 Class As./fhth otal s aing March arch March March March needed Y base ---------------Actual number of Staff by Year------------- 111/ll 1490 1136 1435 1390 1406 1460 1386 C0 qAto Il 700-1250+Y5 186 - 120 128 140 174 168 Sudivslonal SMS II 800-1600 103 - 79 93 100 103 103 SDA 11 800-1600 30 30 30 30 3) 31 33 District SM ft 800-1600 11 - 1) 11 to it 11 DA I 900-1800 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 zonal JOA I 100-2150 2 2 - - - - I Ecadquarters SMS I 900-1800 4 - 3 3 4 4 4 ADA I 2,000-2500 1 - I 1 1 1 1 o Monitoring & Evaluation 51 3/ 35 38 33 43 44 Other professional staff Ill 700-1250 - - - 1 2 3 3 JDA-cums-Principal I 1700-2150 - - - - - I I A.T... Rohtak 1/ Appraisal target was to achieve full staffing during the first year. Existing base is taken ia appraisal report. SVEW category includes Agricultural Development Officer (ft.600-1100). Village Level Worker - Pandayet (Rs.525-O50) and Agricultural Inspector (ft. 440- 0. M Nonitoring and Evaluation staff (all increaental) comprising JOA-Statistics.(Rft 110042150), Economlst-(Rs.900,1800),.Research Officer (As.800-1600). 4 Field Supervisors (Rs. 800-1600), 4 Junior Computors (ts.480-660 ). 4 Statistical Assistants (fs. 625-1050). and 30 Field Investigators (ts. 525- IOSO). Source: Start Project Repot 217la-IN and G0n records. INDIA: CRDIT 862-I8 POJECT C4PLETION EORT CMfOSITE MRICUtn~iML EXTENSIM PROJECT - KRUATAmA C~=#0EMT STAFF OEELOMENT Particulars of extension Staff Designation S esM t -----------------------------$taff Position at Date-------- Pay Scale Tt 1979 1 1981 1982 1983 1964 1984 Rs./onth Needed Base 2 March 3/ March 4/ March March March March Dece~er M's (VEV) 550-1050 5200 4200 4375 4300 4298 4251 4189 3861 405 AO (AEO) 920-1721 750 575 575 583 603 595 627 635 750 AO (SHS) 1050-1920 180 40 40 100 164 177 172 156 163 AM T9. 1200-2175 175 25 25 14 130 162 175 165 161 AOA (SMS) 1200-2175 80 - - 30 36 79 00 79 75 Pm a AddI. MiA 27 10 18 19 16 22 24 23 21 AM 8 5 5 7 6 8 8 8 8 WM (CAM) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i MA (SM 00) 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 MI (JT>1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 AULM1 1 . 1 1 1 1 l 1 1 MA reneaW) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1- V ithia 3 years (March 1982) target was s epposed to be reached. _ Pre-project sitmation y Incladd sN staff in other posts who were reassigned. 4/ Major reshoffling of staff fro= this ti~. Souce: Staff Project Report 21718-1 and UK records I-MÅA: Ml¥ B2- in ve#vw IJEC IO t cil *¶us " Le 19" ite. Ppr1si March *W march *1 morch u ~*rch '3 frch 0 Total Totet vrget Prjtect Act"al Project Acteal Project Actul Project ActuI . Projett Actl ~ pleted vgeer et target Cowieted torget Cteted target copieted targ t CmpIted target cmpleted ogrch'S Copiete Tote (reetls ed *8I y Nome W #enevetie 1500 5 • 500 295 500 295 - - - - 590 - 590 900 New temstruec- tieø 564 20 - 200 - 164 241 - 102 - 153 496 68 564 564 N es KO R~ tten 215 0 - 10 31 i5 29 - • - 60 - 60 141 ilasses 5 t (s-diviste) N ~ew east- reactioe 74 25 - 25 21 24 26 - 29 - 20 65 t0 15 7i Neses Som 8 $6 (dstriet) liew emst- retiom 0 3 • 3 - 20 29 - 23 - 9 61 17 7 e9 Offices (stb-divisIa) New cmst- røctims 3 15 • I5 - 14 • i • 29 37 31 yt&rgt for høvles for remnovaton were rediuced after surwey of exsti*g stock. 