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Project Life Cycle

P roject cycle can simply be introduced as a rough sketch of the project examination.
Total life time of a project has been divided to rational and clearly identifiable stages
as follows. Those stages are mutually inter related and are as follows.

1. Project Identification
2. Project Preparation And Analysis
3. Project Evaluation
4. Project Organization
5. Project Implementation
6. Project Monitoring
7. Follow up/ Impact evaluation

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Introduction of the Selected Project

F or the identification of the various stages of the project life cycle we have selected a
project of operating of a “seed paddy processing unit”. This project will help to
potential beneficiaries to process their seed paddy and obtain the good quality rice with
less wastage for marketing purpose as well as for their consumption.

This project will be funded by foreign funding agency and planned to operate with the
collaboration with the Department of Agriculture – District office of the Polonnaruwa
District and farmers’ association. This district will be selected for the implementation of a
seed paddy processing unit since that district gives more contribution to the paddy
cultivation. This project will not totally focus the profit and planned to provide the
facilities to the beneficiaries. However project planned to operate continuously by funds
generate by the project.

Object of the funding agency is to facilitate the paddy farmers in a selected area and
increase the living standards of the farmers’ community.

All the activities related to Project Life Cycle of this project have been mentioned under
each heading below.

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Pr oject Identif ica tion - Seed Pad dy Pr oce ss ing

Uni t

I n this case foreign donor agency wanted to fund for the enhancement of the
agriculture production in selected areas of the country. Since the main food
commodity of the Sri Lanka’s is rice the donor wanted to invest their fund for the
development of rice production of the country. To identify the areas to be funded
for the development of the rice industry of the country, following pre-
identification activities will be carried out by the foreign funding agency with the
collaboration of the Department of the Agriculture.

Investigation/ Observations

Identify the areas/aspects to be developed in rice industry, necessary researches,

observation and investigations should be carried out in related to the rice industry
with the industry experts. Department of Agriculture may have the necessary
capacity and industry data particular to the rice industry and investigations and
observations can be carried out together with the department. Accordingly
information regarding weaknesses of the rice industry, various stages to be
developed in the industry can be obtained to the donor to select a component of
the rice industry.

Accordingly following areas can be identified for the development

• Enhance the harvest of paddy industry

• Reduce the pest damages of the paddy production.
• Produce new varieties of seed paddy variety which can increase the yield
• Introduction of new machineries for paddy industry.

• ustry.
• Reduce post harvest crop losses by introducing sophisticated technology.
• Introduce effective pesticide, fungicides for the paddy industry.

Introduce new technology to the Paddy cultivation industry

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Analyze the information

After obtain all the information and various areas to be developed in the rice industry,
those information should be carefully analyzed with the assistant of the industry expertise
to select a best option which will match for the object of the donors.

By analyzing the available options the availability of the funds, objectives of the
donors, feasibility of implementation, and availability of resources should be
considered.

After analyse the various options reduction of post harvesting crop damages
project suits the requirements of the donor and accordingly set up a seed
processing plant have been selected.

Seed processing plant will help to reduce the damaged to seed paddy since it
replace the primary methods of processing the seed paddy.

Traditional/primary methods of paddy cultivation.

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Obtain and assess the existing resources

To implement the project of set up a seep paddy processing plant existing

resources should identified. Accordingly strengths and opportunities related t this
project should be identified and documented.

Resources relevant to this project can be list down as follows

• Availability of financial resources

• Availability of technical expertise through the Department.
• Relevant man power capacity to operate the plant.
• Availability of lands to commission the plant

Examination of the strategies

To implement this project all the available strategies should be considered. Project
initiation strategy, Project implementation strategy and project operating strategy
can be considered as main strategic problems of this project and correct strategy
should be selected.

Cost benefit analysis

Identification of the cost benefit analysis of the seed paddy processing unit will
provide a justification to the donor, why they have to spend for this project. It will
justify their investment in terms of the benefits to the targeted beneficiaries.

