Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

3-1979

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Agricultural Economics

Major Professor

David W. Brown

Committee Members

C. L. Cleland, J. G. Snell, R. S. Dotson

Abstract

This dissertation looked into agricultural development with emphasis on the project approach. The Kemubu rice project in Northeast Malaysia was used as an illustrative situation to examine success and failure elements in effective project implementation. The Kemubu project is a World Bank sponsored project which is making irrigation, multiple cropping of rice, and improved practices available to 45,000 small farmers. Special attention was drawn to project management environment and its links with other agencies at both the national and local levels. Specific aspects examined included: the management organizational structure and operating style, use of Farmers Associations (FAs) as a vehicle for involving farmers and making new services available to them, effects of national rice policies on project performance, and resulting changes in rice production, farmers' income, and rural employment.

The data for the study were obtained from published reports produced by the Project Authority (KADA), other studies related to Kemubu and personal experience of the author, who served as Agricultural Division head of the project from 1970 to 1975. Studies on agricultural project development and implementation by others in the Less Developing Countries (LDCs) form the basic framework to conceptualize the setting of the Kemubu experience. "Before" and "after" situation budgets were developed to monitor and evaluate what lessons can be learned from the project from three viewpoints: (1) the farmer, (2) the management and (3) the national development perspective.

The study revealed that by 1976 Kemubu had contributed output gains in rice production in Malaysia, However, the broader impacts generated from the project were far from satisfactory. Farm incomes have not increased relative to the national average. This stems in part from the large number of project farmers who are tenants; they have to pay for all the crop inputs but retain only half the rice production. Small farm size is another significant limiting factor to higher farm income. However, as an outgrowth of the spread of rice double cropping practices, the seasonal pattern of labor utilization on project farms has undergone changes and farm employment opportunities have improved. In terms of project organization and management, the Kemubu experience has shown that linkages with supporting agencies were not the best, A major reason was that some administrators were accustomed to rather rigid, top-down administrative styles.

The conclusions of this study were:

1. Failure to use rice varieties and fertilizer recommendations adapted to local conditions have limited paddy yield increase to about 82 percent of estimated potentials.

2. Future farm expansion in Kemubu is limited unless substantial numbers of farmers now working on uneconomic farm holdings can be resettled onto new land.

3. Working with farmers in small groups within communities (the Small Agricultural Units) and using the Farmers Association model has been more successful than the traditional approach of working through village headmen.

On a broader basis, two additional inferences can be drawn:

1. National policy goals of making cheaper rice available through price controls and imports have been inconsistent with project aims of generating more rice production and higher farm income.

2. Lack of data make it difficult to observe the performance of the Kemubu programs thus far. This implies need for a monitoring system to facilitate data collection on a continuing basis when a project is first implemented.

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