501S~ : Staff Projett ep~rt 2171#-Ig and 06 records INDIA; CREDIT fit-IN PWJECT COMPLETION MISSI1 OPOSITE MRICULTURM EIENSION PlNECT - MWMA aWIERT CIVIL OIKS Yearwise Position of Civil Morts 1980 to 1984 Itee March I0 March at1 March '82 March '83 March *56 Project Actual Project Actual Project Actual Project Actual Project Actual In process Total Total to b target completed target Completed target completed target completed target completed arch '84 target completed Jun. *65 Houses WEW 50 - 350 - 157 - 135 - lb 557 195 Offices (sub-division) to - 10 - 14 14 - 8 - 1 19 30 Z3 Training Centre - - I . . . . . . 1 I 1 SOURCE: Staff Project aport 217a-l0 and GN mcords I! - 256 - Table 6 INDIA: CREDIT 826-IN PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT - KARNATAKA COMPONENT Civil Works 1/ Total Add. No. 2/ Item Target Approved completed started Grand No. No. Jan.85 Jan.85 Total Houses VEW New Construction 1,100 1,023 655 311 966 Houses AEO 300 75 100 175 Division Office (JDA) 2 nil - nil nil District Office 20 3 nil 2 2 Taluk Office 60 42 18 13 31 Total 1,482 1,292 748 426 1,174 / Approved in the Governent Budget according to availability of funds. g/ Expected to be completed during 1985. INDIA: CMo1l a6-IN roxcr COIUTiON WSSION (01POSIE AICILIURM IAItSICK PWAtCI * AMI CGISWMIKNI StiEtI OF IAta OF TRAINNG COASIS (planned and Actual, by Project vear) oype of Traileng Tear I Tear I Vear 3 Tear 4 Tear S Tetal Planned Actual Planned Actaki Planned Actual Planned Actual Planned Actual Planned Actual Peeasona trshop heriffRabI I' days per year le 2 sessla"m VM 1000 1150 1500 2?12 2500 2883 3)40 381 2440 2963 1840) 14119 Other Staff 300 914 450 103 633 12)4 63) 1266 63 1415 2694 5901 (Varlable duratea All staff cateeries 281 - 195 - - - - - 407) it0 dsa os) All except EO. i* 410 $46 sol6 - 169 - 436 - 2139 kirmsber Courses rlui o ~re) Kv 140 - 140 - 340 352 140 505 140 - 100 65 Other Staft . 193 - 193 $MCW~ Short Courses WWMO o00 3210 21 2800 - 2300 - 381 268 31l 496 15642 3994 Other staff 8O 450 t00 .71 in 90 329 oil 129 18 56 o TOMS 6198 6)94 685 4361 6102 4651 189) 6210 62t3 55 35M 27869 1/ Orientation tralog was belng dealt with in pre-seaso worishOps and fort0ightiy tralolng instead of by special courses. l fiolds courses carried out during the retroactive Ilfatelsn period. saUC: Start Project port tila-to awd S06 records INDIA: CREDIT 862-IN PROJECT CONPLETION REPORT COMPOSITE AGRICLTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT - HARYAA COMPONENT SCHEDULE OF NUNDER OF TRAINING COURSES (Planned and actual, by project year) 1978/19 197910 1980/81 1981/82 1982/83 1983/84 1984/85 2/ Total Type of Traing Planned Actual Planned Actual Planned Actual Planned Actual Planned Actual Planned Actual Planned Actual Planned Actual Preseasonal Morkshop Kharif/Rabi VEW Category - 1387 1490 2906 1490 2870 1490 2304 1490 2910 1490 