Author: A. M. L. B. Polgolla
AIT Library Call Number: AIT Thesis no. HS-82-16
Year: 1982
Academic Program: Human Settlement (HS)
Type: Thesis (M.Sc.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 1988
Examination Committee: Hiran D. Dias (Chairperson); Karl E. Weber, Jayant Kumar Routray (Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: The study was undertaken as an impact evaluation to see whether the rural poor, the target group of IRD strategy, have benefitted f rom t he Kurunegale District Integrated Rural Development Project. The study highlights the socio-economic changes that have taken place in the Divullegoda ASC Division of t he Nikaweratiya Electorate as a result of the Project implementation. The conclusions are drawn by comparing the eight year period after the project was started ( 1980 – 87) with the period before project (1972-79). Although the survey findings s how a substantial increase of paddy production due to the increased productivity of l and it has not increased the income of the poor and employment opportunities for t hem as expected by the project planners. As a result, the improvement of living conditions of the poor has been very limited. The survey has identified beneficiaries and non -beneficiaries from the project in relation to the type of land owned by t he poor and the contribution that the supportive components emphasised by the project made to increase their productivity. Obviously the beneficiaries are the people who have sufficient land under irrigation to cultivate . Non-beneficiaries are twofold: the landless or those who cultivate land that cannot be irrigated and who have land that might have been irrigated but wasn’t . In the area studied , they make up a substantial proportion of the rural poor . The study discloses other reasons for the limited benefits to the rural poor: shortcomings in project planning and implementation, constraints faced by the people and, very importantly, the failure to appreciate adequately the needs of the rural poor in this area and how to help them. This has led to several components being overlooked in the plan. It has emphasised the need to identify the target group, mobilise people’s participation, provide for income generation through non-farm employment and rainfed highland or ‘ chena’ cultivation in the dry zone, increase accessibility
Scholarship Donor(s): Canadian International Development Agency
Note: A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for t he Award of the Degree of Master of Science
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