REPUBLIC OF INDIA CONVERGENCE OF AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTIONS IN MAHARASHTRA S DISTRESSED DISTRICTS PROGRAMME (CAIM) SUPERVISION REPORT

Transcription

1 (CAIM) The International Fund for Agricultural Development REPUBLIC OF INDIA CONVERGENCE OF AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTIONS IN MAHARASHTRA S DISTRESSED DISTRICTS PROGRAMME (CAIM) SUPERVISION REPORT Asia and the Pacific Division Programme Management Department REPORT No 2699IN June

2 Table of Contents Currency equivalents Weights & Measures Abbreviations Map of Maharashtra showing the programme areas iii iii iii v A A. Introduction 1 B B. Overall Assessment of Project Implementation Progress 1 C C. Outputs and Outcomes by Components 2 D D. Project Implementation Performance 8 E. Fiduciary Aspects 12 F. Sustainability 15 G G. Impact 15 H H. Conclusion 16 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Summary of Project Status and Ratings Appendix 2: Progress against previous mission recommendations Appendix 3: Financial: Actual financial performance by financier; Disbursement by category and by component Appendix 4: Compliance with financing agreement covenants: status of implementation Appendix 5: Physical progress measured against AWPB Appendix 6: RIMS table Appendix 7: Learning and Innovation Appendix 8: Audit Log Appendix 9: Supervision mission schedule and persons met Appendix 10: Summary of implementation support provided by IFAD

3 Currency Equivalents Currency Unit = Indian Rupee (INR) USD 1.00 = INR 55 INR 1.00 = USD Weights and Measures 1 kilogram (kg) = pounds (lb) 1000 kg = 1 metric tonne (t) 1 quintal = 100 kg 1 kilometre (km) = 0.62 miles (mi) 1 metre (m) = 1.09 yards (yd) 1 square metre (m 2 ) = square feet (ft 2 ) 1 acre (ac) = ha 1 hectare (ha) = 2.47 acres 1 Lakh = 100,000 FISCAL YEAR 1st April 31st March Abbreviations AFPRO ATMA AWPB BPL CAIM CMRC DPCC DPMT DPR FMRM GoI GoM GPs IA ICO IFAD JLG JRM KM LEISA LPA Action for Food Production Agriculture Technology Management Agency Annual Work Plan and Budget Below Poverty Line Convergence of Agricultural Interventions in Maharashtra CommunityManaged Resource Centre District Programme Coordination Committee District Programme Management Team Detail Project Report First Main Review Mission Government of India Government of Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Implementing Agency IFAD Country Office India International Fund for Agricultural Development Joint Liability Group Joint Review Mission Knowledge Management Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture Lead Programme Agency 3

4 M&E MAVIM MFI MIS MSAMB NGO PIM PPR PRA PSC PSU SBI SC/ST SDR SHG SME SPSC RNGO SRTT USD VDC VLC Monitoring & Evaluation Maharashtra Women s Economic Development Corporation. Microfinance Institution Management Information System Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board NonGovernmental Organization Programme Implementation Manual Programme Management Unit Preliminary Project Report Participatory Rural Appraisal Programme Steering Committee Programme Support Unit Sukhi Baliraja Initiatives of SRTT Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Special Drawing Rights Self Help Groups Small and Medium Enterprises State Programme Steering Committee Resource NGO Sir Ratan Tata Trust US Dollars Village Development Committee Village Level Committee 4

5 Map of Maharshtra showing Project Areas 5

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7 Republic of India CONVERGENCE OF AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTIONS IN MAHARASHTRA S DISTRESSED DISTRICTS PROGRAMME (CAIM) IFAD Loan 779IN, IFAD Grant 1106IN SUPERVISION REPORT A. Introduction 1. CAIM is financed by an IFAD Loan of SDR million (USD 40.1 million) and an IFAD Grant of SDR 670,000 (USD 1.0 million). The Programme Financing Agreement was signed on 30 th September The IFAD Loan & Grant became effective on 4 th December 2009, with the programme completion date being 31 st December The programme is cofinanced by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT) for a grant amount of INR million (USD 16.0 million). The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the SRTT and the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB) on 8 th October Government of Maharashtra (GoM) is expected to contribute by way of counterpart and parallel financing for an aggregate amount of about USD 37.6 million. MSAMB is the Lead Programme Agency. 2. The overall goal of the programme is develop resilient, sustainable and diversified households, onfarm and offfarm livelihoods, allowing households to face climatic and market risks without falling back into poverty and distress. The programme area includes six distressed districts in Vidarbha region, namely Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, Washim and Yavatmal, covering at least 1,200 villages. 3. The second Joint Review Mission (JRM) visited the programme between 22 nd April and 5 th May 2012 (the first main review mission took place in April 2011). The objective of the Mission 1 was to review progress of the programme and agree with the programme on any changes and adjustments to be recommended for consideration by GoM and by IFAD. The JRM team was first briefed on the progress made by the Programme Management Unit () and later visited all the programme districts where discussions were held with the respective DPMTs, District Collectors, line departments, financial institutions, private sector partners as well as NGO Implementing Agencies. The Mission also met community leaders, farmer groups and SHGs, CMRCs in the visited areas. The mission programme is in Appendix The findings and recommendations of the Mission were discussed at a wrap up meeting held in Mumbai on 3 rd May 2012 chaired by Dr. S.K. Goel, Principal Secretary of the Departments of Agriculture, Marketing & Cooperation. The recommendations had been previously discussed and agreed with the of CAIM. B. Overall Assessment of Programme Implementation Progress 5. Overall progress is rated as moderately satisfactory (=4). The programme is to be implemented in 64 village clusters covering a total of villages and 286,800 households. Most activities will be implemented via contracted Implementing Agencies (IA) mostly NGOs. Additional support for SHGs in the selected villages will be provided via 64 SHG Community Managed Resource Centres (CMRC) supported by MAVIM and Resource NGOs. A cattle breed improvement programme is to be implemented by BAIFMITRA (RNGO). There were significant 1 Mr. Edward Mallorie, Consultant (Mission Leader, Programme Management and Institutional Capacity Development), Mr Shreekantha Shetty, Consultant (Livelihoods & Microfinance), Mr Kajol Chakraborty, Consultant (Financial Management & Procurement), and Ms Meera Mishra, IFAD India Country Coordinator (Partnership and Convergence). The mission benefited from inputs from Mr. Uday Rathod, Project Director, Mr. Ravindra Thakare, Additional Project Director CAIM, Mr. Amitanshu Chaudhary Programme CoordinatorAgriculture, SRTT, and Ms Chhaya Singh, Programme CoordinatorMicroFinance, SRTT and Ms Kusum Balsaraf, General Manager Programmes of MAVIM. The mission was accompanied in the field by the following CAIM staff: Ms Sangita Shete, Gender Expert, Mr Sanjiv Kulgod, State Liaison Officer, Mr. Satish Warade, Convergence Officer and Mr. Kapil Bendre, Agribusiness Expert. 2 The original target of working in 1200 villages was increased to 1619 in order to reach the project target of 286,800 households. 7