Under the cost components below mentioned expenses can be identified in

following main categories

Investment expenditure

Following expenses can be recognized as capital expenses of seed paddy

processing plant.

• Seed processing machine.

• Land for the construction of a seed processing plant
• Building for install the seed processing unit
• Three phase electricity supply
• Construction of access roads to the plant

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Maintenance expenditure

Maintenance expenses relevant to the project can be listed as follows.

• Repair charges of machineries

• Replacement of spare parts of the of machines
• Building maintenance expenses
• Access road maintenance expenses

Running expenses

Following expenses can be recognized as running expenses of seed paddy

processing plant project.

• Electricity charges
• Water supply charges
• Salaries and wages for the employees
• Disposal and removal charges of waste. (paddy husks etc.)
• Administration expenses

Analysis of benefits

Analysis of the benefits of a project will differ based on the objective of the
investor. If the investor’s objective is to earn profit they will consider the financial
benefits of the project.

However in this project object of the donor

is to develop the paddy industry in the
country and therefore the nature of the
benefits expected by the investor also
somewhat different form a investor who
expect profit for his investment.

Following improvements to the industry as

well as the beneficiaries will be considered
as befits by the investor of this project.

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• Reduce the post harvesting crop losses of seed paddy.

• Enhance the facilities of proper seed paddy processing.
• Certify a good price for seed paddy by ensuring the quality of the output due to
proper processing of seed paddy.
• Enhance the standards of living of the beneficiary families.
• Provide good quality rice to the consumers.

Sources of generation of project concepts

To implement the above project there should be proper project concept which may
be technically sound.

Project concept of this project should have been developed by technical expertise
of the industry since it requires lots of technical guidance. Next reason the project
will be funded by foreign funding agency and they may not so familiar about the
rice industry in the country.

In this case technical expertise in the Department of Agriculture can be occupied

to draft the project concept.

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Pr oject Pr epar ation and Anal yse - Seed P ad dy

Pr ocessing Unit

P roject preparation and analysis of this project should be done very

methodically as well as in detail on order to success of a project. There are
few stages of the project preparation and analysis of the implementation of a seed
paddy processing unit and are as follows.

Preliminary feasibility study

Under the preliminary feasibility study stage basic viability of the project should
be considered. Further amongst various project options selection of a correct
option also can be implemented under the preliminary feasibility study stage.

In this case amongst various options to develop the paddy industry, implementing
a seed paddy processing unit is a pert of the preliminary feasibility study.

Technical expertise clear this project as technically viable and information

gathered during the project identification revealed that the benefits to be received
to the beneficiaries.

After decide the project which is going to implement, proper project proposal
should be prepared. Following information should be included in the project
proposal.

• Name of the Project : implementing a Seed Paddy Processing Plant in North

Central Province.

• Objective of the Project : reduce the post harvesting crop losses

• Place of the project to be implemented : North Central Province – G.S Division

• Target group : paddy farmers in particular G.S Division

• Estimated benefits of the project and its impact to the target group :

 Reduce the post harvesting crop losses of seed paddy.

 Enhance the facilities of proper seed paddy processing.
 Certify a good price for seed paddy by ensuring the quality of the
output due to proper processing of seed paddy.

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 Enhance the standards of living of the beneficiary families.

 Provide good quality rice to the consumers.

• Estimated total cost : 10 Millions

• Requited man power, land, technical equipments :

 Technicians and skilled labours

 Land for the construction of a building for installation of the

plant.

 Seed processing machine

• Responsible organization or officials: Department of Agriculture will be

responsible for maintain this plant after the completion of the work.

• Project duration: Time required for the construction of the building and
installation of machineries has been estimated as four months. After the
completion of the unit long term benefits will be received to the beneficiaries.

Traditional small scale Seed processing unit.

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Large scale highly equipped seed processing units.

