Objective of the Programme
The Land Investment For Transformation (LIFT) Programme is a 6.5 year DFID funded programme, that aims to improve the incomes of the rural poor and to enhance economic growth, through three components: The development of second level land certification (SLLC); improved rural land administration; and the development of land sector systems following the ‘making markets work for the poor’ (M4P) approach. The M4P component aims to implement a number of complementary interventions to ensure that the benefits of second level certification are maximised, and operates in three sectors: rural land rental; access to credit; and environment and conservation in the agriculture market.
In late 2014, the LIFT M4P team undertook a market assessment in the Amhara and Oromia regions to identify the main constraints affecting the poor in each of the three sectors and identified a number of interventions. Within environment and conservation in the agricultural market, there are six interventions:
- Intervention 9.1 - Promote investment in organic fertiliser,
- Intervention 9.2 - Introduce and promote use of small irrigation systems ,
- Intervention 9.3 - Promote “clean” agriculture to reduce the usage of chemicals and increase access to higher value markets
- Intervention 9.4 - Ensure availability of appropriate agricultural machineries for farmers
- Intervention 9.5 - Facilitate the development of contract farming systems
- Intervention 10 - Facilitate sharing knowledge and information of agricultural technology and markets
This ToR contributes to the implementation of intervention 9.5 - Facilitate the development of contract farming systems
Scope of Work
Farmers in Ethiopia have limited access to quality inputs such as seeds, fertiliser and pesticides in a timely manner. As a result, their labour does not yield enough income. Sometimes farmers cannot afford to access all the required inputs due to a shortage of money, and therefore resort to using sub-optimal inputs. Farmers also lack access to the right information or to new and improved agricultural technologies, or related advice on agricultural practices. Institutional failures and co-ordination failures on the part of various organisations makes it difficult for farmers to receive inputs at the right time, of the right quality and at the right price, as well as relevant information on technology and practices. At the same time, different agricultural processing companies require good quality products and are willing to pay a premium to acquire them. Some processing companies are even willing to work with farmers or other intermediaries to secure a supply of quality raw material.
Contract farming can enable farmers to access the required inputs through easing their access to finance constraints thus increase their ability to achieve higher quality produce, and ensure a market for their produce. Additionally, contract farming can also help strengthen the land rental market, as renting land becomes more attractive to both renters and rentees.
Duties and Responsibilities
The key activities for this assignment, required to be performed by the consultant, will be:
- Assess the market for contract farming systems in Oromia and Amhara. More specifically,
- Review the results of contract farming systems implemented in the two regions in the past[1] as well as current schemes being implemented, detailing the way they operate and the challenges faced, including an assessment about how suitable they were to address the needs of farmers in the areas of access to credit, land rental, agricultural productivity and access to markets.
- Assess the willingness and capacity of private sector processors and exporters to participate in new contract farming systems
- Identify opportunities for developing new contract farming systems.
- Produce and present the findings of the report to relevant stakeholders, including GoE.
Milestones and Timeframe
Timing of Inputs: September 2015 - December 2015 (maximum of 40 days)
Milestones and timeframe
No.Outputs/deliverables Indicative due date 1. Draft feasibility study report submitted October 2015 2. Final feasibility study approved December 2015 3. Presentation to relevant stakeholders as well as interested government services December 2015
Competency and qualification requirements
The following are the required competencies and qualification of the consultant(s):
- Previous experience in designing, assessing or implementing contract farming systems.
- Working experience in Ethiopia and good knowledge of the Ethiopian agribusiness sector.
- Strong ability in building capacity of national staff and board members of coops and unions through training, coaching and mentoring.
- Excellent skills in spoken and written English will be required.
Programme Duration:
6.5 years
Programme Start Date:
March 2014
Application Deadline:
The deadline for submission of the proposal is 31 July 2015. If proposal is not received in the manner specified and before the deadline, the proposal will not be considered.
Required documentation
Interested consultant(s)/consultancy firms are required to submit the following documentation:
- Technical proposal focused ONLY on the first part of the assignment. The proposal will show the understanding of the assignment, methodology for implementation (including the description of the tools to be used during the assessment), detailed work plan for completion of this assignment, and indicative structure of the final feasibility study. The technical proposal should not be longer than 10 pages.
- CV(s) of consultant(s) who will be undertaking the assignment (max. 4 pages per CV).
- Detailed financial proposal including level of effort required (if considered different from LOE estimated in this ToR), fee rates and reimbursable expenses.
The required documentation should be sent in electronic format to the LIFT M4P Coordinator Christian Portal (cportal@htspe-team.com) and copied to Matt Woodhouse (Matt_Woodhouse@dai.com) and Max Schulz (MSchulz@nathaninc.com). Please write in the subject ‘’ Application for ToR consultant number 18”.
Any requests for clarification must be sent to all emails indicated above.
Requests for clarification: Any request for clarification must be sent by email to the LIFT M4P Coordinator - Christian Portal (cportal@htspe-team.com)
*Please note that all profiles are indicative only and subject to change once the ToR is made available.*
[1] See Nijhoff, H. "It takes two to tango’: Critical contract farming issues for linking up small-scale Ethiopian farmers with the world market." CDI, Wageningen UR, that made an inventory of 9 contract farming initiatives in Ethiopia that were ongoing in 2009.