8 delays in programme startup and as of April 2012 field implementation was underway in 7 out the 64 clusters 3. A total of 118 organisations have been shortlisted for selection as IAs, but the process from inviting a short listed agency to submit a technical and financial bid to final approval of its work plan (Detailed Project Report) takes about 12 months. The table below shows that, if all goes according to plan, work should start in 46 more clusters during the last quarter of FY with the final 11 clusters starting in the second quarter of FY Sr. No Status of process in appointment of IAs Particulars Expected District Total start date Amravati Akola Buldhana Yavatmal Washim Wardha Implementing since May 2011 May Implementing since March 2012 March DPR validation being June 2012 conducted by Work order issued for July 2012 Preparation of DPR on Technical bid September evaluation approved by IFAD (2 nd phase) Technical bid September evaluation approved by IFAD (3 rd phase) Technical bid November evaluation being 2012 conducted by DPMT (4 th phase) Advertise to submit June 2013 bid documents to shortlisted IAs (5 th phase) Total In (financial year ending 31 March 2012) total expenditure of the programme was INR million, this being 54% of the INR million planned in the AWPB for the year. Cumulatively, after just over two years of implementation, total expenditure is INR million, 2.2% of the total estimated programme cost of INR million. C. Outputs and Outcomes by Component Component 1: Institutional Capacity Building & Partnerships (a) Partnerships building 7. Progress of this subcomponent is rated as moderately unsatisfactory (=3). Planned outputs of this subcomponent include: publicity campaigns, partnership building events and training, commodity profiles, planning of subprojects, and organisation and capacity building of grassroots organisations: VDCs, CMRCs, producer companies, SHGs, joint liability groups (JLG) and producer groups (PG). VDCs are the key institution for village level planning and coordination and to date 72 out of a planned 1619 have been formed (all in FY ). Seven commodity profiles (cotton, milk, orange, soybean, red gram, chillies and briquettes from cotton stalks) were prepared in FY As pointed out by the First Main Review Mission (FMR), these profiles do not provide adequate information to develop actionable projects. The is in the process of procuring experts to conduct studies of key subsectors (as per FMR recommendation). Four districtlevel publicity events were conducted in and another three in Examination of the approved DPRs drawn up by IAs show very little variation in the proposed interventions. This is not surprising as in all clusters IAs are being asked to do the same tasks for programme implementation with the activities as listed in the programme design document 4. With hindsight the process could have been significantly simplified and accelerated. Shortcomings in the process of recruiting the IAs, preparation of DPRs, contracts with IAs along with recommendations for improvements are in Annex B. 3 Field implementation started in 5 clusters started in May 2011 and in another 2 clusters in March

