Cereal consumption was slightly higher among landless and near-landless project participants in comparison to similar nonparticipants in project villages. Agricultural production increased by an average of 27 % and per capita household income by about 10%, as a result of direct and indirect effects of the project. More productive employment generated substituted for very low productivity employment with wage employment increasing by13% and self-employment declining by about 10%.

Household-level research on labour-intensive public works programmes in Botswana and Niger confirms the income-increasing effects of participation in such programmes; in Botswana, project wage income contributed about 40% of the income of participating households, and, in Niger, it contributed about 20% of total household income of the poor (Teklu 1992; Webb 1992).