JEFAD/ERDEA/1990/12
UNITED NATIONS
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA
r
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
EVALUATION OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES IN AFRICA
THE CASE OF LESOTHO
By \
D.KAHAN
A.D
630(686.2) 1^925 063
Workshop on Planning and Implementation Techniques for Participatory Rtaral Development in Africa
November 19 - 24, 1990
Afica Hail, EGA
Addis A-batii.
ECA/KAO - ERDEA ; LESOTHO STUDY
RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN LESOTHO1
1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1.1. Physical conditions and land use
Lesotho consists of some 30,355 km2 enclosed by territories of the Republic of South Africa (RSA). It is
divided into 4 geographic regions. The lowlands (1400-1800 m), forming a western band of 20-50 km in width, contained about 80 per cent of the arable land and supported the majority of the population. They had shallow easily eroded soils over sandstone. The area, with an average rainfall of 740 mm per annum, was prone to drought, hail and frost. The foothills (1800-2000 m), a narrow northeast-southwest strip {8 per cent of the country) adjacent to the mountain range, contained arable land and were densely populated. The Senqu Valley (1400-1800 m), which had shallow soils and extensive rocky outcrops, was the main grassland area and was extensively grazed. The higher mountain region (2000-3400 m) also consisted of shallow soils and extensive rocky formations. It was used for summer grazing. The Lesotho environment was very fragile and soil erosion was a serious agricultural constraint. Owing to the dearth of woodland and the poor crop cover, many rural communities had to collect weeds and cow dung for cooking and heating.
Over half of ihe land area was rangelands, 24 per cent arable and 10 per cent used non-agriculturally with less than 1 per cert being forest; over 65 per cent was unsuitable for cultivation with 80 per cent of it being under a high erosion hazard. Approximately 3,600 hectares of trees had been planted corresponding to about nine percent of the country's fueJ wood requirements. Some 40,000 hectares were required to meet the National goal of providing one tan of fuel per family per year.
In many parts of Lesotho, agricultural land was short. This had resulted in the continuing re-division of land into unviable small units. Even where land was available, individuals could face a very difficult task in getting land allocated to them. Poor land allocation practices had emerged as one of the most important obstacles to agricultural development.
1.2. Macro Economic Situation
The Lesotho economy depended very heavily on income from workers' remittances from employment in the RSA, tourism and external capital from donor technical aid. The country's resources were limited, and its productive and export base was very narrow. The industrial base was small and its potential limited by the small domestic market, dependence on imported raw materials, inadequate skilled manpower, and difficulty in securing significant export markets. Its rural institutional infrastructure was similarly deficient in many respects. The country maintained a traditional land tenure system that did not provide adequate incentives for agricultural improvements.
Lesotho's economic situation had deteriorated since 1979 as a result of reductions in workers' remittances, customs union receipts and mining and tourism incomes. Wrthin the agricultural sector there had been an average 10 per cent per annum fall In production. These trends had resulted in severe financial problems for the country, with which the Government was still grappling. The only growth had been in a doubling in the volume of manufacturing and handicraft production over the period between 1980 and 1984.
Summaiy based on 'Evaluation of Participatory Rural Development Projects in Lesotho' Volumes 1 and 2, prepared by David G. Kahan, Consultant. March 1990.
The Lesotho economy was dependent on that of the RSA. About 45 per cent of the labour force of productive age at some time or other migrated there. Low agricultural output as well as social pressures caused this migration.
Lesotho's dependence on the RSA had a direct influence on the disposal of remittances. A significant proportion of such remittances was spent on non-productive consumer goods which presented a vicious circle through which financial resources were ploughed back to South Africa, thereby hindering the creative capacity of the local entrepreneurs and the possibility of increasing production locally.
Agricultural development was greatly affected by this vicious circle since very little investment took place in this sector. As a consequence, dependency and rural poverty were reinforced.
1.4. Population and Labour Force
The population of Lesotho was currently about 1.6 million which, with a growth rate of 2.6 per cent per annum, was expected to rise by 50 per cent in 15 years. The labour force was estimated at some 515,000 of which approximately 396,000 (77 per cent) were employed in the country and some 126,000 were employed as migrant workers. Some 84 per cent of the country's households were rural of which two thirds were located in the lowlands and foothills. Of considerable concern to the government was the number of landless rural households that had risen from 12.7 per cent in 1970 to 25.4 per cent by 1988. About 60 per cent of these households were headed by women with limited resources.
The numbers recruited for mining in Sotrth Africa had gradually decreased in recent years. Job openings in the domestic economy were absorbing less than half the job seekers. With the knowledge that well over 100,000 were employed in South Africa, even a partial release of this labour force would not only raise unemployment to unmanageable levels but could also seriously decrease miners' remittances which currently amounted to half of Lesotho's GNP. The current rate of unemployment was 35.4 per cent.
The major off-farm job creation activities for the rural poor were Food-For-Work Programmes and home handicraft industries. The Food-For-Work Programmes, oriented primarily to rural women, covered labour intensive soil and water conservation activities, and, in 1982, employed about 3,900 village workers on a full time basis. About 300 people were similarly engaged in construction of rural clinics and foot bridges. The construction of village water supplies employed about 250 people on a full time basis. Incomes and jobs were created for about 3,700 people through the establishment of village communal vegetable and fruit gardens and wool and mohair spinning. Close to 8,500 full time jobs were created at that time (1982). Since the same individuals did not remain at these jobs throughout the year, the total number of people benefitting from these activities were considerably higher, perhaps approaching 35,000 to 40,000.
1.5. Role of Women
The role of women was very great in the rural areas. Some 30 to 35 per cent of all rural households were headed by women and they were engaged in many of the productive and non-productive activities. However, although women were mainly responsible for the generation of local surplus from farming and off-farm activities, their decision making authority had not increased and basic decisions, such as those for setting priorities and handling available resources were generally taken by men. Lead farmers were almost always men and tended to be commercially oriented. Males tended to be the decision makers and entrepreneurs, whilst female farmers could not hire labour independently, make credit arrangements, sign legal documents, lease additional land or purchase inputs and materials without the consent of their husbands. Given this reality ft appeared that the social structure of society was in disharmony with the technical needs for development. The absence of appropriate legal provisions limited women acquiring resources for economic and social undertakings, thereby perpetuating their socio- economic insecurity. But the impact of increased agricultural production in terms of enhancing their status had been considerable, and the prospects for a positive change in their status were good.