Detailed feasibility study

Under the detailed feasibility study the procedures followed in preliminary

feasibility study will be extended further, to obtain detailed information about the
desired project. Further some additional information also gathered.

• Required construction

For this project following construction will be required

• Building for the installation of machineries

• Office room and a rest room for the staff
• Generator room

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Construction of a building for installation of the machineries

• Estimated cost of essential items for the project

Construction of buildings, machineries, generators and supply of electricity will be

main cost components for this project and will be estimated as 10 million.

• Technical feasibility of the project

Detained Technical drawings

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Technical feasibility of the project have been cleared by the expertise

participated from the department of the Agriculture. Detailed technical
drawing which may suit to the purpose will be provided by the
Department.

• Availability of human resources

Department of agriculture agreed to provide necessary training to the un-skilled or

semi-skilled labourers and other managerial facilities will be provided by their
expertise.

• Required management skills

Project needs a managerial team to monitor the project until it finalize and while it
operate also. Those facilities will be available through the Department of
Agriculture.

Technical expertise should be provided by industry experts

• Special training requirements

This project required to machine operators for the smooth functioning of the
machineries and machine operators can be trained through the Department.

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• Duration of the project

This project will provide enduring benefits to its targeted beneficiaries and can be
considered as one of long term projects.

• Benefits of the project

Objective of the project is to facilitate the paddy cultivation in the country and
therefore direct financial benefits will not be expected. However following
benefits will be aimed through this project.

o Reduce the post harvesting crop losses of seed paddy.

o Enhance the facilities of proper seed paddy processing.
o Certify a good price for seed paddy by ensuring the quality of the output
due to proper processing of seed paddy.
o Enhance the standards of living of the beneficiary families.
o Provide good quality rice to the consumers.

Good quality rice products

• Target beneficiaries

Paddy farmers in few adjoined particular G.S Divisions (Grama Sewa Division)
will be targeted as the beneficiaries of this project.

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Target beneficiaries of the project

• Impact to the environment

Due to the wastage of the seed paddy processing unit there may be impacts to the
environment.

• Disposal of paddy husks.

• Sound pollution due to the noise of the machineries
• Air pollution due to the dust and the smoke of the machineries

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Disposal of Paddy husk may harm the environment

Alternative method of disposing paddy husks – paddy husk cooker

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Pr ojec t E va lua tion - Seed Pad dy Pr oce ss ing Uni t

T he object of this project is somewhat different from the project which is

targeted financial benefits. Main objective of this project is to enhance and
develop the paddy cultivation in the country and are not directly expected any cash
benefits.

However project is expected to achieve below mentioned benefits from this

project.

• Reduce the post harvesting crop losses of seed paddy.

• Enhance the facilities of proper seed paddy processing.
• Certify a good price for seed paddy by ensuring the quality of the output due to
proper processing of seed paddy.
• Enhance the standards of living of the beneficiary families.
• Provide good quality rice to the consumers.

Above aspects can not measure by using ant project evaluation methods described
above and have to use separate monitoring process to evaluate the expected
benefits.

Ongoing Evaluation

Since this project will not provide any benefits during its construction period,
ongoing evaluation will not play significant role relevant to this project.

Post Project Evaluation

The benefits of the project of construction of seed paddy processing unit can be
measured through post project evaluation as it generates its benefits once the
construction process completed.

This project will generate lots of indirect benefits to the beneficiaries as this helps
to up lift the living standards of the beneficiates.

Post project evaluation can be carried by following ways regarding project.

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• Measure the reduction of post harvesting crop losses by analysing the past
records.
• Measure the standards of living of the beneficiaries by conduction monitoring
visit to the beneficiaries.
• Measure the quality of the output (rice) by conducting the laboratory tests.

Check the quality of the output after setting up the plant

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Pr ojec t O r gani za tion - Seed P ad dy Pr oce ss ing

Uni t

I n this case we can clearly identify 03 parties and project organization activity
should combine all three parties to smooth functioning of the project.

