Smallholder farmers in developing countries often lack appropriate cereal storage facilities which can contribute to food insecurity and low cereal commercialization, particularly when they can only rely on one cropping season with no irrigation. Lack of quality storage can lead to post-harvest losses (Abass et al, 2014; Sheahan and Barrett, 2017) and often compels smallholder farmers to sell their crops soon after harvest, when crop prices are at their seasonal lowest, only for them to buy grain for consumption during the lean season, when prices are high (Kadjo et al, 2018; Aggarwal et al, 2018; Stephens and Barrett, 2011). In many instances, such farmers need food assistance to survive the lean season and in other cases, they may have to borrow money at usurious rates in order to purchase food. This was the case in Guéra Region of Chad, a semi-arid area that frequently experiences droughts and dry spells in ways that severely reduce crop production and rural households' food security. To address these issues, the IFAD-funded Programme d'Appui au Développement Rural dans le Guéra (PADER-G) project was implemented with the main objective of supporting poor rural households and smallholder farmers in Guéra, Chad to improve their food security and livelihoods. One specific aim of PADER-G, designed to manage risks of food shortage, was to improve cereal storage among smallholder farmers through the construction of community cereal banks (banque de céréales). This main element of the project was complemented with the establishment of community committees (Comité de gestion des banques de soudure - COGES) which were trained on effective management of the cereal banks.

Written by a team of expert practitioners at the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD, this book gives an overview of evaluation practice at IFAD. It looks at how evaluation practice has evolved to reflect, respond to and inform changing expectations of development assistance. It reveals how evaluation products and methodologies have benefited from key reviews, revisions and lessons learned, and also how they have progressively strengthened IFAD’s capacity to assess its operations and better understand its results. The book concludes with reflections on some of the challenges that lie ahead, including how the independent evaluation function can continue to evolve to meet future challenges and enhance the impact of development initiatives on people’s lives. This valuable insight into practice will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and policymakers in development economics, development studies and rural studies.

"This paper examines the impact of IFAD-supported projects so as to learn lessons for future projects. It analyses the different methods used by IFAD to measure a project's impact, finds that IFAD is improving the well-being of rural people, and recommends that impact assessments be built into future projects from their inception."--