3
1.6. The Agricultural Sector
Within the agricultural sector there were a number of constraints including:
(i) The limited availability of arable land (only 13 per cent betiig cultivatable);
(ii) Low agricultural productivity, resulting from the poor quality of the land and the attractive alternative employment possibilities elsewhere;
(iii) The system of iand tenure that encouraged overgrazing and inefficient use of arable land;
(iv) The extensive soil erosion, partly caused by overgrazing; and
(v) The uncertain climatic conditions.
In 1975, the GDP from agriculture was 32.5 per cent of the total. This figure dropped to 26.1 per cent by 1980/81 and 17 per cent in 1987. Although agricultural growth slowed down in the 1980s there was a slight resurgence by 1987 owing to improved rainfall.
Studies show that on average only 17 per cent of total household income in the rural areas was derived from agriculture with much of the remainder stemming from miners' wages. Nevertheless, over 85 per cent of the country's population lived on the land and some 60 to 70 per cent of the labour force obtained some supplemental income from agriculture.
The land area under cultivaton fell drastically from 450,800 ha in 1960 to 332,300 ha in 1987/88, a drop of 26.3 per cent. Nonetheless, it rose gradually by 15 per cent over the decade between 1977/78 and 1987/88. The average size of the arable land area per household fell over the period 1980 to 1985 from 1.32 ha to 1.25 ha. As a result food imports had increased substantially, while agricultural exports had either stagnated or declined.
There was an increase in tte volume of fertilizer and other inputs used in agricultural production between 1973/74 and 1987/88. The quantity of nutrients and fertilizer per ha planted increased markedly over the period 1979/80 to 1987/88 from 8 kg/ha to 22 kg/ha in the case of nutrients and from 27 to 40 kg/ha in the case of fertilizer.
From 1975 to 1983 there was a pronounced increase in the number of tractors registered (662 in 1975 to 1,637 in 1983), but since 1981 the picture had somewhat changed and tractor purchases had decreased from 2,322 in 1981 to 1,637 in 1983.
The principal crops cultivated were maize, sorghum, wheat, beans and peas. Variations in production levels and yields were as given in tables 1 and 2.
Table 1, Average Production Levels (tons)
Maize Sorghum Wheat Beans Peas
73/75 96,396 60,721 51,168 10,442 6,494
80/82 94,347 36,943 15,877 4,207 3,861
83/85 85,867 44,295 17,780 1,908 3,458
86/88 127,319 42,339 18,878 5,380 2,015
Table 2. Average Yield Levels (kg/ha)
73/75 80/82 83/85 86/88
Maize Sorghum Wheat Beans Peas
712 768 704 394 511
691 597 628 039 542
605 606 469 183 367
705 518 609 213 351 Source: Bureau of Statistics
Since 1975, production of traditional crops had declined from a 40 per cent share of total agricultural output to no more than 25 per cent as a result of drought. The fluctuations in maize production were profound, with marked variations between years. Over the period 1974 to 1984 (biannual average years), maize production decreased by about 11 per cent and yield by 15 per cent on account of poor weather whilst the area planted remained stable at around 140,000 hectares. Maize production in 1984/85 supplied less than half the country's requirements. An improved rainfall pattern in 1986/88 enabled national production to regain the levels attained prior to the 1981/82 decline, production being 132 per cent, and yield being 99 per cent of that of 1973-75. [These figures suggest some error either in the estimate of yield and/or production, or that of the area cultivated].
Sorghum production over the period 1974 to 1987 fell by some 30 per cent, with yields decreasing by a similar level (32.6 per cent). The area planted rose from 35,00C ha in 1974 to 77,000 ha in 1987, but on account of drought conditions the area harvested in fact diminished from 83,000 ha to 73,000 over the same period. Wheat production dropped even more markedly by 63.1 per cent from 51,168 tons (1974) to 18.78 tons (1987).
Although, bean and pea production were regarded as be'ng more stable than those of the cereal crops, that of beans fell drastically from 10,440 tons in 1974 to 5,380 tons in 1987 (48.48 per cent) which could be explained by a diminishing productivity. Pea production and yield also decreased by about 69 and 31 per cent respectively.
Livestock was a crucial sub-sector of agriculture contributing 78 per cent of the value of total agricultural output, and 12 per cent of the GDP of the Lesotho economy. The cattle population increased gradually since 1975 to 627,000 heads in 1987/88. The estimated area of rangelands in 1983 was some 2 million hectares and the current stocking rate was 7.3 ha of rangelands per animal.
There had been similar increases in the sheep and goat populations over the period 1975/6 to 1987/8. The number of sheep and goats rose from 1,128,000 and 617,500 heads, respectively, to 1,650,000 and 1,123,700 heads. However, although population size increased, the quantity of wool produced dropped as the yield per sheep fell from 3.24 kg in 1977/8 to 2.39 kg in 1987/8. The yield of goat mohair remained stable ranging between 1.0 kg and 1.16 kg per head.
Livestock production generally increased to represent about 75 per cent of the value added of total agricultural output. Wool and mohair exports provided M18 million and M4.5 million respectively in 1988, which amounted to about 43 per cent of the country's total exports. However, imports of livestock related products were about 65 per cent of the total value added by domestic livestock production. This indicated the wide scope for import substitution.
1.7. Land Tenure and Ownership
Under the traditional system of tenure, land was owned by the nation but held in trust by the King and his subordinate chiefs for, and on behalf of, the people. The traditional system of land allocation provided every adult male with access to land, and prevented acquisition of land through commercial transactions. Land rights were,
however, restricted to arable land, and allocations were usually given for life with provisos for inheritance. A male adult had exclusive right to all crops harvested annually from his allotted land after which the land was open to communal grazing in the off-season, and coulc! not be fenced off. Grazing land was held by the community for the common use of livestock owners. The chiefs - 2re given the authority and the responsibility to regulate its control and to prevent over grazing.
The amount of land allocated was determined by the needs of the applicant for family subsistence. This meant that successful farmers were open to penalties for producing surpluses above the set level, thus discouraging investment.
As a reaction to the shortcomings of the traditional system, the 1979 Land Aci was promulgated. This act stipulated that all allotted land be legally registered, removing doubts about security of tenure, and that it could be sub-leased and mortgaged. Land committees, chaired by chiefs, were empowered to execute this law. But the enforcement of the law had not been rigorous and chiefs had retained their traditional power and the old system still prevailed.