• Donor agency
• Government counterpart (Department of Agriculture)
• Implementing partners (Farmers association)

Responsibilities, devolution of powers and the controlling powers of the project

should be initially identifies and communicated to each party for their
understanding.

This project can be implemented with the collaboration of the above mentioned
parties and does not required to establish any new organizations.

There should be Project Manager for this project until the completion of the
project and he will be appointed by the Department of Agriculture. He is supposed
to coordinate with the donors, farmers associations and the technical experts until
the end of the project.

Responsibilities of Donor agency for the implementation of seed paddy

processing Unit

• Define the scope of the project and selected the industry to be assisted
• Identify the relevant technical agency or a Government counterpart
(Department of Agriculture) for the implementation of the project.
• Disburse the funds for the implementation of the project based on the
recommendation given by Department of Agriculture.
• Provide required advanced technology and training to the Department of
Agriculture which are available in developed countries.

Responsibilities of the Department of Agriculture for the implementation of

seed paddy processing Unit

• Identify suitable project which will suit for donor’s requirements and
objectives.

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• Identify suitable geographical area to operate the selected project (seed

paddy processing unit)
• Assign team of expertise to evaluate and carry out a feasibility study of the
viability of the project.
• Prepare a detailed budget for the implementation of seed paddy processing
unit and communicated to the donors.
• Assign a suitable person as a Project Manager to implement the project.
• Provide necessary technical support and guidance to implement the project.
• Select a responsible farmers’ association to maintain and run the operation
of the seed paddy processing unit after the completion f the installation of
machineries.
• Continuously provide guidance and instructions to farmers association to
operate the seed paddy processing unit.

Responsibilities of Implementing Partner for the implementation of seed

paddy processing Unit

• Taking over the Seed Paddy Processing unit from the donor agency and the
Department of Agriculture once after the completion of the construction.
• Responsible for continuous operation of the unit after taking over the same.
• Provide equal opportunities to use the processing unit to all the farmers in
the association to process their paddy harvest.
• Charge reasonable and nominal charge to cover the electricity, water and
other administration costs from the farmers for the processing of seeds.
• Conduct periodic meeting with the members of the farmers association to
aware them and to obtain their feedback.
• responsible for the proper maintenance of the assets of the seed paddy
processing unit.
• Report any malfunctions, Breakdown to the Department Without delay and
seek their advises.

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Conducting periodic meeting with beneficiary families

Identification of Tasks for the implementation of the project

After the identification and determination of the project to be implemented (seed

paddy processing unit) following tasks can be identified.

• Selection of an area for the implementation of the project.

• Assign group of expertise for the technical evaluation of the project.

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• Design all the components of the seed paddy processing unit.
• Select a farmers association to hand over the project once after the completion.
• Acquire a suitable land for the construction of the seed paddy processing unit.
• Identify suitable contractor for the construction of the buildings for the seed
processing unit.
• Import the suitable machineries from abroad which suitable for the purpose.
• Commission the machineries in the building under the close supervision of the
expertise.
• Conduct a test run of the unit with the supervision of the expertise.
• Organize a meeting with the farmers association and train them to operate the
processing unit.
• Monitor the operation of the seed processing unit by the farmers’ association
and rectify if there is any shortcomings.
• Duly handover the seed processing unit to the farmers’ association and monitor
the activities periodically.
• Submit a report to the donor mentioning the progress of the project at the end
of all the activities.

Preparation of Time table for the implementation of the project

Time frame for all tasks listed above should be prepared and implement
accordingly. Identification of the activities which can be implemented
simultaneously also very important and those activities should be implemented
parallel to others.

