Project Life Cycle - Seed Paddy Processing Unit

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Project Life Cycle

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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. 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

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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. This 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 paddy cultivation. 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 ing Uni t

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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 food commodity of the Sri Lanka’s is rice the donor wanted to invest their fund for the development of rice production of the country. To identify the areas to be funded for the development of the rice industry of the country, following preidentification activities will be carried out by the foreign funding agency with the collaboration of the Department of the Agriculture. 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 industry with the industry experts. Department of Agriculture may have the necessary capacity and industry data particular to the rice industry and investigations and observations can be carried out together with the department. Accordingly information regarding weaknesses of the rice industry, various stages to be developed 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.

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ustry. Reduce post harvest crop losses by introducing sophisticated technology. Introduce effective pesticide, fungicides for the paddy industry.

Introduce new technology to the Paddy cultivation industry -Page 3 of 31 -

_______________________________________________________________________ _ 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 expertise to 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 the donors, feasibility of implementation, and availability of resources should be considered. 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 it replace the primary methods of processing the seed paddy.

Traditional/primary methods of paddy cultivation.

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_______________________________________________________________________ _ Obtain and assess the existing resources

To implement the project of set up a seep paddy processing plant existing resources 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. Project initiation strategy, Project implementation strategy and project operating strategy can be considered as main strategic problems of this project and correct strategy should 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. Under the cost components below mentioned expenses can be identified in following main categories Investment expenditure

Following expenses can be recognized as capital expenses of seed paddy processing plant. •

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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

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_______________________________________________________________________ _ 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 expenses Following 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 the investor. If the investor’s objective is to earn profit they will consider the financial benefits of the project. However in this project object of the donor is to develop the paddy industry in the country and therefore the nature of the benefits expected by the investor also somewhat different form a investor who expect profit for his investment. Following improvements to the industry as well as the beneficiaries will be considered as befits by the investor of this 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 project will be funded by foreign funding agency and they may not so familiar about the rice industry in the country. In this case technical expertise in the Department of Agriculture can be occupied to draft the project concept.

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_______________________________________________________________________ _ Pr oject Pr epar ation and Anal yse - Seed P ad dy Pr ocessing Unit

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roject preparation and analysis of this project should be done very methodically 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. 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 correct option also can be implemented under the preliminary feasibility study stage. In this case amongst various options to develop the paddy industry, implementing a seed paddy processing unit is a pert of the preliminary feasibility study. Technical expertise clear this project as technically viable and information gathered during the project identification revealed that the benefits to be received to the beneficiaries. After decide the project which is going to implement, proper project proposal should be prepared. Following information should be included in the project proposal. • Name of the Project : implementing a Seed Paddy Processing Plant in North Central Province. • Objective of the Project : reduce the post harvesting crop losses •

Place of the project to be implemented : North Central Province – G.S Division

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Target group : paddy farmers in particular G.S Division

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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.

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 Enhance the standards of living of the beneficiary families.  Provide good quality rice to the consumers. •

Estimated total cost : 10 Millions

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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

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Responsible organization or officials: Department of Agriculture will be responsible for maintain this plant after the completion of the work.

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Project duration: Time required for the construction of the building and installation of machineries has been estimated as four months. After the completion of the unit long term benefits will be received to the beneficiaries.

Traditional small scale Seed processing unit.

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Large scale highly equipped seed processing units.

Detailed feasibility study Under the detailed feasibility study the procedures followed in preliminary feasibility 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 • Office room and a rest room for the staff • Generator room

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_______________________________________________________________________ _ 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 be main cost components for this project and will be estimated as 10 million. • Technical feasibility of the project

Detained Technical drawings

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Technical feasibility of the project have been cleared by the expertise participated from the department of the Agriculture. Detailed technical drawing which may suit to the purpose will be provided by the Department. • Availability of human resources 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 it operate 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 the machineries and machine operators can be trained through the Department.

