CNFA-AMD Project
U.S.-Pakistan Partnership for Agricultural Market Development
SCOPE OF WORK
|
Project Name
|
CNFA-AMD / Project Number AID-391-C-15-00003
|
|
Consultancy Assignment
|
To conduct trainings for potential grantees for Cold Chain Central Vegetable Hubs
|
|
Consultant Title
|
Technical Resource Person
|
|
Reports to
|
Chief Technical Advisor – AMD
|
|
Place of Performance
|
2-days home base, 3 days in Karachi and 3 days in Lahore, including travel and reporting time.
|
|
Est. Period of Performance
|
8 working days: October 1, 2016 until October 31, 2016.
|
Project Description
The U.S.-Pakistan Partnership for Agricultural Market Development (AMD) activity in Pakistan is a USAID funded activity implemented by CNFA with the goal of supporting the development of Pakistan’s commercial agriculture, in particular through improving the ability of Pakistan’s agriculture and livestock sectors to meet both international and domestic demand and requirements in the targeted product lines: citrus, mango, high value/off season vegetables and livestock. AMD envisions the transformation of its four targeted product lines into efficient, private sector led value chains that deliver competitive products to domestic and export markets. AMD’s targeted training, matching grants, and technical assistance will leverage private sector investment and encourage innovation. Together, these approaches will support upgrading, streamlining of supply chains, optimization of profit margins, increase in the participation of women entrepreneurs, and ultimately making Pakistani mango, citrus, meat and HV/OSV more profitable and competitive.
Overview of HV/OSV Product Line / Problem Statement / Rationale
In addition to weak marketing at national and export levels, several interlinked constraints need to be bridged for the HV/OSV sector to develop in terms of sustainable profitability and increased exports. These include advances in production technologies, harvest and post-harvest handling, and access to cold chain and cold chain management.. The major bottleneck in the supply chain is the lack of proper infrastructure for pre-cooling and cold storage. Grading, sorting, packing and packaging along the supply chain are also major constraints. AMD aims to strengthen the HV/OSV product line by partnering with and supporting private sector investors to upgrade or establish centralized grading, sorting, packing and holding cold-storage hubs. Where needed, the central hubs will be linked with low-cost technology of evaporative cooling at farm level to remove some field heat to slow the senescence process and carry out the initial sorting. This will be done to provide an extra 4-6 hour window of maintaining freshness before products go to the centralized hub for final grading, sorting and packing, followed by pre-cooling and refrigerated storage.
Objective of the Cold Chain Grants
The prime objective of AMD’s interventions for strengthening of HV/OSV supply chains is to provide support to the centralized packing hub with the cold chain infrastructure at hub and/or field level to minimize post-harvest losses, improve shelf life of the fresh produce, improve its presentation to access new markets, increase sales in current markets, and increase profit margins. This will be achieved through a centralized hub system that will prepare the produce for downstream delivery to domestic high-end retailers and exporters.
AMD intends to support hub operators to attain the above said process by providing in-kind cost sharing grants. The grant will be comprised of two levels of components:
i. Hub level support in the installation of cold chain chambers for pre-cooling and cold storage till the delivery and/or;
ii. Introduction of field level evaporative cooling chambers.
The grant will be publicly advertised through a standard-procedure RFA to attract applications from potential applicants from the Punjab and Sindh provinces. Awards will be made to responsible applicants whose applications best meet the conditions and criteria stated in RFA.
Training for Potential Grantees
To train farmers on how to respond to an RFA, AMD will organize two capacity building events for two days each — one for the potential investors in Sindh and one for Punjab. The events will be organized in close coordination and consultation with All Pakistan Fruits and Vegetables Exporter, Importer and Merchant Association (PFVA) to identify and maximize the number of potential grantees for the subject grant. A maximum of two participants from each company will attend the training.
Objective of the Proposed Training
The main objective of this training is to identify and train potential grantees on correctly filling the application forms and submitting it with the required documents. This capacity building activity will help the program to identify best potential grantees for the proposed cold chain activities.
Objectives of the Technical Assistance
The key objectives of this Technical Assistance are to deliver parts of the training program to processors/packers and/or exporters and helping them with their application submissions and gathering supporting documents. The consultant will conduct a training using Power Point presentation; assist the participants in the workshop with their real-time queries; and explain the purpose of the activity. Through this exercise, the program will be able to identify potential investors for their proposed grants on strengthening/establishing cold chain component in central vegetable hub. The specific objectives are:
- To deliver training to exporters/processors and packers on Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) of vegetables;
- To deliver training on the importance of sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) issues at farm level;
- To deliver training on export potential and market standard for fresh vegetables;
- To introduce global GAP certifications and other certification essential for export;
- To assist the trainees in filling the application form and answering the questions;
- To assist the trainees in provision of supporting documents with application.
Assignment Scope:
The STTA’s tasks will include but not be limited to:
- Support the execution of assignment in consultation with AMD concerned staff and submit to COP and CTA for approval;
- Coordinate with AMD program team for development of engagement plans and strategies;
- Coordinate with AMD staff for Identification of key stakeholders, especially the packers, traders and exporters related to the trade and marketing of vegetables;
- Develop a Power Point presentation of the proposed technical assistance for trainees;
- Any other tasks assigned by the COP and CTA relating to the design and development of the report on training for potential grantees for cold chain component at central vegetable hubs.
Deliverables:
I. Develop training material for execution of assignment and share with AMD team before training;
II. Deliver training as per the objectives of this assignment.
III. Develop a power point presentation and share it with AMD team before training;
IV. Record attendance and pictures as annexures of final report;
V. Draft a compliance report on covering all the aspects and ToRs of the STTA assignment using the AMD template within 07 business days of completion of the assignment.
Estimated level of effort (LOE) for the assignment:
08 Working days as per below bifurcation of activities:
|
Activity
|
Working Days
|
|
|
|
|
|
Situation Analysis Study on cold chain components in vegetable hubs of Sindh and Punjab
|
October 2016
|
|
|
|
|
|
W1
|
W2
|
W3
|
W4
|
|
|
|
Develop training materials and power point presentation
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel to training destination in Sindh
|
.5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deliver training and workshop in Sindh
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel to training destination in Multan
|
|
|
.5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deliver training and workshop in Multan
|
|
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Final training report
|
|
|
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL STTA DAYS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8
|
Timing of the Assignment:
The consultant will commence working on this assignment on or about October 1, 2016 and will continue till October 31, 2016.
Qualifications:
The consultants should have:
- An advanced degree in the field of Agriculture, Agriculture marketing, Business Management and/or Food Engineering;
- 5-10 years’ experience of having worked with commercial agriculture traders or exporters as well as other players in the HV/OSV;
- Sound knowledge of cold chain and Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) in processing agricultural products and maintaining quality standards;
- Prior experience of working as a consultant with USAID or donor funded projects in Pakistan with Good Agriculture Practices, SPS, Post-harvest handling of fresh produce, pre-cooling, cold storage and international marketing etc.;
- Excellent computer skills, in particular: Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point;
- Demonstrable ability to work in a team;
- Demonstrable interpersonal and communication skills;
- Documented excellent writing skills in English;
- Oral fluency in English;
- Knowledge of local languages will be an added advantage.