2772 - 2636 7450 10205 Other Staff - 182 341 482 341 526 341 564 341 564 341 632 - 658 1075 3678 on Orientation Training It Staff - - 1823 - - - - - - - - - - 1825 - ftnthly Zonal orkshops All Staff - 89 200 120 200 133 200 140 200 144 200 158 - ISO 1000 942 Foundation Courses VEW Category - 171 280 111 280 98 310 116 310 118 310 109 - 69 1490 198 Refresher Courses VEW Category - - - 50 i 75 - 65 - 70 - 72 - 27 - 359 Other Staff - - - - - - - - - 56 - 56 - 20 - 132 Special Short Courses VEM Category - - 1490 - 1490 - 1490 - 1490 - 1490 - - - 7450 - Others - - 341 - 341 - 341 - 341 - 341 - - - 1705 - Other courses held out of st., within st. & other Institutions/Univeristies - - - - - - - 7 - - - 10 - - - 17 TOTAL - 1829 5967 3718 4156 3714 4194 3701 4201 3967 4194 3653 - 3625 22713 24401 1/ Courses Implemented before project effectiveness date. 2 Courses iampeented during extension of project closing date. IMDIA: CREDIT 862-14 PitJECT COLETION REPORT COMOSITE AGRICULTURA ETESION PROJECT - KATMAA- COMPONENT fmber of Persons Trained each Year Training Type 1978-19 197940 1980-81 1981-82 1902-83 1983-84 1984-8S Target c ved Pre-season (VEs) 100 2774 3650 3911 4016 4056 4056 5200 4056 Pre-season (Others) 240 530 005 851 8i9 988 98 1010 966 Short Course (VEWs/AAOs) 100 3174 4455 4506 4643 4691 4006 5950 4806 Short Courses (Others) 34 82 66 12 186 381 221 260 221 VIW roundatiIn 453 - 485 - - - - 125 938 Orientation (All) , 1907 1519 1797 - - - - 6488' S223 Rerresher Course to VEW 396 286 352 743 695 628 325 600 743 N.Sc. (Agri.) Deputation - - 40 40 - - - 100 60 Post Graduate Deputation 34 54 41 * * 5 * 28 134 * The 6418 total persons comprise $200 VE. 750 AEO, 260 SMS. 175 AAO. 19 DAD & 14 JOA Total units of annual training notes on Items * achieved................... 68,461 1ten 2 2 courses per year of 2 days each Tiif I Once per year, 3-4 days Pre service 6 months with tW-service follow-up of 2 x 3 1e0ths . TU04 I * One day Workshop A Trt=e-a- vV***4Wt of Aer"culture Assistant grade for 3 years B.Sc. COMrs M 180l8: (fE051 U2-IN tes1 E A#ttcAUat. Eitusn emox8JCT - GJ80AT 8O0lEut Reutt of Srveys teoing fot* Förmes* Oartness of 1syyst tpercentage of tn~ 1114 mot NKla mm% w 910 IK 11M ffi mot ~Joct of v 0abt mar$ t Mar$f abt ab Marif barjf Rahl Rabl ."arti ,et 08B •81 81-82 81-82 82 f82 82-83 82-83 .83 Aeareness of 11 Progr s by famrs ~nact 48 34 4S 41 43 • ao-contaet - 11 20 21 l • Pelicity of prograne of iMs Plöihed 79 N5 75 78 79 83 eI 81 82 80 #o-pubitshed 21 25 2 22 21 17 19 19 18 20 Farmers koming the Vtus Contact 90 88 99 91 97 90 97 91 97 88 Mon-contact • 5t 88 11 85 11 16 78 89 16 Aareaness of day of visit of TIVs Contact 63 50 67 54 61 53 $$ 48 57 44 no-contact - 46 32 32 28 31 24 26 27 25 Agtulartty of visits of VMs No visit 30 32 8 23 10 22 13 21 is 27 Visit at other places 33 41 42 49 50 45 45 51 46 4S Vist on Oflids 37 27 50 28 40 33 42 28 39 28 Visit of other eatenston func- tionary S00 10 19 12 23 9 • • • JE 28 7 32 9 21 • • IN^IA Cr 862-KW ~mm WRIMMT MMW2!0 FRWSSOemu f;uuPOST mICULUAL NETSI4 PROIECT - MAIfANA CCNPONEN Resflts of Surv*y Kaoki~n