Regional Agriculture Development Program: Additional Evaluations and Assessments Could Improve the Performance and Sustainability of USAID/Afghanistan's $301 Million Program

Abstract

Since 2002, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has spent almost $2.1 billion for more than 60 agriculture programs. These programs focused on building the capacity of the Afghan agricultural sector, expanding farmers access to credit, increasing the quality of valued crops, and providing economic alternatives to poppy farming. In 2010, the U.S. Government Accountability Office completed an audit of a portion of approximately $1.4 billion in USAID agriculture efforts in Afghanistan and found that six of the eight programs it reviewed did not meet their performance targets. Over time, USAIDs agriculture efforts have shifted from these types of programs to programs focused more on sustainable, agriculture-led economic growth through the private sector, which USAID anticipates will result in a more sustainable model for Afghan agriculture. In October 2013, USAID initiated its latest and one of its largest agriculture programs: the Regional Agriculture Development Program (RADP). This program consists of a group of four 5-year contracts awarded by region and valued at $301 million. USAID awarded RADP-South and RADP-West to Chemonics, and RADP-North and RADP-East to Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI). RADP aims to expand sustainable agriculture and improve food and economic security for rural Afghans, in accordance with USAIDs new approach to agricultural development in the country. The objectives of this audit were to determine the extent to which USAID (1) applied lessons learnedfrom its previous agriculture efforts to the design of RADP; (2) conducted required oversight of contract implementation and modified the RADP contracts as a result of challenges encountered, if any; (3) assessed overall program achievements; and (4) incorporated sustainability of program achievements into RADPs design, as guidance requires.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2018
Accession Number
AD1138771

Entities

People

  • Ahmad Fawad
  • James L. Smith
  • Julie E. Silvers
  • Michael D. Graham
  • Sarat Ganji

Organizations

  • Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan
  • Agriculture
  • Business Administration
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Economic Development
  • Economic Security
  • Food
  • Governments
  • Guidance
  • Indicators
  • International Organizations
  • Lessons Learned
  • Monitoring
  • Production
  • Security
  • Targets

Readers

  • Defense Financial Management and Audit.
  • Industrial Economics
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.