9 Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date Take all possible steps to accelerate selection of IAs and early startup of cluster activities. (See Final Report) September 2012 Amend the DPRs and contracts with IAs to make them more transparent (see Annex B Sections IV and V) September 2012 Commission an agency or individual experts to conduct subsector studies for selected commodity sectors relevant to the Programme districts. June 2012 (b) SHG and CMRC development 9. Progress of this subcomponent is rated as moderately unsatisfactory (=3). The programme had planned to: (i) mobilize and strengthen 9000 SHGs and establish 64 CMRCs; (ii) undertake financial literacy training and counselling of about 158,400 households; (iii) initiating pilots on debt swapping, mutual crop insurance, and mutual health insurance; and (iv) initiating pilots for graduation of ultra poor as regular microfinance clients. CAIM will finance 48 CMRCs in 48 clusters and SRTT will finance 16 CMRCs in 16 clusters, with SRTT providing technical support in all 64 clusters. CAIM has signed partnership agreement with MAVIM (32 CMRcs), DHAN Foundation (8 CMRCs) and NIWCD (8 CMRCs). The process of engaging DHAN Foundation (8 CMRCs), Chaitanya (7 CMRCs) and Swayam Siksha Prayog (1 CMRC) by SRTT is in its final stages and is expected to be completed by June MAVIM has already prepared an AWPB for activities in 32 clusters, which has been integrated into the AWPB of CAIM, and an initial payment of INR 342,000 has been released. The activities planned include baseline, scope mapping for new SHG mobilization, strengthening of existing SHGs, support to ultrapoor and seed money support to CMRCs. In respect of Dhan Foundation and NIWCD, funds have been released for preparation of DPRs and work is in progress. CMRCs of MAVIM are at an advanced stage of development and it is not necessary to have a plan for six years of support to these CMRCs. It is possible that MAVIM SHGs and CMRCs can be fasttracked to implement income generating activities including microenterprise and SME development. CAIM will be able to use CMRCs directly as implementing agencies to implement tasks related to nutrition security, health, education, identification and counselling of distress farmers, drudgery reduction and other related activities. At the cluster level there is a need to workout a collaborative arrangement between IAs and SHG/CMRC Promoting Agencies and also between CMRCs and VDCs. 11. The SHG/CMRC Promoting Agencies are in process of collecting baseline information for the clusters. Standardized formats for reporting baseline information have not been provided. This is essential for consolidation of data at the district and programme level. The most important baseline information includes: (i) no. of existing active SHGs and members; (ii) no. of inactive SHGs and member; (iii) no. of SHGs with outstanding loans; (iv) ontime recovery rate of bank loans of SHGs; (v) ontime recovery rate of the internal loan portfolio; (v) no. of Kisan Credit Card holders; (vi) potential for new issuance of Kisan Credit Cards; (vii) No. of JLGs and members; (viii) ontime recovery rate of JLGs; (viii) No. of individual loan account holders; (ix) no. of bank loan defaulters; (x) sources of credit; (xi) quantum of loan from informal sector/money lenders; and (xii) rate of interest on loans in the informal sector. 12. MAVIM has proposed providing INR 200,000 as seed money support to each of 11 CMRCs. Release of these funds will have to be based on appraisal of plans of these CMRCs for utilization of the seed money. Thereafter, the programme will have to directly release funds to CMRCs as per the release request of MAVIM. It is necessary that the programme design pilots related to debt swapping, mutual crop insurance and mutual health insurance for implementation by CMRCs as envisaged in the programme design. 13. NRLM will be rolled out in 10 districts during the first phase. Two districts of CAIM overlap with NRLM first phase districts. NRLM has selected three CAIM blocks for implementation in There is a need for discussion with NRLM at both state and district level to ensure that there is no duplication of efforts. Details of steps to be taken are in Annex B, Section I. 4 The project appraisal report did not envisage that one IA would implement all activities in one cluster. Although the appraisal report is not at all clear, it seems that IAs would specialise on a particular intervention or subsector across a number of clusters. However it is by no means certain that this would have been a better approach than the areabased approach adopted by the project. 9

10 Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date Request MAVIM to fast track its activities and complete its implementation in 34 May 2012 years. Introduce a system of engaging CMRCs to address issues related to empowerment, health, nutrition, education, drudgery, etc., and also the issues that emerge during September 2012 the course of implementation Work out a cluster level working arrangement between IA, SHG/CMRC Promoting June 2012 Agency, CMRC and VDC in the form of an agreement specifying roles and responsibilities of each partner. Provide standardized formats for reporting baseline information by the SHG/CMRC May 2012 Promoting Agency. Prepare a procedure to release seed capital to the CMRCs with eligibility criteria to July 2012 receive seed capital, utilization plan and fund flow arrangements Prepare concept notes on implementation of pilots proposed in the programme and October 2012 hold discussion with SHG/CMRC Promoting Agency to work out feasibility and operational modalities of implementing these interventions. Initiate steps to ensure collaboration with NRLM Details in Annex B, Section I Sept 2012 Component 2: Marketing Linkages & Sustainable Agriculture (a) Market Linkage and Value Chains 14. Progress of this subcomponent is rated as moderately unsatisfactory (=3). The programme intends to: (i) promote and strengthen Producer Groups/Farmer Groups to participate in market place through capacity building and provision of market information; (ii) farming to meet demand of the market through contract farming; and (iii) support producermarket alliances. The DPMT of Amarvathi district has worked out a tripartite agreement with a private milk dairy to facilitate JLGs to receive loan from Central Bank of India (details in Appendix 7). It has also worked out an arrangement with local Industrial Technical Institute to train select tribal households in incense stock making, link with banks for getting loans for purchase of equipment and with guaranteed buyback of production. These activities are yet to start in other districts. 15. The DPRs prepared by most of the IAs do not have detailed operational plans for implementing market linkage activities. This possibly is due to lack of capacity in IAs to implement these activities. CAIM has prepared a concept note and procedures for engaging specialized agencies for the Better Cotton Initiative but this has not yet been implemented 5. There are several opportunities for the programme to engage specialized agencies for implementing market linkage related activities. These include: (i) contract farming and marketing based opportunities in respect of value chains that will be identified in the subsector studies; (ii) upscaling on existing marketing networks such as milk dairies; and (ii) dissemination of market information and package of practices through ICT models. Specialized agencies will have to be recruited for each subsector using Quality Based selection procedures. Market linkage based activities require economies of scale and hence it is not possible to design contract farming and market linkage activities by focusing only on the primary target group of the programme. It is necessary to involve medium and large farmers. Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date Where IAs lack capacity to implement market linkages, engage with specialised July 2012 agencies and transfer the budget for tasks related to marketing from the IA contract to these agencies. Engage specialized agencies for contract farming / market linkage and dissemination October 2012 of market information. Guidelines for this are in Annex B, Section III. This could either be funded via the PPP Enterprises budget line under ProPoor Market Linkages or under Unspecified Activities under Sustainable Agriculture. Involve medium and large farmers in farmer group/producer group formation to July 2012 implement activities related to contract farming/market linkage related activities Engage agencies for supporting households to address value chain constraints and upscaling value chain opportunities identified during the subsector study. October 2012 (b) Insitu Soil and Water Conservation (SWC): 16. Progress of the sustainable agriculture and farming systems subcomponent is rated as moderately unsatisfactory (=3). To date programme has issued guidelines for establishing VDCs, and IAs have mobilized 72 VDCs in five clusters. VDCs will be registered under Bombay Gram Panchayat Act (1958). At present VDC members are expected to participate in the preparation of Village Development Plan (VDP) by the IA, monitor the progress in implementation of the VDP and 5 EcoFarms, an organic agribusiness company, has provided training to farmers in one cluster and could buy cotton once farmers qualify as organic producers. The project is in contact with other private sector cotton seed suppliers and marketing companies, both organic and nonorganic. 10