• Construction of buildings will take more time out of all the activities of the
project. It should be finalize before the importation of the machineries.
• Importation of machineries is one of most important task of the project and
machines should be available just after the completion of the construction of
building.
• Importation process of machineries will take considerable period including the
shipping arrangement of the same.
• Therefore construction of the buildings and commencing the importation
process of machineries can be treated as parallel activities and can be
implemented simultaneously.
• Training of the staff for the implementation of seed processing unit can be
carried out after the completion of the construction and installation.

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Identify the responsibilities for the implementation of the project

Below mentioned three parties are basically responsible for the implementation of
the project.

• Donor agency

• Basically responsible for the supply of the funds to the project.

• Government counterpart (Department of Agriculture)

• Basically responsible for the provision of technical support and other

guidance to the project.
• Proper coordination between the beneficiaries and the donor agencies.

• Implementing partners (Farmers association)

• Responsible for the implementation of project once after the completion

of the construction.

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Pr ojec t Imp lement ation - S eed Pad dy Pr oces sing

Uni t

I n this case project designing will be carried out by the Department of

Agriculture and project implementation will be carried out by a selected farmers
association of the area. Therefore it is very important to fulfil the requirement and
expectations of the both parties.

To avoid such expectation gap between both parties it is very important to identify
the answers for the below mentioned questions.

• What to do

Set up a seed processing unit to avoid the post harvest crop losses and increase the
quality of the rice produced by the farmers in a particular area.

• How to do

Seek the financial assistance from a foreign funding agency and implement the
project through the technical support and guidance of the Department of
Agriculture.

• Who is going to do?

Project will be implemented with the collaboration of both the Department of

Agriculture and Farmers association by utilizing the funds offered by a donor.

• When to do

Project can be implemented once after the final approval from the donor and the
technical clearance for the Department of the Agriculture.

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Construction Period of the Seed Paddy Processing Unit

Construction period of the seed paddy processing unit is the period during the
construction of the buildings and installation of the machineries.

Development Period of the Seed Paddy Processing Unit

Following activities will be carried out during the development period of the seed
paddy processing unit.

• Test running of the unit.

• Training programmes to the members of the farmers association.

Operational Period of the Seed Paddy Processing Unit

During the operational period following activities will be carried out.

• Processing of paddy of the members of the farmers association at a

lesser cost than the open market.

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Pr ojec t Mon itor ing - Seed Pad dy Pr oce ss ing Un it

M onitoring of the activities of this project should be carried out in the

presence of the representatives of both the donor and the Department of
Agriculture. Monitoring process should be able to recognize the criteria which are
going to be verified.

Monitoring of the project of the operation of a seed paddy processing unit will
ensure the following areas.

• Whether the seed paddy processing unit will operate according to its initial
plan.

That means whether the technology used, constructions, installation of

machineries and operation of the unit will be according to its initial plan.

• Can the donor’s objective and beneficiaries expectations be achieved.

Objective of the donors of this project is to assist the paddy cultivation in

the country and there should be proper mechanism to identify whether their
objective is going to be fulfilled.

Expectation of the beneficiaries will be obtain good quality seed processing

facility at a nominal fee.

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• Whether the expected benefits of the seed paddy processing unit will be
guaranteed.

Expected benefits of this project are to assist the paddy industry of the
country by way of establishing a seed paddy processing unit. It will provide
the benefits to its intended beneficiaries as providing good quality seed
processing facilities and help them to produce good quality rice.

Monitoring process will help to identify the level of the success of the project.
Following areas can be tested in the monitoring process to identify the success of
the project.

Recommended corrective actions can be done after the identification of the

problems during the monitoring period.

• Difference between estimated cost and the actual cost of the project

Actual cost of the project may always be subject to the change due to the
following factors. It is very important to identify possible cost deviations of the
project to plan the activities accordingly.

• Increase of the building material prices at the time of the construction.

• Increase of the prices of the machineries at the time of the importation.
• Exchange rate difference at the time of the importation of the machineries.
• Increase of labour cost than expected in planning stage.