inta newlede, ämarenes and Vicite ot Vs (ia pereontae*) • Trype of e=rey * on. Non. Non. Non. von. P. 8easons Rabi 1979-80 nabi 198-81 Marir 1981 Wabi 1981-82 Rabi 1981-82 198,-8 19Ps-%' Panmare eurveyed: _/ CP CP CP FP CP PP CP PP p cP PP rp bwledge of being contact farmer 71.0 88.7 87.1 62.1 87.9 58.a 91.5 5ö. P8.2 66.n SR.o 6x A a8e of Vm i n bnw 64.5 78.7 . - - - - - - . - . Qof E i kown 83.5 - - - - - - . - - . - Farwera vitted on a fixed day 57.4 - 72.7 29.8 81.0 39.5 60.6 30.6 8.2 AJA tO 6 W.7 ämaroness of fixed day of visit 59.8 71.4 - - 66.9 20,2 - - - - ed.« 11,9 Proper mo. of vieita 52.7 81.9 79.9 37.9 70.0 23.8 75.3 26.7 68.1 26.n 61.1 I.,4 Wual place of meeting a. fruserm' field - - - - - - 76.2 26.0 - - - - b. Other places - - - - - 17.9 24.7 - - - - 1/ Non. monitoring, done at planting tim; Ev. evaluation, don* at crop-cutting time. 2] CP m Contact; FP m Pellow farwor. Sourcas Montoring and Evalmation Reporte of DOA, Iaryna, Chandigarh. INDIA: CREDIT 862-IN PROJECT COMPLETION MISSION (OMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PADJECT - KARNATAKA COMPONENT Results of Surveys looking Into farmers Awareness, Knowledge and Visits In TAV System (In percentages) Particular of Survey "S !-VI "S "S 1S Ms HS ME MSE "KE NU 198 -81(R) (S) 1980-81 (K)1981 (K)1982 (R)1982-83 (K)1983-84 (R)1983-84 (E)1981 (R)1981-82 (K)1982 (R)1982-83 1. Farmers knowing AA e. Contact 92 98 92 96 95 92 90 70 95 94 94 b. Fellow - - - 88 85 18 11 66 67 68 68 2. Awareness of day of visit a. Contact 69 64 64 40 - - i - * b. Fellow - - 34 20 - - - 20 - - 3. Propr fre uency of visits a. Contact 67 64 71 77 67 . 66 64 - 70 63 68 b. Fellow - - 51 54 40 46 40 - 36 29 27 4. Place of meeting a. Own fields Contact - - 70 61 62 54 - 69 73 74 Fellow - - 39 44 35 28 - 23 40 21 b. Elsewhere Contact - - 16 27 16 23 - 27 21 10 Fellow - - - 24 31 18 23 - 64 40 11 c. Others' Fields Contact -- - s- 3 6 - 4 5 2 Fellow - - 13 - 12 12 - 13 20 14 S. Fixed vtSIt of AA a. Contact - - 63 56 42 39 71 50 49 S2 b. Fellow . - 35 23 17 13 20 10 II 7 'poaldpe st e i * 9 'alhIstad poaspe ostwi . 4 'ilj pati na a . ia sl'6 '0 V k 1 Vi l 1 '1 #* ' l ' 't elt V" - 'i t* ai 9 ve it *E m 9 9 3 ;' 9s å S'% t' '9 - C'E LIC i At 0' r 6 BI si L1 8't '8 VO e'% * V ra t4'I mo-S6 MIA Ve£; t ' ,'it ;'ti :'$ - - - - - - fS L'S 4 t £M 'IS8 Vt L V$ 9* I' as N fPren geelset3-->-kqi tfg - - - - - - I'68 9' 6'A Ilo -' 1'6 1'l 8'l5,tt Zt We ' 2 W '580 o e 8261 Va1 9t3 S816 ila 6t V£&1 Vil eli Cut ret Ilt VIa Cu1 $1 Mt VilVitw5 ' ' 'te V6e m£ Vf #tt wc C'- r£ Vn S4 ra ' *98 ll V198 1 k* VeV 8' 8's Vu6 see1ta-- t' 16 t1' #3 #'a Ve t'* 4'99 t'i eltt ra - e 6's V* 4vis Bt 4t D*48 W'te tt 6'9 i? 8 899 II ~el 1,'6 1' Vt C'a 9·8 V t 8'90 8'9 Vta l e a' l l 2'8 K'et t'51 Cu V'C t'et V'9O V'9 kl§tt ret 6.9 D'o e4lmo in-m$6 Offa 1le te t'K 4* V 4I t - - -U -a -'9 -I *'N C11 l ' '88 C' - Ct 4P4 altatt3 t*6 98 $'C Btå - 4'9 51 t? - it 'it - %p P 9'8 fl Bt 1B9 BE9 49 *** Ve ;•Is ;z 4*9 c*V' 89 e UUt 1'9 S39 ,69 £*9 e'$01 ' - VU'lar - 9'41 V 4'ig rgM t'11 L1 VN5 §'lm Wt vo9 v91 1'8 mS e.'4 Wa-tt6 OPU9 Vi1 lVe tie B12 t ri - - - - - - £l it Ves Vt t'L $8 1,B - l & 1*å 1 Appca hoittoa i4 - - - - - - * - v - - 9'4 9' it $'6' 9 V T* U81 1'0 Il' e'it 1 W5 m'al "es 1. t c'te ' 92 Vot't 9' t V't et 9kL 4 4,1il 9 Vt t i t t & 'W V& $1 Ve V'e @1 Vtö -, ~'R' A em etel 61a - 3 kt -91 8'9 Va*S ' I't 861 V9 4 1 Vo8 8t VI 0'9 $s 'i e ' e3 Vw w3 21-1861 911% e'8 ZIR 6' V'6l V'W CM V44 9'1 VMt 119 £1 V'W £'1 Vkl 8'84 Z1 k*ti VGL t1 %1 V*1t% 6*S 04 wemates!ff V'ä 9-1 w'e VA $'1 8-19 V'a r'* V'E 9'9 ' 1,4p - - - - - I'a V'et V'8W 8'1*t e'lU 1't 449t3 #'*6 $' 2 ' u0S - als T 't igt 'i 8 ' B i R d 0 '0 V 'e e 'S * '3 V" 'R 8'9t 8'99 M' $*5 M'S 9414 4-4tet OM111 V'9t'e082 49 e'it C'b - -- -- -V--9it el$ V'it el28 e38 31 V' M 8'6 - 0'96 i4e4 4»;~4s3 - t*£ M g• llg't *19 t'l $'la 9'St el% 9*91 Vst Mo ffsme 6*4 ' r 9·*8 41 19 e- - i rtc* 9- ' r* VM 8's 0 V? 0 Va VW s mS 4,i 8's r8u ter a-amt #lim 51S B'8 e [' lu ålt - - - - - - V11 Oit 65t Ie B'l rl - - - - - - pe 'w h;as 1 1 1 4 I1I1 p 9 i 9 1 3 98 9 i taIariwisirsiu uaislrta-4s) cal ju30syq 'raNTI nr3y1 g ~TlSatIeI-5 MW-fTliInUr S)T3nlwS u3 Ipairjn-prsi sel@TWTUL..e5seuessesa Je asygeg 5o aweess Ji sassq - 264 - lb14 DåNa: <0teta N t fn M 90ed1t? t0014tit0 01ssten NRAN?KA * ADOP?!2g RAE & DiphWED TECHNOLCY Itado 4ates la Prseude1 District Frmera coverede intr. a 80ed 1.k 8.ed TerIaar Pla Prot- flve48 ap~ treua appenton eume aGewo Cr rC c? p CP ?? CP I? CP TT CP C r t7 7 p r p r p tP? P p p T 1. snotrSno rvfey Ramb80-81 2. o. .er 80-81 x.~40 arit e1 16 16 198 718 71 66f- 7 •78 -• 65 26 42 26 32 2. 4.4. Rab81-2 - - - m.4. ru U 16 16 1101 102 63 a 55 6 7 70 ••• - 2 26 49 29 11 20 6. -- 8b 843 . • • - 7.ewharu 63 12 12 246 224 - - 100 97 49 • 44 7 3 55 39 41 -37 8. -do- Ah 3-84 1 1 90 104 6 - 40 - - - - 7•4 .••• 11 58- Xau -e.- - . . . . . . . . !am 81« 2. 480 Pabt 81-828 •l • • - - - - .. . . .fl ... . 3.4 -to- u a 16 16 142 60371 32 - • ••3 49 40 S 30 $3 53 33 4. -- Ram G-3 1 1 763 100-. 48 • • • ••••• 7 43 2 77 86 44 5. 4h- hru 83* • 1. Nmet.r 8 l 13 - 387 - 82-- • 7 • •74 fl •- 8 --•-- •---------• 8-4e.,...e, 0..8,---.--.--.--.--.---•--. . .l . . - 3..-- arU 13 13 948 46 72 - ga _ 6 1 -- - 56 20 3 17 44 18 47 . &4 m Ab84 9 9 71a 400 69 • 67 68 67 - 65 65 - 13 33 13 30 - - • 5.o4e- waS 8 10 10 93y 4M 73 4 72 - - -- 18 9 13 61 13 9 6.~-d- Rab 82-83 9 9 76 694 69 .-59 - 58 9 . • • 13 42 12 40 19 19 7.-d- aru 83 9 9 287 237 - - • 85 78 - - - - 20 64 10 75 16 10 8. 40- Rabl 83-44 8 8 6u 608 91 86 - - - - •71 -66 - 755 5 47 $ • 1. KMotortu-ca. Svaluation. 32. Eber 81..•... •..-.-.•.........•.•......•..•....f.....•. .•.•. • 2. -~- aab 8-82 5 $ 35 130 60 43 - 77 65 - 63 53 37 38 .3.-4. -MuU-M 10 10 75 483 4T-3" 4 96 95 - - • -8 29 29 6 44 23 15 1.o Rab 82-83 7 7 S1 24 5 4 5 41 - • 68 - 85- 74 - 741 1 35 - 5. -de- aru 83 222. 5ggI 1 br 81 9 9 924 47 76 3f63 •5 .- - - - 76 13 73 16 - • • ..-harU 82 9 9 650 6$0 71 8 64 4 --- - 15 19 12 15 20 59 17 5 15 s14 3.n-4-a U83 9 9 3417 3 88 93 - - - - 27 30 - 29 58 27 60 4• 1.