Reporting Officer
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- Reporting Officer
- Program Entity/Project
- 1. Mission Purpose
- 3. Main Findings
- 4. Conclusions and Recommendations
- Annex 1: Itinerary Tentative Visit Schedule of Mr. Gamini Keerthisinghe to Pakistan
- Date Time Purpose Venue
Reporting Officer: Gamini Keerthisinghe, Senior Plant Production Officer Country Visited and Dates: Pakistan, 19 – 27 August 2006 Purpose of Visit: To undertake a mission to backstop the project on “Food Security/Poverty Alleviation in Arid Agriculture Balochistan - Pilot Project Phase” (GCP/PAK/095/USA). Program Entity/Project: GCP/PAK/095/USA Date of Report: 31 August 2005 Executive Summary: An STS mission to Islamabad and Quetta, Pakistan was undertaken from 19-27 August 2006 to assist the FAOR and the project staff to review the progress of the project in accordance with its objectives and plan future activities. Field visits were made to project sites at Kardigap, Sadiq Abad, Kandawa and Ghous Abad in Mastung district. Met with members of Community Organizations (COs) and discussed the needs, constraints, opportunities and priorities of each community, so that the project activities could be planned accordingly. Detailed discussions were held with the Project Manager and National Staff to review the proposed activities under each project component and resources available for implementation. Meetings were held with the senior Government officials including the HE the Governor of Balochistan who strongly supported the project and discussed the possibilities for expanding its activities. The RO briefed the progress of the project and main findings of the mission to the FAOR, AFOR, and to the donor USAID. The new Project Manger is working in close collaboration with the National Staff in implementation of the project activities and significant progress has been made towards achieving the expected outputs. Key words: community organizations, arid agriculture, crop diversification, water harvesting, water use efficiency, range land management. Technical clearance: …………………………………. Date: …………………… E. Kueneman, AGPC
Operational clearance: …………………………………. Date: ……………………. Memed Gunawan, FAOR, PAK
Approving officer: ……………………………..…... Date: …………………….. H. Konuma, DRR
ADG/RR Pandey, Director, AGPD FAOR-PAK DRR Kueneman, Chief, AGPC Coordinator, RAPR Griffee, AGPC RAPG Officers Sayour, AGPC PR 12/51-Keerthisinghe Voortman, TCOT 1. Mission Purpose An STS mission to Islamabad and Quetta, Pakistan was undertaken from 19-27 August 2006, with the purpose of assisting the FAOR and the project staff in reviewing the progress of the project in line with its main objectives. 2. Main Activities A meeting was held with Mr. Memed Gunawan, (FAOR), Mr. Mohammad Ali, AFOR and Mr. David Doolan, Project Manager at the FAO office. Mr. Doolan highlighted the progress of the project and the planned future activities. The RO briefed the main purpose of the mission. The discussion was focused on progress made so far, major constraints to implementation of the project activities, role of ICARDA supporting the applied research component of the project, and future plans. The RO visited the Project Office at the Arid Zone Research Center (AZRC) in Quetta and detailed discussions were held with the Project Manager and the National Experts responsible for implementation of different components of the project namely, Applied Research, Water Resource Management, Range and Livestock Management and Crop Enhancement and Agro-processing. Discussions were also held with the senior Governmental officials of Ministry of Food Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL), Civil Secretariat, and HE the Governor of Balochistan, Mr. Owais Ahmed Ghani, who strongly supported the project. The RO visited and discussed with the senior staff of the main institutions and centers collaborating and supporting the implementation of the project activities such as Arid Zone Research Center (AZRC), Agriculture Research Institute (ARI) and Balochistan Rural Support Programme (BRSP). Field visits were made to project sites at Kardigap, Sadiq Abad, Kandawa and Ghous Abad in Mastung district. Met with members of Community Organizations (COs) and discussed the needs, constraints, opportunities and priorities of each community, so that the project activities could be planned accordingly. Visited Integrated Research Sites (IRS) selected by ICARDA in collaboration with AZRC, Agriculture Research Institute (ARI) and Technology Transfer Institute (TTI) and discussed the on-going activities on field testing of promising drought tolerant cultivars in conjunction with various fertilizer and water regimes. The main findings of the mission were discussed at the debriefing meeting held at the FAO office. The FAOR, AFOR, Project Manger and Mr. Farid, National Economic Growth Officer (USAID) participated. The RO highlighted the importance of the project in addressing the needs of the resource poor farmers in Balochistan and the progress made so far in implementation of the project. 3. Main Findings The main purpose of the project is to improve the livelihood and food security of the rural people of Balochistan by strengthening the capacity of the Balochistan applied research and technology transfer system to provide sustainable market oriented arid agriculture interventions for the farming community focusing on the three districts of Loralai, Quila Saifulla and Mastung. The project is USAID-funded, with FAO as the executing agency and the project duration is three years. The project office is located in Quetta, Balochistan at Arid Zone Research Centre (AZRC). The project is headed by an International Project Manager, assisted by four National Experts to cover the following main components of the project: Sustainable management of scarce water resources in arid agriculture; Improve range management, livestock and dairy productivity and livestock marketing; Enhancement of crop productivity