11 take necessary steps to ensure maintenance of the assets created. It is envisaged that VDCs will take up these activities through capacity building efforts of the IAs. The programme design envisages a limited role for VDCs in design, implementation and supervision of the activities and maintenances of investments made. In order to enhance sustainability of the interventions, it is necessary that VDCs are vested with administrative and financial responsibilities for implementation of insitu SWC works and maintenance of assets created. A VDC promoted in Talegaon village of Akola district collects INR 50 per month from each member. This amount will be used to cover expenditure related to follow up of MGNREGS works and other proposals submitted to the departments concerned and also to cover expenditure related to VDC meeting. Field observations on the progress of SWC are in Annex A. 17. The programme had planned to cover 403,200 ha covering 64 clusters and 1200 villages. This works out to 6300 ha per cluster. The DPRs submitted by five IAs indicate wide variation in quantum of SWC works planned for example 565 ha, 2448 ha, and 4000 ha. There is no uniformity in the units used to plan SWC in the DPRs some use hectares, other use cubic metres of soil moved, while others use villages so it is difficult to determine how much they will propose and whether it will be within the GoI cost ceiling of INR 6,720 per ha. It also does not provide a common platform for monitoring how much work has been done by each IA. However, these DPRs to seem to suggest that the area for SWC treatment will be significantly less than the average of 6,300 ha per cluster proposed in the programme design. If the cost of such works is increased from the INR 4,500 per ha used at appraisal the new ceiling of INR 6,720/ha, then the programme allocation for this activity, including contingencies, of INR 1,814.4 million, will only cover 270,000 ha, or an average of 4,219 ha per cluster. Although reduced, this could still exceed the actual requirement in programme villages. As SWC amounts to 31% of total programme costs, a shortfall in expenditure in this area could have implications for the achievement of programme financial as well as physical targets. 18. The DPRs also propose to finance SWC works largely through MGNREGS with about 20% of the total costs funded by IFAD However there is no way of apportioning costs in such a way. If MGNREGS funds are to be used, then the costs need to be 100% MGNREGS funded. The appraisal report says that 25% of total SWC costs would be funded by IFAD, 5% by beneficiaries and the balance by the government. If work continues to be all funded by MGNREGA, then CAIM/IFAD funds will not be spent although with the scale of SWC envisaged in the programme design, even MGNREGS resources may become stretched. 19. Insitu SWC works organised through IAs are progressing satisfactorily, although need scaling up to reach village level DPR targets. This is in contrast with similar MGNREGS works in nonprogramme areas where progress is very slow. The main reasons for slow progress include: (i) nonavailability of labour for digging farm ponds as it requires hard manual labour; (ii) restricted use of machinery; (iii) lengthy procedures to get administrative and technical sanctions; (iv) need for constant follow up for obtaining sanctions and fund release requiring substantial time and effort of the beneficiaries; and (v) delays in getting payment for completed work and resultant disinterest of labourers. IAs have been successful in overcoming some of these problems through organising VDCs and having staff on the ground to plan and supervise work, organise payment etc. However, some IAs seem more successful than others. IAs also indicated local shortages of labour for MGNREGS works as more attractive alternate work is available. Most IAs have not yet tried to construct farm ponds. These issues are likely to become more serious once implementation is scaled up in the existing 7 clusters and starts in the other 57clusters. 20. Given these constraints, IAs could use machinery to supplement labourintensive methods. This would mean funding through convergence with programmes such as RKVY (which allow use of machinery) and use of CAIM funds 6, Gaps will also appear in the funding requirements of the VDCs for insitu water harvesting structures including: (i) the repair and maintenance of village tanks and existing SWC structures; (ii) establishing vegetation cover on bunds; and (iii) purchase of irrigation equipments. These could be funded via CAIM using IFAD funds. 21. This apart, VDC capacity will have to be built to take up works under various convergence programmes and also to maintain the SWC works. This cannot be achieved by training alone. VDCs will have to be empowered to participate in design and detailed estimate preparation and follow up on sanctions for SWC works. There is also a need for financial allocation to VDCs under the supervision of IAs to fill in gaps in funding for SWC works. In addition, the procedures of MGNREGS will have to be streamlined to facilitate reduction of the work of government and 6 SRTT has plans to finance 1800 farm ponds in 32 clusters (work has started on 400). Under this arrangement IAs will be allowed use machinery where required. 11

