Information used for decision-making of farming investment in the south of Chile

Abstract

Given the importance of correct project formulation to obtain pertinent and relevant information for investment decision-making, the present work evaluates the quality of information used when projects were formulated and presented by micro- and small farming enterprises of the Región de La Araucanía to the Funding Round for Modernization of Family Farm Agriculture from 1995 to 1999, which is managed by the Instituto de Desarrollo Agropecuario (INDAP) as part of the Ministry of Agriculture. When all the studies within each project were assessed, serious information deficiencies were noted, indicating that the intended objective of reducing the initial uncertainty regarding the convenience of investing was not achieved. The number of projects presented by small enterprises was higher than that presented by microenterprises. The quality of the projects improved over time, however, it was not satisfactory to enable investment decision-making in an objective manner.