Swaziland: Rural Development Project

1 AFRICAN Development BANK GROUP swaziland Rural Development AREAS Project Project Performance Evaluation Report (PPER) OPERATIONS EVALUATION DEPARTMENT (OPEV) 15 February 1989 ,,&TTABLE OF CONTEN SpagePREFACE .., iPROJECT BttSIC DATA ,ABBR''IATIONS , iiiHIGHLTGHTS JV .7, Project PERFORI4 NICE AUDTT T{EI OR,JIDUTf ..'..TNTRODUCTTON .. Project Bachground .. Objectives and Project Desctiption .. Project Exeeution .. '4,..J/OR PttvDrilGs .. lrnple nta ion Petformance .. Operational Petformance " "" fnstitutional Perfor:mance Economic Re-evaluatjon .. t . 9 CONCWSTONS ,oTD RECOT T ENDATION .. Conclusions Zessons Resonmendations .. PolicA fssues and 74 Project COIQL IION REPfIRT (Attaehr n tePott llans Aeppll'Janvarg' bV gricultural?)}

2 He reportlf T Futa, Principal gricuttural Economist andConsul ant, after their mlssion to Swazi-Zand in as been revised bg the Opetations Evaluation**-i-PREFACEThis report is the tenth of a .serie^s of post evaTvaLion studjes inagricuTturaT sector in generaT and the third for Rural deveTopment ptojec s inparticuTat. Lihe othet ptevious reports, it ajms at assessing theachievements of the projec| in ordet to draw lessons for the improvement offuture Bank Group operations in the agticultutal swaziland Rural DeveTopment Project which is the subject of thisstudy was fjnan ced jointTg' with the WorTd Bank, the Eutopean devel opment Fund,IISAID and Governnen oE SwaziTand sjnce 7977. The Executing Agencr the linistrg of AgricuTture and.

3 Coopera ives which established the RuralDevelopment reas l4anagement Unit to foL7ow Lhe implementation of the projec ,the Project started in L978 and was declared. cornpTeted in 7983. TheGovernment of swaziland . and cofinanciers commjssioned a study in 7983 bgHunting TechnicaT Services l d. to review the ptoject. At the ettd of 7983' lre Banh sent, a projeet : completion nission to , ,s,s the of the Project . Thus, this report is ased on data assem Iedby the pos evaluation and inlormation contained in llun ing a4d ProjectCompLetion RePor .;.The Project Completion Reposg (PCR) was. prepared jn 7984 and it isqu te comprehensive s couerage. Howeve , the Ptoject Performance Auditllemorandvm has emphasized certain aspects such as marketing and institutionalproblems.

4 Another point not touched upon by PCR but which dtew the attent-ionof the post-evaTua ion rnjssjon the probTem of adapting the agticulturalresearch Lo the needs of farmets,The dra t report, wa^s sent to the Bortower fot ':onmentts in Januarglgg1. The Borrowet's Tetter enbodging the eorurents is attached as nnex of the comrnents have been incotporated in the tepott; others have beehnotedTITLEBORROWEREXECUTTNG BA,STC DATASwaz i 7and. DeveTopmentThe Kingdom of SwaziTandThe 4inistry of AgricuTtureProjectand D 'TATetnsProject CCCCCos s (BUA nilTion)Loan amountfn eres rateRepayment periodGrace periodDisbursement (BUA mi77ion)DATE OF ,IT ACTIVITTESI tregotia ionBoard aprprovalSignature of Toan agreementLoan effec ivenessFirst disbursementLas di,s ursementCompletion wothConpletion reportilrssrolrs ppraisalLaunchingSupervisi on and fol7ow-uPPost-Evahua ionAt the Tineof ppraisaf74 , years6 , 797737/ 72/7837/72/8337/ 12/83 DATESOcLober 7976 December 797778-73 I4a9 798730 Oct.

5 - 70 April, 798275 Jan to 6 Feb,, , 7977 August, 7977 November,7977 January, 797822/ 72/7827 /O3/847983ltag 7984t4Mt WEEKS5 , Third sugar mi772. I{gavurna irrigation studgLoan amountBUA millionBUA miTTionADBADFccuCRDBcsoCTAEEDFFAOGOSTBRD TDATFAPLDSLULUPSl(ax RDAi{d RD I4in RDAMOACRDARDAN'RDAPSDSBsltLAKUK RDAASAIDrLLL-AtsBRgr/TATTONSA frican DeveTopment BankAfrican Development Flo,ndCentral Cooperative UnionCentral Rural DeveToPaent BoatdCentraT Stat sticaT Off iceCentraL TransPort Author ityEmaTangeniEuropean DeveToPment FundFood and Agriculture OtganizationGovernment of SwaziTandInterna:ionaT Bank for Recons ruc jon and DeveTopnentIntetnational DeveTopnent ssocia jonInternationaT Fund for AgticuTtural DevelopmentLand DeveTopment SectionLivestock llnitLand Use Planning Sectionittaxirnum Input RDAMult donor Financed RD I4inimum fnput RDAI4inistrg of Agticulture and CoopetaLivesRura-I Development DeveTopment Atea Management UnitRural DeveToPment reas ProgtamswaziTand DeveTopment arrd Savings EankSwazi llation LandUnited KingdomIIK-finaneed RDAllnited S ates Agency fot Intetnational DeveTopmentHIGHLTGHTSThe swaziland Rural DeveTopnent Project whjch is the subject of thisrevjew has een compTeted in 1983.)}}