* Wonitorino-¢us- 3valuatLen ~. Srg 8 10 10 68 402 8 -6 82 59 46 24- 31 56 15 61 ~3. -4-1r1 83 9 - C? o Catatt tarner. F p Tull u UDM CoGlAT2oN. 17 • yollo ra'fir. P • Partial. - 265 - PROJCCI COWLE(TION ISSION COPMITE AGCULTUAL ExTENSION POJCT - GUJARAT COMEMNT Results a t.ra Cuting eqervsents by T A V A. Yields from Crnp (Sasple) Cuttings. fron Evaluation Surve s lrrmnaied/Unrrsqated RI 191llTKhatl 1981 Ratt 392/83 therif 19 /83 _e_d_ Sasolo Yield Sele yield Santle yield Sangle yield NO. kg/ha o. f o. kg/ha No. 14/he wheat trrigated 2408 Unirrigated 556 total 163 2611 p d1 irrigated 163 346 18 2995 uni rri"gted 186 2839 211 2299 total Bajeea irriated unirrigated 411 1196 390 1006 total Groundout irriqated untrrigated 141 1213 146 619 total 8. yields 0 Source f AdVIC* Wheat (irrigated) a0 AdviC* 2089 Other Frers 2544 Eatension Staff 2591 Other Sources Paddy (irrigated) No Advice 3 IS87 Other Farmers 30 2517 Extention Staff 141 3097 Other Sources 6 2435 043ra (uni-rigated) (unirrigated) No Advicc 18 1001 33 904 Other Farmers 78 1158 76 912 Estensin Staff 291 1280 265 970 Other Sturces 24 908 16 140 Groundaut (Unirrigated) No Advice Is 471 Otrer Farmers 20 1088 10 475 EstensiOn Staff 113 1245 113 672 Other Sources 8 1427 8 302 - 266 - INDIA: CREDIT 862-IN PROJECT COMPLETION MISSION COPPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT - HARYANA COMPONENT Yields from Crop (Sample) Cutttnos.from Evaluation Surveys 1980-81 1981-82 1982-83 Crop Sample Kharif Rabi Sample Kharif Rabi SaMple Kharif Rabi No. Yield Yield No. Yield Yield No. Yield Yield kg/ba kg/ha kg/ha kg/ha kg/ha kg/ha Wheat 1578 - 2343 1591 - 2255 1610 * 2499 Gram 1123 * 689 1105 - 302 1050 539 Rice 763 2280 * 763 2318 93 2443 - SaJra 1320 688 - 95 708 - Soure: Survey reports of M Z E cell, 00A. - 267- Tabl. 11 INDIA; CREDIT 862-IN PROJECT COMPLETION MISSION COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT - KARNATAKA COMPONENT Yield from Crop (sample) Cuttings from M&E Surveys (in kqsLha) Crop Kharif 81 Rabi 81-82 Kharif 82 Rabi 82-83 Padd) 3052 - 2857.5 2444.3 Jowar 1229 1477 1054 930 Ragi 1292 * 901 - Groundnut 731 - 524 - Wheat - 880.5 717 812 Bengal gram - 439 - 479 Tur - * 531 - 268 - Table 18 INIJIA; CRUfI Tbb2*I PAJECT COMPLETION ?ISSIOg ! COHPSITE AGAICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT * GWARAT COPONEN Listof quip"ent iteems procured, other than vehicles Item Quantity Date received Month/Year 1. Slide duplicator 1 3/79 2. Portable PA system 1 2/79 3. Slide projector (semi*auto) 1 2/79 4. Cassette tape recorder 2 3/79 S. Slide projector 26 .3/79 6. Slide viewer 706 3/79 7. Film strip/slide orojector 1 3/79 8. Tripod screen 1 3/79 9. Daylight screen 27 3/79 10. Wall screen 27 3/79 11. Slide projector (auto) 1 3/79 12. Calera 35 14.1. 2 3/79 13. Camera 120 N.M. 1 3/79 14. Sound revie projector. Super SM.M. 1 3/79 is. Sound movie projector, 16 N.M. 1 3/79 16. Tape recorder 1 3/79 17. Slide projector (auto) 1 3/79 18. Casera. Super 8 N.M. 1 3179 19. Overhead projector 1 3/79 20. Electronic flashgun 2 3/79 21. Stencil duplicator model 320 14 ./79 *22. Stencil duplicator model 320 27 9/79 23. Film strip/slider projector 11 11/79 24. Stencil duplicator (electric) 16 12/79 25. Overiead projector 37 1/80 26. Stencil duplicator (hand) I 4/le 27. wall Screen it 11/70 28. Day light screen 11 11/79 29. spool type tamns 12 3/W0 30. Cavera, 120 M.A. 18 3/80 31. Cassette duplicator 1 3/80 32. Insect specimen boxes 3871 12/79 33. Sound projector. Super 8 ft.M. 1 3/80 34. Llectronlc flAsi 20 3/80 35. Cafera. 