Rural households in 1980 constituted about 87 percent of the total in the country, and agriculturally based households comprised some 85 per cent of the total rural number. The total number had increased since 1970 from 212,200 to 242,800 in 1987. At the start of the 1970s fewer than 13 per cent were landless. By the end of the decade this group had almost doubled to just over one fifth of all rural households and could rise to 100,000 rural households by the end of the century. Similarly rural households without livestock increased from about 38 to 47 per cent.
In 1970, 20 per cent of the rural households controlled 45 per cent of the total allocated land and in 1980 this area rose to 53 per cent with an average holding size of 3.7 ha. At the lower end of the scale, the lowest 40 per cent of households controlled 16 per cent of allocated land in 1970. By 1980 the area held by this group had declined to 6 per cent. Under perfect equality, rural households could have received land allocations of less than 1.4 hectares. Thus, the potential of achieving adequate and rising agricultural production to achieve food grain self- sufficiency even under a system of perfect land distribution for all rural households was directly related to ensuring that yields per unit area continued to rise.
1.8. Institutional Setting
There were 6 institutions involved in the provision of credit, the supply of inputs and in the training of labour in the Lesotho countryside:
The Lesotho Agricultural Development Bank had the mandate to provide credit to the rural sector;
The Basotho Enterprise Development Corporation was established to promote small scale Basotho owned business enterprises through the provision of extension sen/ices and credit facilities;
The Lesotho Cooperative Credit Union League was responsible for encouraging local savings and for providing credit;
The Lesotho Distance Training Centre was entrusted with giving educational services to organizations involved in rural education and developr.ient;
The Cooperative Development Centre aimed at training managers of cooperatives;
The Co-op Lesotho was a parastatal organization whose function was to provide inputs and materials to the rural communities and to purchase their produce.
1.9. Credit
Credit to small scale producers in the rural areas increased. That earmarked in 1986 was M2.5 million, and it rose to M14.5 million in 1988. Similarly, customer deposits rose from M1.6 -Million in 1986 to M3.7 million in 1988.
1.10. Extension Services Extension services were as follows:
The Ministry of Agriculture had 179 extension agents deployed in 1983. of whom 30 were women. The objective was to have an agent for every 600 farmers, or a total of 340 agents. It also had 6 farmer training centres, where 3,500 farmers received short term training annually. In addition, the Ministry had 110 nutrition assistants to do extension work in nutrition;
The Ministry of Interior, Chieftainship Affairs and Rural Development (MICARD) had extension programmes staffed by 66 rural development assistants who organized and trained communities at the village level and 18 at the ward level;
The Ministry of Public Health had 15 health assistants working at the district level.
1.11. Social improvments
Education in Lesotho was characterized by exceptionally high enrolment in the lower grades, followed by a rapid drop-out rate so that only a fow completed primary school. The number of pupils attending primary schools had increased by 33 per cent from 183,295 in 1970 to 244,838 in 1980. At the same time the number of teachers had risen by about 29 percent. The pupil/teacher ratios had fluctuated slightly over the 1970 to 1980 decade from 46:1 in 1970 to over 51:1 during the period of 1974 to 1977 dropping back to 48:1 in 1980. However, the ratio of pupils to qualified teachers had risen from 70:1 in 1970 to 75:1 in 1980. The government plan was to increase the primary school teachers by 5 per cent per annum.
Prior to 1980 little progress had been achieved in providing clean water supplies to rural villages. Since then the Village Water Supply Section of the MICARD had constructed over five hundred rural water supply systems.
A health care delivery structure had been devised to implement a primary health care system through the distribution of services within specifically delineated health service areas having a catchment of between 50,000 to 100,000 persons, each to be served by one hospital. Each health service hospital was to be staffed by at least one doctor and other professional and supporting personnel. (The document does not show how this health plan had been executed).
A total of 5 km/100 km2 of rural roads were constructed in 1982, resulting in a ratio of 1.3 km for every 1,000
rural residents.
2. RURAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Over the years, there had been frequent changes in the strategy and approaches to rural development.
During the first five-year development plan period, from 1970/71 to 1974/75, area-based projects were favoured (eg. Khomokhoana Project). These, like other integrated projects elsewhere, tended to be self-supporting enclaves. The resulting benefits were shown to be marginal with very little improvement in production. As a result, it was decided to redirect the development strategy towards projects having a national focus. This led to the formulation of national projects aimed at strengthening the entire government apparatus (such as the Basic Agricultural Services Project). For various reasons, external support was withdrawn from these national programmes and rechannelled into different project forms. However, donors continued to provide funding for area-based projects
throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s and the enclave approach, although observed to have little sustainable impact, provided donors with the advantage of facilitating control over funds and resources expended and the opportunity for flag wiving
More recently, emphasis has been placed on externally funded projects conforming with the administrative structures of government ministries and operating from within their respective organizational structures.
Together with this change, the participatory approach was introduced following recognition that "top clown"
rural development efforts were limited in their impact. The rural poor were seen as having limited access to resources and information as well as insufficient bargaining power necessary to effect the type of changes that would provide them v/ith long term benefits. This recognition led to the policies contained in the programme of action adopted by the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD). The programme was a major step in reorienting technical assistance towards people-targeted projects. The primary WCARRD goal was to improve the standard of living and quality of life of the rural poor in a self-sustaining manner.
The WCARRD programme set out a strategy oriented towards the decentralization of the decision making process, the devolution of responsibilities and the promotion of local organizations. The rural development participation approach is seen as requiring a combination of administrative decentralization, the establishment or strengthening of local institutions, the involvement of local leaders in the planning and implementation of the projects and the training of para-professionals as field level workers.
3. RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY
The Government of Lesotho's adopted the WCARRD programme of action as the framework for rural development policy in the 1970's. Decentralization was viewed as the pinnacle of the rural development strategy and was accepted as an integral part of the country's development strategy in the early 1980's and as part of the National Environmental Action Plan of 1989. Emphasis was placed on the importance of human development within a cultural context placing man at the centre of development, with economic growth and technological change regarded as means rather than ends in themselves. Development, according to this objective, was to be more
"inward looking", emphasizing self reliance and self sustenance as ultimate conceptual goals.
The Fourth Five Year Development Plan, up to 1990/91, was developed with this as its guiding principle. Its ultimate objectives were:
- To accelerate development with a view to meeting basic needs more adequately, and achieving a more equitable distribution of national wealth;
- To maximize national income and employment;
- To reduce the poverty level through rural development.