12 panchayat officials. This programme plans to make substantial investment in insitu water harvesting works but the programme design has not included any activity to monitor the impact of these interventions on groundwater availability. This needs to be addressed. Recommendations for the role of VDCs in SWC are in Annex B, Section II. Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date Introduce uniformity in reporting of outputs and work out revised target for SWC July 2012 works based on information provided in the DPRs of all 64 clusters. Allocate INR 50,000 per VDC per year during the first two years to bridge any gap in funding for SWC. A government order allowing flow of funds to VDCs is necessary September 2012 Prepare an integrated plan for SWC works with separate activities under August 2012 MGNREGS, other convergence programmes, and CAIM IAs should employ Agriculture Engineers to prepare design and detailed estimates for SWC works. IA contracts may need amending to cover the cost of these staff if and IAs September 2012 they are not already in the IA team. Issue a government order authorising trained Watershed Volunteers to maintain measurement book and muster roll. September 2012 Engage an experienced hydrologist to advise CAIM on the methodology to assess impact of SWC works in programme clusters on groundwater availability taking into account the possibility of using remote sensing data to make such assessment (c) Sustainable Agriculture September The programme design focused on organic and LEISA related activities but, as stated in the appraisal report, activities will be demand driven, responding to the technological options demanded by the farmers. In two of the clusters visited by the mission, the IA has started organic farming related activities. However, there is inadequate attention to organic produce certification and linkages to marketing at premium prices. It is necessary, as recommended by the FMR, to start organic cultivation of produce in areas where marketing system for such produce already exists. The FMR also suggested diversification into vegetable cultivation. This activity can be promoted through producer groups in areas with adequate irrigation and market linkage. 23. SRTT has promoted a model to promote sustainable cropping practices focused on scientific cultivation practices including optimal use of fertilizer and pesticides. This Integrated Crop Management (ICM 7 ) model revolves around training of Krishi Doots (Agriculture Volunteer) by the Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV an agricultural university), Akola. Implementation of this model has started in PDKV has already trained 20 Agriculture Volunteers and the field level work of these volunteers is supervised by an Agriculturalist in the IA team and by team of Resource Persons. This model will be implemented in 32 clusters (50% of the total coverage). In the remaining clusters, some IAs have a strong belief in, and capacity for, the organic/leisa model 8 and should be allowed to proceed with this model. In other clusters the ICM approach of PDKV may be more useful 9. An assessment should be made of the performance of this model and of the demand for its implementation in other clusters. There may also be other useful technologies such as conservation agriculture. IFAD funds could be used for its implementation. There will also be other agricultural programmes that may benefit programme farmers through convergence. 24. In a many of the villages visited the destruction of crops by wild animals was reported to be a major problem (see field report in Annex 1), preventing the cultivation of some land or growing of crops such as groundnuts, sorghum and vegetables. Solar powered electric fencing was proposed by farmers, although it needs to be established if this is a viable solution. It may be possible to mobilise funds for this purpose through convergence, if not project funds could be used. Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date Experience sharing between IAs and other partners to be organized by arranging September quarterly meetings during the initial years This is often referred to in CAIM and SRTT documents as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) but is more correctly ICM as it encompasses much more than pest management. 8 For example EcoFarms which is being contracted as an IA for two clusters 9 Advocates for organic farming claim that is more productive, lower cost and less risky than conventional farming. However it is difficult to see how sufficient plant nutrients can be supplied to maintain crop yields without the use of mineral fertilisers. This was discussed with Dr Goel at the wrapup meeting in Mumbai, who provided the mission with some papers on results from organic farming. With reference to this and other projects in India, it may be worthwhile for IFAD to further investigate the advantages and disadvantages of organic farming. Annex 1 includes a summary of information collected by the mission, including the issues surrounding Bt cotton (genetically modified cotton that is resistant to bollworm). 12

