College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Non-AFRE Co-Principle Investigators: Other AEC/AFRE Visiting Faculty; David Wilcock, Jim Bingen, Peter Matlon, Tom Zalla, Tom Stickley, Vince Barrett, Greg Lassiter, and Assafa Mehretu (Geography)

Project Name:           Integrated Rural Development Project (Eastern ORD) Upper Volta *
Donor:                        United States Agency for International Development
Contract No:              AID/afr-C-1314           Project #  6860201 
Account No:               MSU 71-2027
Location:                    Upper Volta (Burkina Faso)
Duration:                    May 1977 - December 1981
Budget:                       $1,814,281
Documents:                (Click here to view)

Project Goal:               To assist in the Eastern Regional Development Organization (ORD) in Upper Volta to increase agricultural production and to assist in improving the. capacity of the ORD to deliver a broad range of services required to increase production as well as to improve the quality of life in the region.

Project Plans/Objectives: By providing advisory services, specialists performed a number of activities:

• Agricultural Economics (Farm Management Specialist—conducted studies on the, costs and returns of current production practices and alternative technical packages in the four sectors of the ORD; developed methodology for a permanent "minimum necessary" information/data gathering system; advised, assisted, and coordinated the economics aspects of varietal field trials and demonstrations; prepared recommendations and proposals for other ORD offices; assisted in determining possibilities for the local production of the inputs to a more complex production technology.
• Agriculture Marketing Specialist--conducted applied research on traditional and modernizing marketing practices; advised ORD on the provision of inputs to farmers and the marketing of cash and staple food crop farm output; devised and established market information and statistics collection systems including training Voltaic personnel; contributed to design and location planning for improvements in road transportation and farm market centers, storage, handling, and processing facilities for crops and livestock production.
• Credit and Cooperative Specialist--assisted in the functional implementation of a medium term credit program; determined appropriate local organization for credit, savings, and cooperative-type functions; assisted in the creation of mechanisms that would encourage membership and participation in “groupements communitaires”; studied and analyzed informal credit systems to determine whether or how non-institutional credit could be made to better serve needs of small farmers; assisted in determining qualifications and manpower needs for ORD credit programs.
• Livestock and Range Management Specialist--assisted in strengthening animal health services to ensure the timely distribution of needed veterinary supplies by assistance in the design of practical improvements in animal health practices; acquired an understanding of the current practices and economics of livestock management in the ORD in order to devise a package of practices to prevent disease, improve herd efficiency, reduce young animal mortality, and to recommend supplemental feed; established recommended range and forage practices; assisted in establishing and maintaining ORO livestock records system; train ORO staff.

Cooperating Institutions:      ORD personnel

Project Summary:           In the Eastern Regional Development Organization, MSU provided technical assistance and training opportunities to increase agricultural production and to improve ORO's capacity to deliver a broad range of services required to increase production.

Selected Documents From/About This Project:

• USAID Project Paper – Integrated Rural Development, Eastern ORD, Upper Volta
• An Analysis of the Eastern ORD Rural Development Project in Upper Volta: Report of the M.S.U. Mission. 1976.  by Carl K. Eicher,  Merritt Sargent,  Eduard Tapsoba, and David Wilcock   African Rural Employment/Economy Working Paper No. 9. Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University.
• Applied Research in Eastern Upper Volta: Major Findings and Recommendations for Future Programs. 1982.  By Gregory Lassiter, Assefa Mehretu and David Wilcock.
• List of Publications and Reports from the Integrated Rural Development, Eastern ORD, Upper Volta Project.  (Pages 34-36 of above report)
• Rural Small Scale Enterprises in Eastern Upper Volta: Survey Results. 1981. By David C. Wilcock. African Rural Employment/Economy Working Paper No. 38. Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University.
• Spatial and Structural Characteristics of Settlements in the Eastern Region of Upper Volta. 1982. by Assefa Mehretu.  African Rural Employment/Economy Working Paper
• Much of the Research/Outreach from this Project was published in the following publication series:
  • African Rural Employment Papers    and African Rural Economy Papers.   1972 -1980.
  • African Rural Employment (Economy) Working Papers  1974 -1982.
• USAID Development Clearing House Archive.  Search for Downloadable Documents from this Project.

* This description is adapted from work by Nancy E. Horn, an MSU alumnus from the Anthropology Department, published in 1985 “A Project History of Michigan State University’s Participation in International Development for the period 1951 – 1985”.  See AFRE Emeritus Faculty - Acknowledgements

* This description is adapted from work by Nancy E. Horn, an MSU alumnus from the Anthropology Department, published in 1985 “A Project History of Michigan State University’s Participation in International Development for the period 1951 – 1985”.  See AFRE Emeritus Faculty - Acknowledgements