project life cycle-seed processing unit

8/14/2019 Project Life Cycle-SEED Processing UNIT

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Project Analysing and Management _______________________________________________________________________ _

Project Life Cycle

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.P

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

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.FThis 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 paddycultivation. 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 ingUnit

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 foodcommodity of the Sri Lankas is rice the donor wanted to invest their fund for thedevelopment of rice production of the country. To identify the areas to be fundedfor the development of the rice industry of the country, following pre-identification activities will be carried out by the foreign funding agency with thecollaboration of the Department of the Agriculture.

I

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 industrywith the industry experts. Department of Agriculture may have the necessarycapacity and industry data particular to the rice industry and investigations andobservations can be carried out together with the department. Accordinglyinformation regarding weaknesses of the rice industry, various stages to bedeveloped 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.

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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 expertiseto 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 thedonors, feasibility of implementation, and availability of resources should beconsidered.

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 itreplace the primary methods of processing the seed paddy.

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Traditional/primary methods of paddy cultivation.Obtain and assess the existing resources

To implement the project of set up a seep paddy processing plant existingresources 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. Projectinitiation strategy, Project implementation strategy and project operating strategycan be considered as main strategic problems of this project and correct strategyshould 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.

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Project Analysing and Management _______________________________________________________________________ _ Under the cost components below mentioned expenses can be identified infollowing 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

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 expensesFollowing 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 theinvestor. If the investors objective is to earn profit they will consider the financial

benefits of the 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 projectwill be funded by foreign funding agency and they may not so familiar about therice industry in the country.

In this case technical expertise in the Department of Agriculture can be occupiedto draft the project concept.

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However in this project object of the donor is to develop the paddy industry in thecountry and therefore the nature of the

benefits expected by the investor alsosomewhat different form a investor whoexpect profit for his investment.

Following improvements to the industry aswell as the beneficiaries will be consideredas befits by the investor of this project.


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Pr oject Pr epar ation and Anal yse - Seed P ad dyPr ocessing Unit

roject preparation and analysis of this project should be done verymethodically 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.

P

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 correctoption also can be implemented under the preliminary feasibility study stage.

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

Technical expertise clear this project as technically viable and informationgathered during the project identification revealed that the benefits to be receivedto the beneficiaries.

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

proposal.

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Name of the Project : implementing a Seed Paddy Processing Plant in NorthCentral 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.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 beresponsible for maintain this plant after the completion of the work.

Project duration: Time required for the construction of the building andinstallation of machineries has been estimated as four months. After the

completion of the unit long term benefits will be received to the beneficiaries.

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Traditional small scale Seed processing unit.

Large scale highly equipped seed processing units.

Detailed feasibility study

Under the detailed feasibility study the procedures followed in preliminaryfeasibility 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

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Office room and a rest room for the staff

Generator room

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

Technical feasibility of the project

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Detained Technical drawings

Availability of human resources

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Technical feasibility of the project have been cleared by the expertise

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


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Project Analysing and Management _______________________________________________________________________ _ 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 itoperate 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 themachineries and machine operators can be trained through the Department.

Duration of the project

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

Benefits of the project

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Project Analysing and Management _______________________________________________________________________ _ Objective of the project is to facilitate the paddy cultivation in the country andtherefore 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 theenvironment.

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

Disposal of Paddy husk may harm the environment

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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

he object of this project is somewhat different from the project which istargeted 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.THowever 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 describedabove 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 bemeasured through post project evaluation as it generates its benefits once theconstruction process completed.

This project will generate lots of indirect benefits to the beneficiaries as this helpsto 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 pastrecords.

Measure the standards of living of the beneficiaries by conduction monitoringvisit 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 rgani za tion - Seed P ad dy Pr oce ss ingUnit

n this case we can clearly identify 03 parties and project organization activityshould combine all three parties to smooth functioning of the project.I Donor agency Government counterpart (Department of Agriculture) Implementing partners (Farmers association)

Responsibilities, devolution of powers and the controlling powers of the projectshould 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 supposedto coordinate with the donors, farmers associations and the technical experts untilthe end of the project.

Responsibilities of Donor agency for the implementation of seed paddyprocessing 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 donors requirements andobjectives.

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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 theviability of the project.

Prepare a detailed budget for the implementation of seed paddy processingunit 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 tooperate the seed paddy processing unit.

Responsibilities of Implementing Partner for the implementation of seedpaddy 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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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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Main components of

project organization stageof the seed paddy processing unit

Identification of Tasks of the implementation of seed paddy processing

unit

Preparation of Time Tablefor the implementation of

seed paddy processingunit

Identify theResponsibilities of the

implementation of seed paddy processing unit

Conducting periodic meeting with beneficiary families


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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 implementaccordingly. Identification of the activities which can be implementedsimultaneously 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 andmachines 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 beimplemented simultaneously.

Training of the staff for the implementation of seed processing unit can becarried 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 singUnit

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 andexpectations of the both parties.

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

What to do

Set up a seed processing unit to avoid the post harvest crop losses and increase thequality 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 thetechnical 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 theconstruction 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 alesser cost than the open market.

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Main stages of theimplementation of a

seed paddy processing unit

Construction periodof the unit

Development Periodof the unit

Operational Periodof the unit


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

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 aregoing to be verified.

M

Monitoring of the project of the operation of a seed paddy processing unit willensure 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 donors objective and beneficiaries expectations be achieved.

Objective of the donors of this project is to assist the paddy cultivation inthe country and there should be proper mechanism to identify whether their objective is going to be fulfilled.

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Expectation of the beneficiaries will be obtain good quality seed processingfacility at a nominal fee.

Whether the expected benefits of the seed paddy processing unit will beguaranteed.

Expected benefits of this project are to assist the paddy industry of thecountry by way of establishing a seed paddy processing unit. It will providethe 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 thefollowing 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 ininitial stage there is a difference between estimated benefits and the actual

benefits. Following deviations of the benefits may be occurred due to variousreasons.

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.

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If the paddy harvest of the selected beneficiaries is less than the expected,the seed processing unit will be underutilized.

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 thefunding agency are not in a position to give additional funds for extra worksthat will lead to a shortage of resources.

Weaknesses of management and organizational strength

Department of Agriculture have to provide necessary technical expertise for theimplementation of the project and also appointed a Project Manager also. If theappointed personnel are not capable to implement the project activities theremay 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 representativesand 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 unitand 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 beneficiarycomments about the project. This will helps to the donor to measure theachievement of their objective.

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

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Follo w Up / Im pa ct Eval ua tio n - S ee d PaddyProcessing Uni t

mpact evaluation of this project will help to donor to measure the impact to thetarget beneficiaries lifestyle and the support to the paddy industry of the country

by the project.IFollowing criteria should be checked to carry out an impact assessment of a

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

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

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

If the plant having excess capacity other farmers who are not membersof the particular farmers association also have to have access to thisseed 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 conditionthan 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 riceshould be lower than the paddy purified by using private mills.

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

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 increaseincome level. It can be measured by analysing the below mentionedfactors.

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.

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All the above factors should be carefully analysis by both the donor and theexperts of the Department of Agriculture to identify the impact to the beneficiariesdue to the favourable effect of the implementation of the seed paddy processingunit.

project life cycle-seed processing unit

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