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Over the course of five years dedicated to enhancing Bangladesh’s livestock sector, the ‘Livestock and Dairy Development Project (LDDP)’ has only achieved 47 per cent of its objectives within a span of four and a half years.
During the period, a 42.61 per cent of the total projected expenditure was utilized, amounting to an expenditure of TK 1,823 crore out of the planned budget of TK 4,280 crore.
The stakeholders have sent a project revision proposal to the Planning Commission, asking for 22 months more time to complete the remaining work citing Covid-19 as the main reason behind the delay in the progress.
The project however was approved in 2019 and the corona situation started in March 2020.
The Implementation Inspection and Evaluation Department (IMED) under the Ministry of Planning has also raised some questions on the quality of the work. Besides, out of total 28 audit objections on financial irregularities, only 2 have been resolved.
According to IMED's report of June, the project implementation targets are not realistic in terms of adequate financial resources, adequate manpower resources, training facilities at all stages of the project, livestock business perspective, and etc, thus the progress of the project is very low.
Meanwhile, inequality in selection of beneficiaries, non-approval of all PGs (Producer Group), equipment lying unused, inertia in decision-making by officials and attrition of workers are the weak points of the project, the report reads.
IMED has also assessed some risks in the project work including, use of supplied equipment, PG sustainability, backward breeding, implementation of matching grant etc.
Project Summary
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) passed the LDDP on May 29 in 2018. The duration of the project under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock with an estimated expenditure of Tk 4,280 crore 36 lakh 48 thousand is from January 2019 to December 2023.
Some of the ambitious objectives of the project include increasing livestock productivity by at least 20 per cent at the farm and household level, creating 5,500 livestock producer organisations with farmers.
The government and World Bank are jointly financing in development project which is all-time high so far in the country's livestock sector.
Department of Livestock Services (DLS) is expected to implement this project at an estimated cost of Tk 4,280 crore 36 lakh 48 thousand in 465 upazilas of 61 districts of the country (excluding 3 hill districts and upazilas).
Remaining works
According to the project report, constructions of 238 training halls have been completed at the upazila level. Out of total 192 wet markets, 5 are under construction, 40 tenders have been completed and 25 tenders have been invited.
Apart from this, out of 20 male slaughterhouses, not one has been started, 13 of them are in progress and 7 tender works have been done. Construction of laboratory waste disposal pit and 8 buildings for artificial insemination at district level are in progress.
Out of the total 101 packages sanctioned in the project, procurement of 64 packages has been completed and 13 packages are under tender process, whereas out of 114 work packages, 77 have been purchased and 15 are under tender process.
Meanwhile, out of the total 71 service packages, the procurement process of two has been completed and the other two tender processes are ongoing.
Irregularities in purchase
The procurement process of fragmented packages has suffered from a lack of transparency and accountability due to instances where the reduction of higher authority approval obligations has occurred.
The division of certain packages during the project's procurement process has led to the inclusion of additional packages that deviate from the approved Detailed Project Plan (DPP), exceeding the originally specified number of packages.
Farmers and traders in the farm list
According to IMED's survey, 60.2 per cent of the farmers involved in the project work in agriculture, while most of the rest do business. 92 per cent of the farmers did not get any machinery from the project. Only 9.4 per cent of the farmers received 50 kg of grain balanced feed for cattle. 79 per cent of the farmers breed cattle artificially.
Distributed machines are unused
8 per cent of the farmers received only cream separator machines from the project, most of whom could not use them due to lack of necessary training, according to the survey. Most of the equipment given to Upazila Livestock Office is packed and unused.
There are only 8 PIC meetings and 6 PSC meetings have been held since the inception of the project till April 2020. According to circular, 26 PJIC and 17 PSC meetings were required.
Audit objections of TK 135 crore
During the past four financial years, the Financial Audit and Project Appraisal Directorate (FAPAD) raised a total of 28 audit objections during the project audit. Among these objections, two have been resolved, while the remaining 26 objections, involving a sum of Tk 135 crore 16 lakh 66 thousand, are still pending.
Reasons for falling behind
The imposition of movement restrictions at the field level during the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a delay in the formation of Project Groups (PGs), while the late preparation of certain training modules postponed the commencement of training activities. Furthermore, the timely appointment of the international consulting firm was not accomplished, and the provision of various materials at the field level was delayed, hindering their utilization for equipment training purposes.
LDDP Project Director Abdur Rahim told The Business Post, the report from IMED was received until May this year and since then, and significant progress has been made through extensive work. Considering the various challenges faced, such as the Covid-19 situation, as well as coordination efforts with multiple stakeholders including the World Bank, there has been notable advancement
“It has been proposed to extend the project for an additional two years, which would result in the project's duration stretching until 2025. It is not possible to implement such a big project in a short time,” LDDP sources said.