6 Fts impTementation was,'sa jsfactoriTycarried out although ,some of the components have been partially execu ed(rura| water supplg and roads) and others canceTTed (tetracing).In erms of jts opera{,ional performance, the proiect brought a outsorne changes in gield, bvt not high enough to generate positive resul s. fherate of Iand use was beTow the expected tatgets jn such a way that gains ingieTds uere uPset, Dy losses in Tand euTtjvation'One of the reasons of reduction in land cul ivation reld es to therural exodusi many peoPie find it more profitable to go to worh in the Sou h frjcan mjnes than to settTe on the farm. Such a Dehaviour js afso explainedby the perception by fatmers that priees paid fot theit ptoduce ate not highenough to give t en sufficient this negative resul in agricuTtural production, the Project as estabTished adequate ruraT in rastructute and has been successful inptomoting modern agticultural practices, that it strengthened and supported bggood credit and ptice poTicies would Eenetate posi ive results' Viewed inthis context, the third phase which is now und'er pteparation by FAO is goodopportunitg to readjust the !}

7 NEtsQDU ?he SwaziTand Rural DeveTopment Project -II (SRDP-II) wa,s acontinutat:ion of the SwaziTand Development reas Ptogtanme (RD P) whiehwas jnjtiated since 7964. The programme mainlg concenttated jn buiTdingrural (darns, roads, and water supplies) , This first' piLotprogranme did not result in a signicant, Lmpact. After SwaziTand'sindependence, a new RDA progranne .was .launched in and lt concenttatedmainly on 4 areas tetmed as rnaxjmun inpu area, The concept of rnaxinrurir Input area that the Project wouldprovide not only extension facjlities but other possi Ie jnfras ructures suchas water supplg, irrigation schernes, fencing, ttactor pool..tervices, and the7ike. fn minimum input area,s, apart from buiTdings (office and input sheds),the Project wouTd onTy concentrate on the extensjon The participation of ADB in the cofinancing of the RDAP-ff was not aresult of ADB's own identifieation and preparation effort.

8 The appraisa-Imission $' .r organized with IBRD in l/ovem er 7976, just after tative meeting of donors held in ltbabane . There was some confusjon asto which .sourse of funds could be used to finance the Project . fn fact' a the ime of appraisal it was thought that the SRDP-II would be financed withlligeria Trust Fund ^s, bvt Tater on the Bank llanagement, af tetconsuJ tation with Swazi government decided to finance the Project with ADBre^ and proj ct descrip The Project aimed at increasing agricul ural production in the RD sand a improving the Tiving standards of the poor. The increase inproduction and. incomes were ,o be achieved through the adoption of noderninput package and the buiTding of effectiwe agricuTtural suPport The Project approach jn achieving these o jective,s not he sanefor a77 he areas.

9 Out o ten seTected for the Project , two wete est Iished ss maxjmum inpu afeas . The eight other were recognized mininruminpu benef tting only from extension services, Loohing across a77 theRD , the of the projec werei 1) Extension services andinfras ructute, 2) gricul ural inputs, 3) Agricultural credit, 4) ccess andleeder roads, 5) CenttaT management, 6) Technical services and ttaining' 7),Land deveTopment and sojf conservation, 8) Livestock Development and 9) The total cost of the Project was es ima|ed at E rnillion. TheADB contribution was fixed at E miTTion and it pachaged for thefinancing of buiTding and civiT works, Rural roads, Tivestock deveTopment,social services and There no def inite impleaentatjon However.

10 F tominformation contained in the annexes o the appraisal report, the Project hadto be implemented over tive period starting Jn 7978. The executingagency was the of Agricuf ture and From the disbursernen schedule which is Tinked to th,e , the projec was supposed to start up s7ow7g and hen ptoceedat a higher pace in 7979 and FTNDINGSI np 7 ement at i on P e r f otmaneer)LZ)IIT ., cornparison of actual and planned expenditure amuch sloweer st,art of the projeet than anticipated in the Appraisal Repor , (see nnex I). Compared with the targets, the Project absorbed, a ter a period o 3years, fes;s t,han a third of the envjsaged amount. The pace of implenentationimproved from the tourth year onwards and made up for the delays encountetedduring the fitst three ,3 There are three major rea^ which explain.