The plan called for a continuation of the decentralization policy with emphasis placed on strengthening the role played by Village Development Committees, Ward and District Development Councils thus involving the community in both planning and implementation. A special consideration was, furthermore, placed on the role of women in rural develop.nent. Their continued legal status as minors was seen to have had negative results in terms of decisions towards development. Studying women's land tenure rights and encouraging them were seen as necessary for enhancing their role in the development effort.
4. PARTICIPATION
People's participation was an important tenet of Lesotho's rural and agricultural development policy. Village councils (pitsos), Village Development Committees, community activities and the formation of income-generating self-help groups were important vehicles for social a wj economic development. These institutions were developed from traditional forms of local administration and w ;re supported by the government.
Development of these participatory institutions during the 1970's was sporadic and haphazard. From the outset some village development committees did not clearly understand their duties and responsibilities and in some villages the committee members were nominated rather than elected and they thus lacked the necessary popular mandate to mobilize and represent the people in the village. As a result some committees were ineffective and had not performed as expected.
5. EVALUATION OF PARTICIPATORY CASE STUDIES 5.1 Introduction
Eight projects were selected for evaluation. The selection was made so as to represent a wide range of conditions and levels of success. Efforts were also made to include a project that had been spontaneously developed by the community but, in a country receiving a lot of aid funds, only one was located. And even that had already lost its spontaneity having been adopted by a donor agency.
The projects selected for evaluation were:
1. Thabana Morena Rural Development Project;
2. Women's Integrated Agricultural Project Through Community Action;
3. Farm Improvement, Soil Conservation Project;
4. People's Participation Project in Rural Development;
5. Matelile Rural Development Project;
6. United Nations Volunteers in Community Based Development;
7. Development of Rural Technologies (Pulane project);
8. Local Initiatives Support Project.
5.2. Conceptual Framework for Evaluation
Project evaluation was composed of two principal elements: project performance, and project impact.
Performance was evaluated by the dual concepts of effectiveness and efficiency, and project impact related to the effect of project operation and performance on the rural people.
The traditional way of studying effectiveness has been the "goal approach", defining effectiveness in terms of the degree of goal achieved - the greater the degree of goal achieved, the greater its effectiveness. There are innumerable methodological discrepancies regarding this concept. One approach may focus upon the "prescribed goals" of a project, that is the formal goals and objectives set out in the project document. This closely resembles measurement of project impact. Then there is the "derived goal approach" in which the investigator derives the goal of the project from theory which may be independent of the intentions and awareness of the members. Both of these approaches have been criticized. In the former situation the goals may not be a recognized property of the entity, and goals as ideal states are unlikely to offer the possibility for realistic assessment. The latter approach tends to focus upon their impact on society rather than the workings of the project.
A set of operational goals does not refer to the ultimate goals of the project (impact measurements) but rather to those accomplished through its actions. In this sense goals are treated not as abstract guides but rather as the specific value aims for the actual operations. This definition is useful for the assessment of projects designed
and implemented through a learning approach where a priori goals, targets and outputs may be defined poorly or not even defined, as a criterion for measurement.
In the present study, project evaluation was viewed from a natural systems (. ^rspective and assessed according to the ability of the project to adapt to internal and external pressures. From this perspective projects v/ere viewed as a system involving cycles of resources input, transformation and services output. The input and output processes represented transactions involving the system and some sectors of its immediate environment;
and transaction or throughput was a process contained within the system itself.
This model distinguished between resouices use which went into procuring, transforming and exporting the project product, and that which held the project staff and beneficiaries in the project and persuaded them to carry out their activities. This latter concept was defined as maintenance.
In understanding the nature of the project from the open system perspective, a clear distinction must be made between the project management unit and the local level institutions which were to be established. This differentiation was not simple because of the interdependence of the two networks. The model is conceptually described in the following figure:
Design Leadership Resource Base Internal Structure Participation
- Project - Organizational - Performance
Programme: (Output components) credit, extension, institution building marketing, infrastructure, community activities
income generation
Linkages - Institutional
External environment - Performance of
beneficiaries
It should be noted that the above model is not intended to test any possible cause and effect relationship even though a direction is suggested. It is presented as a schematic approach designed to provide the evaluator with a logical framework for analysis. Thus, within this framework project performance can be both described and analyzed in terms of the different component parts of the model.
In this systems approach, development is considered as a process of institutional transformation as expressed by the accumulation of wealth, reduction of inequality and enhanced involvement of the population in their political destiny.
The performance criteria of effectiveness and efficiency and the goals of rural development are somewhat interrelated. Growth can be viewed as the long range outcome of the static concept of efficiency. Efficiency begets growth, whilst growth brings new gains in efficiency. The long run effects of efficiency are growth and survival, and one effect of growth is likely to be increased efficiency. Growth may also come about through effectiveness in particular environmental transactions. This reflects the bargaining power of project management to mobilize
resources.
Similarly, the interrelationship between performance and development is reflected through the link between the allocation of resources and services and the goal of redistribution of income and wealth. The process of allocation of economic servicos - credit, inputs, funds - is a critical mechanism for redistribution.
This methodology represents a new approach to project monitoring and evaluation. It discards the traditionally accepted criteria that compares achievement with set "top down<; targets. Problems often exist with respect to defining these measures accurately, and as such the inability to achieve the targets may be a result of faulty design rather than ineffective management. Moreover, the methodology has particular value for those projects that develop spontaneously; and where there are no targets set at the project design stage.
in those instances whore targets have been set through a "bottom up" process with project management guidance and are perceived as being reasonable, it is useful to make comparisons between the planned or predicted targets and the practical results achieved. This calls for the preparation of baseline surveys at the design stage. The effectiveness of such an impact evaluation will generally depend on the precision with which the targets and objectives are defined, their validity and whether they can be quantified.
International donor agencies, and the UN apparatus in particular, have adopted a different set of criteria for project monitoring and evaluation. The traditional methodology tends to follow the division into inputs, outputs, effects and impact and in most cases "top down" measures are defined at the design stage. The conceptual framework as defined above reflects a deviation from accepted donor practices, and decisions to adopt such a methodology cannot be taken lightly. The UN categories are well established and the introduction of a new approach may initially confuse.
Nevertheless, the justification for preferring the use of the proposed model is that it underlines concern with effectiveness and technical and economic efficiency together with the distribution of project benefits. The UN approach, by contrast, only concentrates on the latter and, because production tends to precede distribution, the new model follows a more logical course. The model represents an ideal situation where baseline data relating to the components has been collected in the past and project design follows a "process approach". In most instances this is not the case and methodological difficulties are apparent. Given this reality meaningful comparisons of
"quantitative" indices and variables cannot be conducted.