13 Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date Review the performance of ICM (IPM) model of SRTT Sept 2012 Assess demand for an ICM approach in clusters not covered by SRTT funding October 2012 Prepare an ICM plan for implementation with funding from the IFAD loan Nov 2012 In areas where farmers prefer organic/leisa methodology, if needed support IAs in implementation of this approach through additional human resources or through collaboration with other agencies. Commission a short study to investigate the extent and impact of wild animal damage and suggest possible solutions, and implement pilot schemes. The study and pilot schemes can be funded out of the project budget for SWC. (d) Breed Improvement September 2012 October Breed improvement activity has been allocated to SRTT. BAIF MITRA has been selected by SRTT to implement this activity. SRTT has insisted on BAIF MITRA to include fodder development into this activity. BAIF MITRA will implement these activities in all 64 clusters. It is reported that the proposal for funding BAIF MITRA is before the Trustees of SRTT for approval. It is expected that BAIF MITRA will start implementation by June (e) Microenterprise and SME 26. Progress of this subcomponent is rated as moderately unsatisfactory (=3). The programme intends to promote microenterprise and SMEs. This will have two types of activities: (i) households level microenterprise related activities to cater to local demand; and (ii) household level enterprise emerging from subsector analysis with investments in development of market linkages. IAs and SHG/CMRC Promoting Agencies will have to take lead in preparing plans for household level income generating activity that cater to local demand. They include: (i) small poultry units; (ii) goat rearing units; (iii) vegetable cultivation; (iv) primary processing and value addition; (v) input and output aggregation; and (v) transport. These plans will have to include identification of beneficiaries, plan for capacity building and financing arrangements. The programme design envisages that the financing for these activities will be through banks and beneficiary contribution. CAIM funding can be used for capacity building. 27. In respect of household level microenterprise or SME emerging from subsector studies and value chain analysis and study of existing marketing networks, a partnership with specialized agencies will be needed. These Agencies will have to prepare a plan for securing bank finance to implement activities at the household level and also for market linkage. CAIM funding may be used to contract these agencies for capacity building and also for part financing of investments in plant and machinery required for market linkage and value addition. 28. It is proposed that the major part of finance requirements at the household level will be met by SHG bank linkage, Kisan Credit Cards, JLG loans and individual loans. Therefore, it is necessary that the IAs prepare credit plans for each cluster covering the above four streams of financing and submit it to DPMT for inclusion in the District linked Credit Plan (DLCP) as CAIM targets for achievement. Similarly DLCP will have to be reflected in State Level Credit Plan (SLCP) as a separate CAIM target. This will enable monitoring of the targets at both district and state level by the officials concerned with reviewing the credit plans. Given the rural finance scenario in India, the possibility of inadequate flow of credit to microenterprise/smes from the banks exists. Based on the experience gained during the implementation alternative modalities may have to be developed to ensure flow of credit. Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date Issue instructions to include a separate CAIM credit Plan into DLCP and SLCP for review by District Level Bankers Committee and State Level Bankers Committee DAMC September 2012 Prepare a credit plan with targets for each cluster covering SHG account opening, DPMTs/IAs October 2012 SHGBank linkage, Kisan Credit cards, JLG loans and individual loans for income generating activities and for financing microenterprise and SME promotion Incorporate Cluster Credit Plans as CAIM credit plans into DLCP and SLCP DPMT/IAs/ Dec 2012 Identify opportunities for upscaling existing marketing networks (milk societies, milk June 2012 collection centres, milk processing units, etc) in the programme area. Indentify and support proposals of agencies that have built marketing networks such as dairy cooperatives to upscale their activities. Guidelines for this are in Annex B Section III. June

14 Programme Management Performance D. Programme Implementation Performance 29. The progress of the programme management component is rated as moderately satisfactory (=4), and the performance of project management is rated as satisfactory (=5). The pace of programme implementation has picked up considerably since the arrival of the current senior management team the Project Director and Additional Project Director. Staff morale has risen and the mission found considerable enthusiasm at all levels from VDCs to IAs and the. 30. The programme is also getting good support in many districts from line agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, from local government at Gram Panchayat and Tehsil levels, and from the District and Divisional Administration. 31. The is filling a number of vacant posts a Knowledge Management Specialist has just been recruited. Staff strength at the level is not adequate. The Accounts Department is headed by an Accounts Officer on deputation and holds additional charge of CAIM. Administrative Officer for is yet to be appointed. Although current DPMT staff can handle their current workload, this will increase considerably as the pace of implementation increases in the current 7 clusters, and work starts in another 57 clusters, their workload will increase significantly. The staffing pattern of DPMTs with 1314 clusters is similar to that of district with 67 clusters. There are substantial SWC works in the clusters and currently IAs are dependent on line departments for technical support. It is necessary to recruit an Agriculture Engineer for each DPMT. The mission therefore recommends some additional staff be recruited (see recommendation below) 32. Implementation and, in particular, lesson learning, would benefit from more regular contact and communication between local SRTT Technical Team and the DPMTs and. SRTT funds for its activities in most cases flow straight from SRTT to the IA, which limits the involvement of the DPMT. SRTT has useful experience and lessons from its previous activities in the Sukhi Baliraja Initiative in the programme area. It also has good contacts with experts in agriculture and development in the state, including PDKV (Agricultural University). 33. The contracts between the and IAs for subproject implementation are not very clear regarding the staff to be provided by the IA and the terms of payment from the to the IA. They are also not very flexible. Contracts include a page copied from the DPR with a breakdown of the total costs of cluster interventions, including items funded through convergence with other programmes and bank linkage. The cost of IA staff and overheads is shown as a single lump sum, and it is not immediately transparent what the IA is contracted to provide for this lump sum. One IA reports that it has not included the cost of Watershed Volunteers within its budget for staff costs, while another seems to have a significant turnover of staff which could suggest problems in payment of salaries. It would be preferably if IA contracts set out an agreed budget that specified staff positions and their costs, and included a sum for travel, other administrative costs and IA overheads, along with amounts for reimbursable costs such as training and demonstrations. These could be set out for an agreed four year contract period, together with expected outputs such as formation and support of community organisations, mobilisation of convergence, soil and water conservation, and agricultural and enterprise development support. However the contract would state that this will be varied via an agreed Annual Workplan and Budget which will allow the IA to build on lessons from the earlier year and respond to emerging needs. Output targets would be monitored in both qualitative and quantitative terms, and if an IA was found to be seriously underperforming action would be taken to either reduce payments or terminate their contract. Further details are in Annex B Section V. 34. SRTT has fielded a Technical Assistance Team comprising four specialists to support CAIM implementation. These specialists currently report to the Programme Coordinators of SRTT. The Mission was told that some of these staff do not yet have much field experience and so are primarily being employed on the SRTT clusters for the time being. Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date With the project now making good progress, GoM should ensure that the present senior DAMC July 2012 management team of PD and APD remain with the programme for a minimum tenure of three years and that the APD gives sufficient time to the programme including touring the districts. Review Human Resource requirements of : (i) appoint a full time Accounts Officer; May 2012 (ii) create a new position of an additional Accountant; and (iii) recruit an Administrative Officer by not insisting on a person with legal background. The should recruit any other staff required as the programme expands, including at the DPMT level. DPMT should be expanded to include an agricultural engineer (for SWC). For clusters September 14

