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agricultural eztension service₉ and improve the quality and relevance of the training provided by reaearch ataff to eztension and of technical advice to the farming coomunity.

B.    Kain Benefita

3*02    A wlde spectrum of farmera and llweatock owners stands to benefit

from the development and diaaemination of new technologies. The project is deaigned to addreaa the country*a increasingly serious problems of enwironmental degradation and decreaaing productivity. The closer integration of reaearch on crops₉ liwestock and forestry will contribute to the dewelopment of auatainable farming ayatema that will asslst with the reatoration and conserwation of 8oil fertility and so with crop productivity. An increaaed emphaala on adaptiwe research, with the eztension sernice and the farming coomunity participating in the research proces8, will assist with the adaptation of ezisting technologies to the needs of the farming community* This will be further strecgthened through the close collaboration of this project with that proposed for agricultural eztension. Both the long-term needs of the environment and the most immediate technical problems of farmera will thua receive high priority*

5*03    Planning and coordination of the national research programs in

collaboration with International research institutions, and improved link a ges be twe en research and eztension are ezpected to lead to morę efficient use of scarce human and financial resources and to increase the impact of other inve8tments in the agriculture and rural sectors. Through the funding of technical assistance, consultancy contracts and training programs₉ it would addreaa the key problems of lack of research planning and management capacity and the ahortage of technical skills and ezperlence among local research ataff.

C.    Project Liska

5.04    The greatest riak faced by the project is the potential difficulty

of deweloping feaslble economic Solutions to the degradation of the enwironment and economic technical recommendations for increased crop and liveatock productivity in the contezt of the particularly difficult condition of agriculture in Niger* However* the non-project risk in the decline of fertility₉ soil degradation and over ezploitation is considerabie and reaearch ia essential to combat this* Potential risks also reside in the relevance of priority research programs in taking into account farmer*s needs and resource conservation₉ and in the adequacy of the linkages betweea research and eztenaion* The representation of eztension staff and of farming community representatives on reglonal and national Management Councils, the direct participation of research staff in the training of eztension workers₉ and the reorganization of INRAN with new statutes would all help lessen those riaka* Other risks are inherent in all research projects₉ namely difficulties in obtaining adeąuate staff and funds for the development of a long-term national reaearch program* These risks could be considered to be relatively email, however₉ becauae the 6ovemment and donors have already shown a strong commitment to research*