5.3. Evaluation of the projects
A project's chance of failure may depend as much on factors external to its design and execution or situation as internal weaknesses or the dereliction of duty by its management staff.
Srtuational Constraints: In Lesotho, external or locational factors concerned government commitment, finance, capacity, decentralization and pricing policy, existing marketing infrastructure and services, national and regional institutional structures, land tenure and ownership, environmental fragility and biomass fuel demand, the attitudes of village communities and chiefs as well as their priorities and needs and labour supply.
A fundamental difficulty in institution building for village development committees was the government's ambivalence towards them. Although the commitment was often stated publicly as a policy the reality was at times quite different. The inability to translate public statements into practice was an essential reason for the low credibility that government projects had in the eyes of the rural community. Official proclamations and pronouncements were made stating that the government strategy for rural development revolved around village-based cooperatives. These statements have been seen to conflict with practices. Policy was unclear and frequently underwent changes as new guidelines were drawn up. Although rhetoric of politicians and senior civil servants supported "decentralization" and
"participatory democracy", in many instances central control remained strong. Village Pitsos were being run in ways that were less than participatory and in effect were often a convenient forum for the giving of orders.
Government commitment to participatory rural development was most often expressed through financial means. However, very often funding was insufficient to ensure that the government pledges could be met. Financial
11
constraints had implications on the type of intervention proposed. Such limitations often included lack of foreign exchange and restrictions on the recurrent development budget.
Insufficient government funding to cover recurrent cc ts on project completion had an impact on ail aspects
forcing cutbacks in field services as well as maintenance of --oads and infrastructure facilities. Moreover, there was
a need to attempt to recover all or some of the costs o' products or services from users. The ability of thebeneficiaries to repay costs and services should have been examined and tested at the design stage.
Lesotho's capacity to implement projects had been hampered by the shortage of skilled manpower exacerbated by better career opportunities in the private sector or in South Africa as well as by the freeze on government budget and staffing that had occurred since 1982. Existing technical staff were frequently burdened with additional administrative functions to the detriment of their effectiveness. Attempts to make the deficiency good through the recruitment of ex-patriate staff proved unsuccessful because of the quick turn-over when they finished
their contracts, because some senior positions could not be filled by temporary contractual staff, and because the
costs were too high.An additional set of macro level considerations was the economic policy setting. Low producer prices were
by far the dominant issue. Besides creating production disincentives they resulted in an undesirable shift in production patterns causing people to abandon their activities. Policy should have aimed at setting effective interest rates at a level ensuring a margin of profit to the lending institution and yet have been low enough to attract borrowers on competitive terms with informal channels.It was generally recognized by Government that the existing marketing systems within the country did not
adequately provide for efficient trade in local products. Market outlets routinely failed to absorb local production and products imported from RSA occupied the largest share. There were probiems of access to the markets by farmers. Effective limitations were extensive and included the high costs of transport, inadequate storage facilities, insufficient turnover for efficient plant operations, seasonal market gluts, lack of handling facilities, absence of
grades, standards and quality control, inadequate health inspection of perishable foods and limited bargaining power of farmers \/is a vis traders and buying institutions.The successful performance of individual projects depended to a large extent on the effectiveness of the national and regional level institutional structures. Of particular importance in the Lesotho context was the
establishment and effective functioning of the financial lending institutions.Many programmes and projects did not achieve their objectives because of a general lack of interest among farmers who were unwilling to incur additional risks by adopting new and unproven technologies. This problem was compounded by the inability to develop technical packages suited to the needs of the people. The rural poor formed a heterogenous community with differing interests, needs and access to resources. Their priorities were equally heterogenous. With their preoccupation with immediate survival, the control of soil erosion and other long
term activities did not figure high among their priorities.A serious obstacle to participatory development was the widespread mentality of dependence, sense of
frustration and distrust of Government officials. Rural people, were often dominated by local elites to whom they left key decisions. Furthermore, problems were experienced with village leadership. In some instances chiefs could be corrupt regarding land allocation or in other circumstances unsupportive and at times a hindrance to the development process. On the other hand, chiefs often did not have sufficient influence to impose and execute
sanctions and penalties on offenders.In Lesotho, with much of the farm work being carried out by women, the demands for labour imposed on
them were severe. The ability of the farm family to participate in project activities depended on its size and structure
and on the complementary off-farm and on-farm agricultural production activities.5.4. Project design, performance and impact
The projects studied were all supported or initiated by donor agencies. The implementing agency assigned to most of the participatory projects was tt. Ministry of Agriculture, although the Ministry of the Interior and an
NGO were also given some responsibility Project design in most cases, with the exception of the Farm
Improvement, Soil Conservation Project, inc-uded strong elements of the blueprint approach.Nonetheless, there was an awareness of the failures of the traditional approach during the design of the Local Initiatives Support and People's Participation projects and elements of the process approach were introduced at particular stages of project implementation. rhe learning process strategy was, however, limited by the institutional structures of the donor organizations which curtailed the extensive use of this strategy.
The ultimate objective of the different projects was achieving both improvements in the standard of living of
the rural population (Local Initiatives Support Project, Matelile Rural Development Project) as well as employment generation (Rural Technologies). In some instances this was accompanied by institution building (People'sParticipation Project, Thabana Morena). The Farm Improvement, Soil Conservation and Women's Action projects
were directed towards enhancing production and income amongst the farming sector. The truly participatory projects were those where participation was regarded as an end in itself. Three of the project case studies met this definition (Thabana Morena, People's Participation Project, and the UN Community Development Project).Projects directed towards the achievement of single objectives and oriented towards a single sector were
easior to manage and required less co-ordination. They also showed indications of ai enhanced potential
performance (Farm Improvement, Soil Conservation Project and Matelile Rural Development Project).The performances, achievements and impacts of the 8 projects are summarized in the table 3.
6. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1. Project design and scope
Development projects in Lesotho, were designed and implemented individually, rather than as part of a
broader programming strategy for a region or sector. This resulted in an unconnected network of projects that, in itself, hindered the establishment of country or region wide programmes. Ways must, therefore, be found to incorporate individual projects as part of an overall sectoral policy, setting the guidelines for individual project
design. This would imply a "top down" approach. But participation requires a "bottom up" approach. The appropriate mix between "top down" and "bottom up" strategies could be achieved through the application of major resources and some structural planning from "above" providing umbrella support for small scale participatory developments.Projects should be allowed to evolve at their own pace and in their own direction. In order to achieve this
a longer period of project design is required to collect more detailed information on the area and the rural communities resident there. This would test basic hypotheses. The ultimate project document should be flexible allowing for the addition or subtraction of components or elements depending on the lessons learned and loca!choices available.