35 M.M. 18 3/80 36. Loose file hinders 11613 3/89 37. Electronic stencil scanner 1 3/80 38. Typewriter (Gularati) 1 3/80 39 Typewriter (English) 5 3/80 40. Black board (roller) 3871 3/8 41. Autoratic printing machine 1 1/8 42. Automatic press eAcnine 1 1/?, 43. Paper cutting macnine 1 3/81 44. Semi autumstic paper folder I 't 45. Sound aoie pro)ector, Super 8 M.M. 19 1/81 INDIA; CREDIT 862-IN PROJECT COMPLETION "ISSISM COMWOSITE AGRICULTIAL EIENSION POJECT - ALL COMPONENTS Performanc6 Ratin hy Supervislon Misslons Month and Year of Supervision Mission 6/79 12/79 8/80 4/81 12/81 3/82 12/82 6/83 12/83 5/84 Status 1. Problem-free or minor problems; 2.0oderate problem; 3. Major problems 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 Trend 1. Improving; 2. Stationary; 3. Deteriorating 1 1 I 1 1 2/3 2 1 1 I Type of Problems:ffinancial - M. Managerial; 1. Tech- aTcil";.OTlical; 0. Other. If more than one type of problem, enter most critical factor first. TMF HT TM 14T HT HT MT MT 10 T igk!Lmentation Status: 1. Problem-free or minor problemsn ;.~Moderate probles; 3. Major problems Disbursements I 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 Estimated Cost I 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 Anticipated Completion I I I I I 1 1 1 1 1 Compliance with Loan Conditions 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I Project Finances 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Management Performance 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 Procurement Progress I 1 1 1 1 1 I I I 1 Performance of Consultants Not applicable Reporting 1 1 - 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 Development Impact: 1. Problem-free or Minor problem; 2.Moderate Problems; 3. Major Problems * Expected Benefits 1 - - 1 - - I I I I Rate of Return 1 - - - I I 1 I Institution Building I - 2 1- I 1 - 270 - Table 20 Page 1 INDIA: CREDIT 862-IN PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT ALL COMPONENTS Inter-State Activities of DAE, 1979 to 1985 Foreign Teams/Delegations received by OAE 1985 No. of Foreign Study Total No. of Team/Delegations Members/Delegates 1979-80 4 38 1980-81 15 98 1981-82 5 30 1982-83 * 10 69 1983-84 1 24 1984-85 2 17 Review visits by DAE officers to the States of Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka 1980-81 Karnataka - 2 Gujarat - 3 Haryana - 4 1981-82 Karnataka - 2 Gujarat - 2 Haryana - 5 1982-83' Haryana - 10 Karnataka - 2 Gujarat - 4 1983-84 Haryana - 10 Gujarat - 5 Karnataka - 3 1984-85 Haryana - 2 Gujarat - 1 Karnataka - 4 -271 - Table 20 Page 2 Inter-State Activities of DAE. 1979 to 1985 Consultancy programme of exchange between T&V States No. of Consultants 1979-80 8 1980-81 21 1981-82 10 1982-83 16 1983-84 20 1984-85 55 No. of Workshops/Seminars organised by DAE Training