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• Duration of the project This project will provide enduring benefits to its targeted beneficiaries and can be considered as one of long term projects. • Benefits of the project Objective of the project is to facilitate the paddy cultivation in the country and therefore 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 the environment. • 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

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_______________________________________________________________________ _ Disposal of Paddy husk may harm the environment

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

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he object of this project is somewhat different from the project which is targeted 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. However 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 described above 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 be measured through post project evaluation as it generates its benefits once the construction process completed. This project will generate lots of indirect benefits to the beneficiaries as this helps to 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 past records. • Measure the standards of living of the beneficiaries by conduction monitoring visit 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 r gani za tion - Seed P ad dy Pr oce ss ing Uni t

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n this case we can clearly identify 03 parties and project organization activity should combine all three parties to smooth functioning of the project.

• Donor agency • Government counterpart (Department of Agriculture) • Implementing partners (Farmers association) Responsibilities, devolution of powers and the controlling powers of the project should 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 supposed to coordinate with the donors, farmers associations and the technical experts until the end of the project. Responsibilities of Donor agency for the implementation of seed paddy processing 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 donor’s requirements and objectives.

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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 the viability of the project. • Prepare a detailed budget for the implementation of seed paddy processing unit 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 to operate the seed paddy processing unit. Responsibilities of Implementing Partner for the implementation of seed paddy 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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Conducting periodic meeting with beneficiary families

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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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 implement accordingly. Identification of the activities which can be implemented simultaneously 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 and machines 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 be implemented simultaneously. • Training of the staff for the implementation of seed processing unit can be carried 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 sing Uni t

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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 and expectations of the both parties. To avoid such expectation gap between both parties it is very important to identify the answers for the below mentioned questions. • What to do Set up a seed processing unit to avoid the post harvest crop losses and increase the quality 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 the technical 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 the construction 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 a lesser cost than the open market.

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

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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 are going to be verified.

Monitoring of the project of the operation of a seed paddy processing unit will ensure 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 donor’s objective and beneficiaries expectations be achieved. Objective of the donors of this project is to assist the paddy cultivation in the country and there should be proper mechanism to identify whether their objective is going to be fulfilled. Expectation of the beneficiaries will be obtain good quality seed processing facility at a nominal fee. -Page 25 of 31 -

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• Whether the expected benefits of the seed paddy processing unit will be guaranteed. Expected benefits of this project are to assist the paddy industry of the country by way of establishing a seed paddy processing unit. It will provide the 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 the following 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 in initial stage there is a difference between estimated benefits and the actual benefits. Following deviations of the benefits may be occurred due to various reasons. •

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

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• 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 the funding agency are not in a position to give additional funds for extra works that will lead to a shortage of resources. • Weaknesses of management and organizational strength Department of Agriculture have to provide necessary technical expertise for the implementation of the project and also appointed a Project Manager also. If the appointed personnel are not capable to implement the project activities there may 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 representatives and 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 unit and 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 beneficiary comments about the project. This will helps to the donor to measure the achievement of their objective. Beneficiary research will provide the information about how the project effect to their living status etc.

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

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mpact evaluation of this project will help to donor to measure the impact to the target beneficiaries lifestyle and the support to the paddy industry of the country by the project. Following criteria should be checked to carry out an impact assessment of a project. Impact assessments usually carry out after few months of the installation and handing over the unit to its beneficiaries. • All the members of the farmers association have the equal opportunity to use the seed processing unit to process their paddy harvest. • All the members of the seed processing unit should have equal opportunity to process their paddy harvest at a nominal fee. This fee should be below than the current market price and affordable to all the members. • If the plant having excess capacity other farmers who are not members of the particular farmers association also have to have access to this seed 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 condition than 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 rice should be lower than the paddy purified by using private mills. • Have the lifestyle of the beneficiaries changed due to increased income level.

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• 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 increase income level. It can be measured by analysing the below mentioned factors. • 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

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Generally the yield of the rice production of that particular area should be increased due to less wastage.

All the above factors should be carefully analysis by both the donor and the experts of the Department of Agriculture to identify the impact to the beneficiaries

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due to the favourable effect of the implementation of the seed paddy processing unit.

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