The experience to date has been that rural development projects are difficult to manage because their multi- sectoral nature cuts across the established lines of command in public administration. A common shortcoming of participatory rural development projects is that they try to do too much too fast.
6.2. Project objectives
The concept of development has been defined to include four principal dimensions: accumulation of wealth, reduction of inequality, enhanced involvement of the population in their political destiny, and long term survival.
13
These aspects are more popularly expressed through the concepts of growth, redistribution, participation and
susta inability
In Lesotho, there could not be effective national policies covering redistribution as the majority of wages were generated in the RSA. However, the severity of the problem could be reduced through participation, the integration of women in development, the development of non-farm employment activities, and the increase in access for the rural people to social and economic services (health care, training, production inputs, markets, etc.).
In some of the projects studied the ultimate goal was defined as growth through income generation and improving the standard of living of the beneficiaries (Farm Improvement, Soil Conservation Project, FISP). In other
projects income generating activities were the means to an end, with the end goal defined as the'participation of
people in development activities (People's Participation Project, Thabana Morena). Although, It was apparent that groups also fulfil social functions, the record showed that the economic rationale for continued group operations was the determining factor. Where a group's chosen income generating activity failed, the tangible benefits were lost and the groups were left with a loan repayment problem which acted as a powerful disincentive to further
participation.
6.3. Outputs and targets
In all of the case studies, outputs and targets were set following a limited period of project design. Often the project design was insufficiently flexible to accommodate necessary changes and to modify the targets set.
Nevertheless, it was realised that some criteria were required to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation. Wrth this in mind it is suggested that reaiistic targets be set by project management, together with the beneficiaries, in the course of implementation as experience is accumulated. It should, thus, be the task of management to devise a flexible system for project monitoring and evaluation which becomes part of the design.
6.4. Project beneficiaries
A common feature of the participatory rural development projects was that they all attempted to reach a target group made up of the "poorest of the poor". Practical realities made this goal extremely difficult owing to the heterogeneous composition of rural communities. In some cases the inclusion of a broader beneficiary group consisting of some rural elite and businessmen was seen to be beneficial to the overall success of the project. The
more progressive members encouraged and assisted the weak.Where rotating leadership was practised in the group, all members had an equal status and opportunity. The system had been used successfully. It is important, therefore, that project designers are aware of these
complexities, and are not too rigid in specifying particular groups.6.5 Organizational design
Some of the projects were designed as area-based enclaves (Thabana Morena. People's Participation Project), whilst others tended to conform to the existing district administrative structure (Local Initiatives Support Project, Farm Improvement, Soil Conservation Project). The experience of enclave projects has been generally negative in achieving sustainability and replicability. An additional drawback is that the "enclave" project management units tend to duplicate and compete with the functions of the regular line ministries.
District level projects or programmes have the advantages of utilizing the existing manpower resources and upgrading them if necessary. In this way attempts are made to ensure sustainability, by operating through a single organizational hierarchy. This model, moreover, is supportive of the decentralization process currently in operation
in the country.
Both types of implementing agency have their advantages and disadvantages and it is difficult to reach a
definite conclusion on this issue. If government involvement in implementation has been decided upon, projects
should come under the authority of a single line ministry responsible for implementation, rather than involve the
creation of a super-ministry or government agency for this specific task.6.6. Participation
It is apparf nt that project design has, in many instances, assumed that people's participation is ai ultimate goal in itself aticJ that the greater the level of participation the greater the success of the project, in practice, however, participation should be optimized rather than maximized. Excess participation could result in operational
paralysis, leading to unwarranted delays in decisions and ineffectiveness in operations.
Beneficiary participation can be augmented through the encouragement of either individual production or group activities. However, most of the projects evaluated tended to support group activities either through communal vegetable gardens, or the establishment of self-help groups (Thabana Morena, People's Participation Project). The Local Initiatives Support and Pulane projects stressed a more comprehensive range of participatory alternatives including the encouragement of individual producers either independently or in partnerships. The Local Initiatives Support and Farm Improvement, Soil Conservation projects further stressed the need to involve the village
development committee in the decision making and implementation processes.A broad array of participatory forums could be encouraged with a conscious willingness to ensure project sustainability. In order to achieve this, special efforts must be made to work together with or through the Village Development Committees, District and Ward Councils and village chiefs.
The record to date is that village planning is no more than the preparation of shopping lists of possible projects, unrelated to supply factors. Participation of project beneficiaries in the identification and prioritization of needs is essential for project success. However, in order to participate effectively, beneficiaries need to be provided with information relating to the income expected from alternative activities as well as the advantages and disadvantages associated with a particular technology or enterprise. Under these circumstances there is a need for strong project management guidance. This requires upgrading of project staff. This process has been observed to be extremely slow and limited by the ability of the recipients to assimilate the information provided.
In some projects, the villages were selected for pragmatic reasons such as distance and infrastructure rather than through consultation with the potential beneficiaries. Village chiefs or headmen were sometimes informed about projects. They were instrumental in calling meetings and selling the idea to the community. The people were then invited to form groups. This procedure contravened the original intention of creating a dialogue between the beneficiaries and project management. The involvement of District Development Councils and Village Development Committees violated participation even more blatantly.
Beneficiary participation has been much more successful at implementation, with beneficiaries providing labour, the formation of savings schemes for the mobilization of funds, and the utilization of local resources and
materials for construction.
Project management should be cautious against creating a relationship of dependency. Start-up funds could
be provided through the project but in the form of easy-term loans, with repayments being channelled into a revolving fund for the financing of working capital. The exact formula of financing would have to be worked out depending upon the activity selected and the ability of the beneficiaries to repay loans. The approach should aim
at fostering greater self reliance and autonomy by project beneficiaries.Incentives for participation generally take three forms: direct cash payments (wages, subsidies, cost sharing
arrangements, revolving funds); payments made in kind (food for work, provision of inputs and tools, etc.); andindirect forms (price controls, land tenure security, marketing, extension, social facilities, etc.). Incentives are
required in instances where it is both unrealistic and unreasonable to expect people to commit resources to long
term endeavours unless they are suitably compensated. This is true of community activities such as afforestation
and soil conservation, where the commitment towards participation is weak. They are, thus, an invaluable tool for15
the removal of development constraints that discourage farmer's from participating in development efforts such as
soil conservation and afforestation.
