Improving the project identification process in agricultural development
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230080103 |
| Author | Peter Smith |
| Published date | 01 January 1988 |
| Date | 01 January 1988 |
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT,
Vol.
8,
15-26
(1988)
Improving the project identification process in
agricultural development
PETER SMITH
University
of
Manchester
SUMMARY
Many development initiatives fail because
of
the way the basic concepts of development
relating to the stimulation of agricultural production are generated. The problem with the
conventional approach to project identification is that it fails to take into account key
decision-makers (local farmers and other interested groups) and to address the problem of
rationality. The accurate identification of farmers’ constraints is crucial to the design of
projects
if
these are to have the desired results. Problems resulting from the current
approach to project identification are illustrated by the group farming projects
in
Uganda,
and tubewell projects in Bangladesh. The activities
of
the typical project cycle are unfavour-
ably compared with
a
decision paradigm, and are related to professional bias, semantic
confusion and ‘groupthink’. Nine workable prescriptions are offered.
INTRODUCTION
This paper is concerned with the means by which the basic concepts
of
develop-
ment initiatives are currently generated, and with possible improvements to those
processes. It is the author’s contention that many development initiatives fail
because the initial conception addresses the wrong problem. The discussion is
restricted to iniatives whose object is stimulating agricultural production.
The expression project identification (P.I/D) is used, despite the fact that
‘project’ is, in some circles, a dirty word; this is because it is often defined in terms
of schemes with definite geographical boundaries within which intensive efforts
are made, a description that includes many notorious failures. However, this
definition of project cuts across a whole family of undertakings which have one
important managerial feature in common: they are one-offs; that is, undertakings
so
new
and distinct that previous experience is no guide to their detailed organis-
ation and management, e.g. in the arrangement and sequencing of jobs. In this
paper, ‘project’ means a one-off undertaking, whether it is an intensive localized
irrigation scheme,
a
national programme
of
upgrading dispensaries,
or
the reorgan-
Dr Smith lecturcs
in
the Institute
for
Development Policy and Management. University
of
Manchester,
Precinct Centre,
Oxford
Road, Manchester, M13
90s.
0271-2075/88/010015-12$06.00
0
1988
by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
To continue reading
Request your trial