15 Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date where SRTT is not supporting ICM, the DPMT should also include an Agronomist to 2012 coordinate support for crop production from IAs. As agreed in the first JRM, the should engage a Human Resources Consultant to draw up an HR policy, identify staff training needs, and review salary levels and terms of September 2012 employment. Regular (preferably weekly) meetings should be held to plan and review all programme May 2012 activities for all staff, including those funded by SRTT. IAs contracts should be reviewed and, where needed revised, to include clear information on the staff positions and other support to be provided and payments to IAs should be based on the cost of that support (see Annex B Section V). August 2012 Monitoring and Evaluation 35. The performance of M&E is rated as moderately satisfactory (=4). The programme has carried out its second Annual Outcome Survey (AOS) at the end of 2011 and the report was completed shortly before this mission. The AOS has much useful information although, given the early stage of programme implementation, there is not much impact as yet of programme outcomes. Future AOS would benefit from tables comparing data from programme and control groups, and comparing results with those in earlier surveys as per the layout in Annex C, Attachment The baseline RIMS anchor indicator survey was carried out in November It measured levels of child malnutrition in target group households, however other standard indicators for this survey were not really appropriate for this programme as indicators of programme change. The programme has also completed an annual RIMS indicator table, although it is too early in the programme for level 2 ratings of effectiveness and sustainability. 37. The programme has contracted a consulting company to carry out a baseline survey. The consulting firm has produced its inception report proposing an extremely comprehensive survey carried out at both village and HH level, with a number of different questionnaires. The draft HH questionnaire is very long and the mission is concerned that it is that too much data will compromise data quality and will not, due to shortage of time, be analysed. There are large schedules collecting input and output data for every crop grown, and this volume of data needs to be reduced. Separate and more focused surveys on crop production will be much useful, and it is suggested that this survey only focus on logframe indicators plus a few others. Account should also be taken of data already collected in the baseline surveys of each cluster carried out by IAs as part of their DPRs. Annex C has detailed recommendations for revision of the data to be collected and sampling scheme. 38. The programme has also drawn up terms of reference for an agency to develop a computerised webbased Management Information System (MIS) along with a programme website. The ToR propose that the MIS includes financial management of programme funds which seems to overlap with the TALLY software which is now being procured However the proposed MIS will not cover SHG microfinance activities as these are already covered, in at least some CRMCs, by specialised MIS such as Dhan Foundation s SHE. 39. There is a need to record how many people are benefitting from the programme. There are many different types of groups, and in SWC work people benefit from participation in labour. To identify who is involved in which activity will require a register to be kept of all participating HH. This exists and could usefully become part of the MIS. 40. The programme has not been able to evaluate the effectiveness of training using Knowledge Attitude Practice (KAP) surveys as IFAD has not been able to provide national level training on this methodology. IFAD is now looking for alternative means of providing such training. Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date Continue to carry out AOS with some refinement of indicators used and improvements to analysis and reporting Detailed recommendations will be November 2012 provided in the Final Report Carry out RIMS level 2 ratings prior to MTR next year, with reference to January 2013 IFAD s manual for RIMS indicators Rationalise the amount of data to be collected in the baseline survey and. June 2012 revise the sampling design to enable more detailed analysis of results. Detailed recommendations will be provided in the Final Report Go ahead with contracting an agency to set up a programme MIS and website. However this should not overlap with TALLY accounting software. It should record participation of individual households in different programme activities. May