There are, however, certain undesirable outcomes following the application of incentives, which should be avoided when designing a scheme. Incentives often result in an atmosphere of paternalism and the creation of a system of dependency relationships. A numbsr of successful incentive schemes were introduced in the Farm Improvement, Soil Conservation Project corsisting of credit supply from a revolving fund and the provision of
inputs.
6.7. Institution Building
Though participatory groups were meant to be formed in a "bottom up" way, they were often formed in a
"top down" manner, either because it was quicker and easier to form them in this manner or because the organizers did not have a full understanding of the differences. In some instances people joined groups thinking that they would get access to hand-outs and subsidies. Some communities may be apathetic to group formation either because of their history of powerlessness as a result of the monopolization of decisions by the rural elites, or because they were too poor to take the risks involved. Under these conditions, "top down" initiatives have a crucial role in encouraging "bottom-up" development efforts. Organizational development from above may be the only strategy that could initiate a "grass roots" process aimed at sustainability. In other situations, e.g. in the Pulane
Project, local level initiatives were seen to be successful.institutional development has in the past placed emphasis on the introduction of nev organizations and neglected to explore traditional community institutions. Many of the traditional organizations are ;nformal in structure and are thus often outside the scope of legal definition. However, the potential of traditional organizations should be expored even though they are also very often undemocratic in the conventional western sense, lacking provisions for majority rule in decision making and for competition in leadership position.',-. However, where members are of relatively equal status, where norms restrain the arbitrary exercise of leadership authority, and where decisions are based on group consensus, such organizations may provide a relatively accurate expression
of popular will.
However, within the Lesotho context, there are very few traditional organizations in operation. The nature of society and its proximity to a modern economy, the RSA, has resulted in the erosion of the traditional institutions.
Nevertheless, the performance of village burial societies and the resource mobilization process of "stockafele" have indicated the possibility of adapting modern institutions to traditional forms. In any case evidence indicates that local organizations whether traditional or modern are likely to succeed when they are small and homogenous,
organized for a concrete goal, and consisting of 15-20 members.
The formation of groups has been seen in some instances, to result in social conflict between the direct beneficiaries and those residents not directly embraced by the project. This problem could be reduced or eliminated by creating as many groups in a community as can involve ail interested.
In many of the projects studied, the rate of turnover of group members was often high and was a major reason for low group cohesion, low performance and non-sustainability. Members left because of a number of reasons, e.g. dissatisfaction with the income generating activity selected and the mode of production followed, as well as a high incidence of intra-group social conflict. Group cohesion and sustainability can only be guaranteed if members benefit financially from group activities and their commitment and motivation can be assured.
Unrealistic institution building targets concerned with the formalization of the primary organizations or the
accelerated transfer of responsibilities to an apex organization, were seen to impede long term sustainability. The
record of cooperative performance had not been particularly successful. More than half of the societies formed
subsequently either remained dormant or collapsed. One of the reasons for this was that members did not receive
the benefits that were expected. As a corollary to this finding, cooperatives were seen to have made progress
where benefits were both tangible and felt by their members.Apex organizations should evolve as a response to a felt need by members who are expected to gain economic and social benefits through embarking upon a joint cooperative activity. The eventual establishment of a secondary level apex organization should similarly proceed at a pace that can be assimilated by the community.
6.8. Income Generation
The introduction or new income generating activities took three principal forms: the development of agriculturally based enterprises, the evolution of non-agricultural cottage industry and the processinq of aaricuitural
products. M
People who undertake cottage industry activities are subject to high risks as a result of an increasing debt burden and dependence on a variety of eternal inputs and services requiring a high level of coordination timing and reliability for success. The establishment of new activities and the associated investments surrounding them
are reflected in a high recurrent cost burden.
Income generating activities usually require a heavy capital investment and well developed support services This is especially true of marketing, which is often not rigorously dealt with in project design. These variables and the risks involved make it likely that income generating activities require more "top down" supervision than is desirable for sustainability. This also curtails the diffusion process.
Some of the projects studied were not sustainable, with the farmers reverting back to traditional subsistence farming when the project terminated. The technological packages seemed not to have been previously tried locally to have been ill conceived, economically unviable and too complex for the farmers. Depending on the objectives and projected activities of the project, the plan could combine available technologies into low cost and high returns high cost and high returns, and low cost and low returns packages.
The low cost and high returns package would generate a large margin over costs as the operational costs should be low, e.g. the production of fruits, vegetables and cattle. The high cost and high returns package would use high technology and high levels of expensive inputs in order to obtain high value output. Most of the donor-assisted irrigation projects in Lesotho aim to achieve this by producing high value horticultural crops. The risks associated are great and losses have similarly been high. The low costs and low returns package would use low levels of unsophisticated inputs for low value subsistence crops, e.g. maize, sorghum, wheat.
A high cost/low returns system, although not desired by farmers, may result following the introduction of inappropriate technologies to subsistence agriculture. The failure of a number of irrigation projects in the country
was that they operated under a high cost/low returns model.
The organization of production can take a number of forms with resources and incomes either pooled together and shared or based upon individual production. Many of the groups formed within the projects studied were organized around a communal mode of operation with the group owning all assets and sharing dividends equally between members. This was criticised by the members who viewed it as a way of subsidising the weaker and lazier members to the disadvantage of the more industrious, thus threatening group cohesion and reducing
labour efficiency.
The selection of income generating activities must take into account a number of factors: the economic and social viability of the product, the potential market situation, government incentives and policy, national strategies, the preference of beneficiaries and its suitability to the physical and climatic conditions of the project area.
Given this guideline attention should be placed in Lesotho on the development of high value agricultural
products such as fruits and vegetables, asparagus, milk and angora rabbits, as well as agriculturally based cottage
industries when secure markets can be assured.
17 6.9. Marketing
There If more to rural development than a mere concern with enhanced production and income. Effective marketing is crjcial to the success of participatory rural development projects. Marketing failures ar& i cely to have a direct bearing on the level of production and the ability of beneficiaries to repay working capital loans.
Deficiencies ir the project marketing system result in the failure of the credit scheme, a crucial lubricant for enhanced production. But in many rural development projects marketing has been neglected.