an agro-processing on a sustainable basis; Strengthening the capacity of applied research and technology transfer to beneficiaries. The research component of the project is implemented by ICARDA. The project activities commenced in November 2004 with the arrival of the International Project Manager, Mr. Len Reynolds and appointment of the National Experts. During the first year of project implementation, excellent progress has been made in establishment of the project office, recruitment of national staff, formulation of LoAs with ICARDA for applied research component and BRSP for community development activities and initiating the field activities in line with the work plan. The project suffered from the departure of the Project Manager after completing his first year’s assignment. However with the arrival of the New Project Manager, Mr. David Doolan, in July 2006, the project activities have been reviewed and appropriate measures have been taken for implementation of planned tasks in accordance with the work plan. In the area of water resource management, a number of activities have been initiated in all target districts to improve water storage, conveyance and introduction of simple technologies to improve the water use efficiency. A number of activities are in progress in range and livestock sectors such as capacity building on rural poultry production and marketing, sheep production and animal fattening techniques, organization of livestock shows and provision of over 1500 Fayyumi chickens to women in community organizations on cost sharing basis for earning additional income. In the crop sector, 60 demonstration orchards have been established in collaboration with project communities and a number of promising drought tolerant species such as almond, pistachio and olives have been introduced. Over 150 female beneficiaries from the project communities across the three districts have benefited from training in simple home based agroprocessing techniques that helps them to preserve temporary surplus production for later use by the family. The applied research component of the project is implemented by ICARDA in collaboration with FAO and national institutions such as ARZC, ARI and TTI. A number of field investigations have been initiated at 6 Integrated Research Sites (2 in each district) on identifying promising technologies and practices to improve water productivity, crop-livestock integration, range rehabilitation and management and introduction of economically important high value crops into cropping systems. The RO held detailed discussions with the Project Manager and National Experts with regard to the achievements made so far in line with the project objectives and planned future activities. The project Manager gave a presentation providing an overview the project activities and the National Experts presented the achievements and future plans for each component of the project. A brief summary of the main achievements of the project prepared by the Project Manager is attached (Annex 4). The discussions with the Senior Staff of MINFAL, Civil Secretariat and national institutions were mainly focused on identifying the challenges and opportunities in implementation of multidisciplinary activities with participation of the beneficiaries. The meeting with His Excellency the Governor of Balochistan, Mr. Owais Ahmed Ghani, was useful in briefing him the project activities, for which he expressed his full support. The Governor also expressed his interest in accessing technical support from FAO for a technical appraisal for their proposed shrimp farming along Makran coast, possibilities of commercial floriculture in the Province and high value seed production. The discussion also covered aspects of a consultancy on possibility of growing tea in parts of NWFP that have slightly acidic soils and suitable climate. The main findings of the mission were discussed at the debriefing meeting held at the FAO office. The FAOR, AFOR, Project Manger and Mr. Farid, National Economic Growth Officer (USAID) participated. The Project Manager supported by the national project staff is doing a credible job working in close collaboration with ICARDA and national institutions in implementing the project activities. It is encouraging to note that the project team is working in close collaboration in real team spirit and it is essential for smooth implementation of a complex project of this nature with a wide range of tasks. In general, the project is progressing well in accordance with the work plan. The FAO-PAK is providing all the possible support to facilitate the implementation of the planned activities. 4. Conclusions and Recommendations:
5. Acknowledgements: I wish to thank all those who helped in organizing the mission and for the kind hospitality shown to me during my short stay in Pakistan. I wish to thank Mr. Memed Gunawan, (FAOR), Mr. Syed Mohammad Ali, Assistant Representative; and all the support staff of the FAO Office in Islamabad, Pakistan, Mr. David Doolan, Project Manager, National Experts, Group Organizers, and Project Admin staff for their kind support and inputs. I also wish to thank Mr. Farid, Economic Growth Specialist, USAID for his very helpful discussions and inputs. Annex 1: Itinerary Tentative Visit Schedule of Mr. Gamini Keerthisinghe to Pakistan (19 to 27/08/006)
Annex 2 Terms of Reference for Mission to Pakistan by Gamini Keerthisinghe FAO/RAP Senior Plant Production Officer 19 - 27 August 2006 To backstop the GCP/PAK/095/USA Project on Food Security / Poverty Alleviation in Arid Agriculture Balochistan – Pilot Project Phase. Duration: 8 days Duty Station: FAO-Islamabad (Field visits in consultation with FAOR and Project Manager Directory: tempref tempref -> Guide to codex recommendations concerning pesticide residues tempref -> Submitted by: g V pollard, slac-slcm date: 21 February 2006 II. Visit to Download 193.66 Kb. Share with your friends:
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