16 Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date An MIS Specialist should be recruited to manage the MIS system and produce reports on the data generated both by the MIS and overall September 2012 project monitoring. Develop format for reporting of subprojects by IAs. Report on individual subproject performance in programme progress reports. Suggested reporting formats are in Annex C. August 2012 Carry out a KAP survey into training effectiveness after IFAD provides national level training. Gender focus IFAD ICO December The programme s gender focus is rated as satisfactory (=5). The programme has a gender strategy and at the field level gender aspects are well covered. In , Gender Sensitization refresher training was provided for all staff, and training on M & E and Gender was given to M&E Officers in DPMT. An exposure visit for Agribusiness Experts was organised to see the work of Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) on participation of women in sustainable agriculture. Agribusiness Experts were also trained on Gender & Value chain. Staff of IAs were given training on the integration of gender into DPRs and gender sensitization training was given to all staff of SARG IA. 42. Membership and representation of women in VDCs is 50% or more across board and, out of 148 VDC, 29 have women presidents and 59 have women secretaries. Women comprise 42% of the membership of 67 JLGs, including 19 allwoman JLGs. All Farmer Field Schools cover mixed population of men and women (in the 17 FFS conducted so far). Overall women s participation in the programme activities is adequate. 43. At the programme management level, M&E officers at the and DPMT levels have been trained on gender issues and have integrated gender into their work. In all there are 7 female staff out of a total of 50 at the and DPMT level. However, the Gender Specialist (the gender focal point) has been provided with the added responsibilities of KM and Administration. This work has meant she could not spend as much time as desired on gender issues. 44. In the AOS 19% of programme households were recorded as being female headed households. Data from the survey shows these to be relatively disadvantaged (see table below). Comparison of male and female headed households Indicator % of h holds % of h holds Indicator FHH MHH FHH MHH Two or more sources of income Have property rights to land Primary income source agriculture Cultivate some land Primary income source labour Have some irrigated land 0 29 Income has increased last year 8 18 Own some livestock Have a shortage of food Sell agricultural produce Own some land Take a loan in the last year Source: AOS FHH = female headed household, MHH = male headed household 45. There is a need for the programme to address the issues that disadvantage women and, in particular, female headed households. Apart from ensuring the maximum participation of women in programme activities, some special initiatives could be undertaken to address the needs of women. These include the reduction in women s drudgery (such as fuel/energy supply, domestic water, crop processing), and homestead based enterprises (providing they generate a reasonable net return per hour worked). Here is also a need to make women aware of their rights and enable them to assert themselves within and beyond the household. The SHG movement has made important progress in this area, and the programme should work with CMRCs to ensure that information and support reaches all women in programme households (including those who are not SHG members). The programme also needs to address issues of health, hygiene and nutrition. Information on these subjects is incorporated into awareness training for SHG members, and the programme has the opportunity to learn from the health support service pilot being implemented as part of SRTT funded activities of the programme. Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date Vacant posts should be filled to enable the Gender Specialist to focus August 2012 on genderrelated work. Where possible, introduce special initiatives targeted at women and female /DPMT/IAs/SHG December headed households. These could include drudgery reduction and CMRC Promoting 2012 enterprises that are attractive for women including homestead based Agency 16

17 Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date enterprises. The Gender Specialist could undertake (or organise others to undertake), an evaluation of current and potential enterprises to see if these are attractive for women in terms of generating a significant net income and fitting in with other household tasks. The programme should support and ensure that CMRCs and their SHGs continue to raise women s awareness and knowledge of rights and other issues of concern to women. The outcomes of these efforts need to be monitored and documented. Initiatives to educate households regarding nutrition, health and hygiene should also be supported. The results of the CAIM pilot supported by SRTT should be used and upscaled if successful. Poverty Focus May 2012 ad ongoing May 2012 and ongoing 46. Overall the programme has been successful in focusing on poverty and its performance is rated as moderately satisfactory (=4). The selection of relatively poor geographic areas, with high proportions of BPL (below poverty line) households has meant that programme villages seem to have relatively infertile soils, little irrigation and are remote from markets. 47. Programme activities are relevant for the target group. Although those with land are the prime beneficiary from sustainable agriculture and soil and water conservation, landless households are gaining employment via MGNREGA and from nonfarm income generation, while women gain from SHG membership and related enterprise development. However it does seem that provision of biogas plants does mainly go to better off households as these have the four or more cattle that are needed to supply the required manure. Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date The programme should consider converging with the GoM programmes such as land for the landless to provide landless households with secure access to land. /DPMTs September 2012 Effectiveness of targeting approach 48. Performance is rated as moderately satisfactory (=4). Principal target groups stated in the appraisal report were: (i) the Scheduled Castes, (ii) the Scheduled Tribes, (iii) landless labourers, (iv) rural women, (v) small and marginal farmers, and (vi) farmers under distress. The latter are households where farmer suicides have occurred. There are no specific targets in appraisal report for the numbers of each of these groups. Although data is collected during preparation of DPRs, as yet the programme does not have any aggregate data for participation by these groups. It is planned that the MIS will generate such data. In villages visited by the mission, it was apparent that some larger farm households (with more land than the small farmer limit of 2 ha) had been selected for programme participation. This selection had been done via a PRA wealth ranking in which these households had been ranked as relatively poor. 49. The AOS asked survey respondents to classify themselves by wealth group. This placed 17.5% of households in the very poor category, 50.5% in the poor category, 20.5% as average and 1.5% as better off. Agreed action Responsibility Agreed date The programme should generate a table showing the composition of programme participating households according to targeting criteria, and compare this data with secondary data for the total population of programme districts. /DPMTs July 2012 Knowledge Management 50. Performance is rated as moderately satisfactory (=4). The programme has a knowledge management strategy, action plan and a knowledge need assessment matrix. The focus has been, not unreasonably, on internal knowledge sharing to assist programme implementation. The programme will be in a position to generate many useful experiences and lessons that it will also be worthwhile to share with external partners. These include the outcomes of different approaches (LIESA, organic, ICM) to raise farm incomes in a watershort environment, market access and value chain development, publicprivate partnership, and community based organisations of different types. 17