The principal deficiencies and limitations of the market system, common to the projects studied can be
summarized as follows:
- Project design not including a marketing component;
- Low levels of production;
- Limited domestic levels of consumption;
■ Limited market access owing to extensive imports from South Africa;
- Deficiencies in the rural road systems;
- Poor transportation and delivery systems;
- Failure of marketing cooperative structures;
- Deficiencies in the levels of marketing infrastructures;
- Absence of a comprehensive sectoral or national marketing plan;
- Lack of government support and market intelligence;
- Difficulty in competing with South African produce in terms of quality;
- Limited private sector involvement in the marketing process;
- Inadequacy of existing credit systems;
- The absence of grading and quality standards for fruits and vegetables;
It should be pointed out that the generally accepted assumption that improved facilities will automatically translate into improved performance of the marketing apparatus is misleading. Infrastructure changes must be accompanied by effective management, organization, motivation, services, policies, human skills and marketing
information.
6.10. Credit Provision
In the past, credit was dependent on collateral and accessible only to the better-off farmers. In an effort to provide credit to poorer farmers, projects have created revolving funds organized on the basis of loan funds, cooperatives, credit unions and farmer associations. Such group lending programmes have provided credit with members assuming joint responsibility for loan repayment and monitoring. Social collateral was given based on group liability. Individual producers and artisans were, on the whole, feft out of the credit system for lack of collateral. The landless poor usually resisted accepting loans in order to avoid risk, e.g. in the Local Initiatives
Support Project.Although the experience was mixed there was a high incidence of failure. This was primarily because of marketing failures but also stemmed from revolving fund mismanagement and embezzlement. Thabana Morena and People's Participation Project provided examples of credit breakdown. The preconditions for effective credit are:
- Assured market demand and an attractive government pricing policy;
- Tested profitability of income generating activities and new technological packages for enhanced
agricultural production;
- Increases in production and income aimed at allowing members to repay loans and finance further
development;- Effective support services and marketing infrastructure;
- Available and sufficient labour for involvement in income generating activities; and - Supportive government policy regarding credit;
An operational credit scheme should ensure the following:
- That a security or guarantee fund is set up;
- That group lending is given under the mutual guarantee of its members;
- That novel ways are found for individual producers to provide securities;
- That credit is provided on x personal basis to individuals [as well as to groups];
- That the mode of production is organized along individual [as well as group] lines;
- That group members hold individual bank accounts;
- That produce can be differentiated on a personal basis and marketed either within a group or
individually;- That normal prevailing rates of interest are adopted;
- That revenues are channelled into the individual accounts of the beneficiaries;
- That group members and extension workers are trained in the principles of financial management
and book-keeping;- That close supervision and control is ensured by project management and the district level credit committee;
Loans should be supervised by district loan committees comprising project management, representatives of the principal lending institution, project beneficiaries and district level staff. To monitor and safeguard the use of money, group members should be prevented from handling group funds without supervision from the credit committee. At first, this committee would require strong support and guidance from either project management or international specialists. Later the tasks of the committee could be gradually transferred to secondary level
organizations composed of members of the local community.6.11. Infrastructure development and service centres
The decentralization of government was seen as an instrument for identifying local oroblems and needs and for encouraging participation in infrastructure development, including that for production aimed at supporting the economy as a whole, e.g. road and bridge construction, the development of service and market centres. The projects studied included some elements of such development. The Thabana Morena project, for example, covered the provision of village water supply, the construction of markets and community centres and road upgrading.
The experience of participation in infrastructure activities, has, however, been rathor mixed. Participation led to delays in implementation and a general slow pace of execution, manifest by low impact. Insufficient local resources impeded the execution of a broad range of infrastructure projects needed bv communities. Work was often completed at excess cost and beyond the time limits set, and the quality of work sometimes suffered owing to insufficient training and a shortage of skilled labour. Often the number of beneficiaries involved was limited and
resources lacking for a significant effort to be made.
The following recommendations are based on an appreciation of these problems.
-Infrastructure committees could be set up in those communities selected as priority areas and should
be composed of local representatives;- Road and water supply selection should take place on the basis of both the income generating
activities pursued wrthin the rural area and the needs of the community;- Infrastructure activities should occur during the initial stages of project implementation;
- Budgets that can be justified should be defined once infrastructure upgrading and construction are specified;
- The rural community should be involved in road and water supply maintenance and upkeep and be
made responsible for repair and maintenance work which is often neglected during project design;19
- Indigenous technology and resources should be utilized efficiently which should iead to cheaper projects being implemented. Local people are often skilled in stone masonry and metal work and are likely
to contribute greatly to the development effort;- It is suggested that a cash premium be provided above the daily food provisions as an inducement to labour. Experience has shown that piece rates are more effective than daily rates for getting work
completed and creating a sense of fairness among participants;- A "maximum use" of public disclosure and awareness -ust be sought in order to ensure that controls
on corruption, often prevalent with decentralization, are enforced through public pressure. Consequently, communities should be informed of all aspects of project costs and expenditures.Service centres: There is need for rural centres to give services and facilities tailored to meet local needs.
These centres could facilitate the delivery of inputs, thus satisfying the local needs most economically from one location and reducing infrastructure costs with roads and other installations serving only that location. These centres are also likely to promote cooperation by attracting the rural people to one place and to act as foci attracting skilled personnel into the countryside. A rural service centre could provide facilities such as a repair workshop, spare parts distribution, supply of inputs and materials, a machinery hiring service, a clinic, a local market and other community services. The centres could ultimately also include processing plants and companies
set up by local organizations and private initiatives.The establishment of a centre requires a financial commitment over a long period on the side of the national government and international donor agencies as well as the local community in the project area. The local community is, however, limited in its ability to mobilize funds and as such the major brunt of the effort rests with the external bodies. However, control and management of the service centres should be the responsibility of the
rural community, as far as possible.
6.12. Issues off Soil Conservation and Afforestation
The Lesotho government has expressed much concern about and put a lot of effort into afforestation and soil conservation. But the local people have, on the whole, been excluded from participating in the efforts and the results have been negligible. As a result, gullies and muddy run-off have expanded as has the area of poorly
producing soils and the quality of the range vegetation has declined.Given the failings of past efforts there is a need to design a new strategy for conservation that is participatory and based on improving farmers' production and profits rather than on vague ideas of preserving the soil for future generations. This strategy has recently been accepted as part of government policy, with special priority placed on biological conservation methods and tree planting to achieve environmental protection objectives. The emphasis is on achieving the necessary symbiotic relationship between production and conservation which are necessary to achieve the voluntary cooperation and involvement from rural residents affected by this policy.
In order to achieve this, there is a need for the government to modify its agricultural and livestock policy so