Workshop T&V Seminar 1980-81 1 2 1981-82 1 2 1982-83 1 3 1983-84 2 3 1984-85 2 2 Total Follow up of M&E Reports by DAE Reports Received Reports followed-up Assam 11 4 A.P. 1 1 Bihar 4 2 Haryana 31 10 Gujarat 15 7 Karnataka 16 7 Kerala 12 4 M.P. 9 4 Maharashtra 6 5 Rajasthan 11 6 Tamil Nadu 11 5 West Bengal 3 2 INDIA: CREDIT 728-IN COMPOSITE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECT PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Project Cost: Comparative Analysis Appraisal Estimate, excl. contingencies Actual Expenditure, incl. Contingencies Actual Credit Dir. of Dec. 1984 Dir. of Disbursement Gujarat Malana Karnataka Extension Total US$M Gujarat /b Haryana Karnataka Extension Total 31.1.85 -------------------------(Rs. 000)----------------------- --------------------(Rs. 000) -------------------- - (US$R)-- Incremental Staff 36,914 37,720 60,421 1,932 136.987 15.9 n.a. 98.195 378.290 U.a. n.a. 12.64 Civil Works 18,249 18.272 38,562 - 75,083 8.7 n.S. 28.469 48.711 n.a. n.e. 8.64 Equipment 2.972 2.010 5,598 780 11.360 1.3 n.a. ) n.a. U.a. Vehicles 10.000 7.025 13.057 190 30.272 3.5 n.a. ) 5.611 /c 16.86> n.e. n.a. 3.93 Training 4.347 3.983 19 364 - 27.694 3.2 n.a. nil nil n.e. U.a. 0.17 Incremental Oper- ating Costs 31.011 22.424 26.205 8.554 /a 88.194 10.3 n.a. 29.541 niL */ n.e. n.S. nii /s Monitoring and Evaluation 2,260 3.487 4.636 - 10,383 1.2 n.a. nil */ nii */ n.a. n.a. nii 1/ Total before Contingencies 105.753 94.921 167.843 11.456 379.973 44.1 Contingencies Included under above expenditures Physical 2.718 2.403 5.216 509 10.846 1.3 ) Price 18,035 16,205 32,743 2.087 69070 8.0 ) Subtotal 20.753 18.608 37.959 2.596 79,916 9.3 Total Project 126,506 113.529 205,802 14,052 459.889 167.392 1640073 443.866 3.417 77.748 USS "*/ 14.7 13.2 23.9 1.6 53.4 53.4 16.5 16.4 44.3 .LU 77.5 25.0 Total Project Credit 25.0 Total Disbursement 25.0 Balance Undiabursed - a/ Foreign and local consultant services (US$100.000) and training (US$625.000) are included in operating costs tor DAE. b/ These data not available to mission? to be inserted after closure of credit. El Excludes Re. 2.25 million for motorcycle loans. */ Expenditure on these items is included under incremental staff. '*/ Appraisal Report (1978) Rs. 8.60 per US$: 1978 to 1985 assumed average rate of Re. 10 per US$. Siml Chandigarh A -e PAKISTAN HA RYØ DEfH CREDIT 728 iN NEW DELHI CREDIT 862 IN' UTTAR 'HUTAN R A i A 5 T I 4 N PRADESH Lk 1 ASSAM Patna MAGALAYA P I H A R BANGLADESH Bhopal G Gndhinagar " . M A 0 H Y A BENGAL Calcutta P R A D E S CREDIT 712 - IN 20--------- Bhubaneshwar 20° CREDIT 862 - N M A H A R A S H T R A Bombay,6- CREDIT 682 - IN Hvderabod ANDHRA Pana PRADESH GOA' INDIA AUDIT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PROJECTS CREDITS 682 - IN; 712 - IN; 728 - IN; 862 - IN; [¯ ] Projc Distrct ore State Capas Nationa capital '~r a o - District and/or Project Soundaries State Boundarie Internnal Soudaes 1.N 10 Due to =©akibroi° f"s pro~c dlstri~s in Anam could not be ineided n the iøap. o200 300 KE____R__A_____A T rvd 260 3 0 K SRI LANKA kli 00 ~ ~ F C ~ ? 0~~~ o