• Difference between estimated benefits and actual benefits

If the project is not able to fulfil the expected benefits which are planned in
initial stage there is a difference between estimated benefits and the actual
benefits. Following deviations of the benefits may be occurred due to various
reasons.

• If the expected capacity can not be processed by the unit, all the targeted
beneficiaries will not able to obtain the service of the processing unit.
• If the paddy harvest of the selected beneficiaries is less than the expected,
the seed processing unit will be underutilized.

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• Possible technical failures

• If the selected technology is not matched to the country there may be

possible technical failures of the project.

• If the operators of the processing unit are not properly trained for the
purpose there may be frequent breakdowns.

Frequent breakdown will be reported if the operators are not properly trained.

• Weakness and shortcomings of available resources

If the properly trained operators are not available for operate the project, if the
funding agency are not in a position to give additional funds for extra works
that will lead to a shortage of resources.

• Weaknesses of management and organizational strength

Department of Agriculture have to provide necessary technical expertise for the

implementation of the project and also appointed a Project Manager also. If the
appointed personnel are not capable to implement the project activities there
may be management weaknesses of the project.

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Monitoring Techniques of the Seed Paddy Processing Unit.

Direct Observation

Direct observation can be done through a joint mission of donors representatives

and the technical expertise of the Department of Agriculture.

• In this case team can contact the beneficiary families and obtain their
feedback towards the project.
• Team can directly monitor the operation of the seed paddy processing unit
and have their own judgment about the operation.

Based on the information submitted by Responsible parties

This can be done based on the reports submitted by the farmers association and
based on the results of a beneficiary research.

Farmers association will mention the operational effectiveness and beneficiary

comments about the project. This will helps to the donor to measure the
achievement of their objective.

Beneficiary research will provide the information about how the project effect to
their living status etc.

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Follo w Up / Im pa ct Eval ua tio n - S ee d Paddy

Pr ocessing Uni t

I mpact evaluation of this project will help to donor to measure the impact to the
target beneficiaries lifestyle and the support to the paddy industry of the country
by the project.

Following criteria should be checked to carry out an impact assessment of a

project. Impact assessments usually carry out after few months of the installation
and handing over the unit to its beneficiaries.

• All the members of the farmers association have the equal opportunity to use
the seed processing unit to process their paddy harvest.

• All the members of the seed processing unit should have equal
opportunity to process their paddy harvest at a nominal fee. This fee
should be below than the current market price and affordable to all the
members.

• If the plant having excess capacity other farmers who are not members
of the particular farmers association also have to have access to this
seed processing unit as the objective of the donor is to facilitate the
paddy cultivation in the country.

• Are farmers getting higher prices for the processed rice by using the seed
processing unit.

• Output of the seed processing unit i.e. rice, should be in good condition
than the paddy purified by using private mills.

• Wastage percentage of the paddy should be lower than the paddy

purified by using private mills.

• Other materials i.e. stones, sand and paddy included in the purified rice
should be lower than the paddy purified by using private mills.

• Have the lifestyle of the beneficiaries changed due to increased income level.

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• Income of the beneficiaries should be increased due to the lower seed

processing cost and increased income to the output. (rice)
• Lifestyle of the beneficiaries should be changed due to the increase
income level. It can be measured by analysing the below mentioned
factors.

• Whether the beneficiaries acquired any capital assets for the

paddy cultivation.
Eg: acquisition of land master tractors, agricultural tools etc.

• Whether they have acquired any household equipment.

Eg: acquisition of television, refrigerator, furniture etc.

• Whether their consumption pattern changed favourably.

Beneficiaries will be able acquire capital assets for their paddy cultivation

• Generally the yield of the rice production of that particular area should
be increased due to less wastage.

All the above factors should be carefully analysis by both the donor and the
experts of the Department of Agriculture to identify the impact to the beneficiaries

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due to the favourable effect of the implementation of the seed paddy processing
unit.

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