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The expense of operating outboard motor boats means that visits to each community are few and far between. |
In December, the project was just beginning to get going in the provinces. The agriculture workers were looking to the RDP to help restore agriculture extension services. Practically speaking, this means purchasing small boats, outboard motors, fuel, or rehabilitation of offices. At the Ag offices, I was told about the series of dead outboard boat motors lining one wall – including provenance and whatever series of incidents had rendered them inoperable.
Workers expressed their hope that help from RDP would help turn the extension services around, allowing them to get back out to the rural communities with advice, research, and materials. First and foremost this would require mobility in order to reach the communities, which are dotted around the sprawling lagoons of the country’s Western Province. Agricultural extension trips, as I discovered, mean long days out on the water going from village to village. The expense of operating outboard motor boats means that visits to each community are few and far between.

The agricultural component is also moving. Equipment has been delivered and rapid rural appraisals have started, allowing agricultural workers to begin to identify community needs and the long process of creating services which address them.
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