Bangladesh: Boosting food security for poor farmers: Netrakona integrated agricultural production and water management project

This document presents the key findings of the evaluation of an integrated agricultural production and water management project implemented by IFAD in Netrakona district, in northern Bangladesh. The aim of this eight-year project was to boost the incomes and food security of small farm households and arrest their decline into marginalisation and landlessness.Outcomes of the project include: sustainable changes have been brought about by the projectimpact surveys show that 85% of respondents now use the skills and knowledge they received from training and will continue to do sobetween 1995 and 2000 the amount of land used to grow vegetables increased by 186% from 2,750 to 8,950 hectaresnew training and community centres facilitate communication on marketing issues or availability of social servicesimplementation was not participatory: greater expertise in participatory development and group mobilisation is needed in future projects of this kindthe potential for livestock development should be given higher priority and where NGOs are involved in government projects more effective coordination between the two is vital.Key insights from the evaluation include:lack of credit for small farmers is a constraint to agricultural development and needs strengtheningparticipation is the key to people-centred development yet it was understood differently by various partners. Greater expertise and knowledge of participatory development and social mobilisation during the planning stages would ensure that sound concepts and implementation strategies are adopted from the outsetstronger project design such as the flexibility to modify project activities during implementation, if necessary, would ensure greater impact.[adapted from author]