Terms of Reference for a Consultant to Support Design And Implementation of Transformation of The African Savanah Initiative (TAAT-S)

TERMS REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department (AHAI) Rue Joseph Anoma, 01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01, Cote d’Ivoire

E-mail: D.BENNIRAN@AFDB.ORG

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANCY FOR A CONSULTANT TO SUPPORT DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF TRANSFORMATION OF THE AFRICAN SAVANAH INITIATIVE (TAAT-S)

Brief description of the Assignment:

The broad objective of the assignment is for the consultant to assist the AfDB, and the governments of Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon, in particular MoFA and other National Development Institutions in the process of building competitive commodity value chains, specifically:

• Ensure the implementation of TAAT-S technology and policy recommendations, business plans, and all other recommendation from the consultants and implementing partners on competitive production of soya bean, maize and livestock commodity value chains in Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon.
• Facilitate the TAAT-S private sector investment effort with respect to the identification and recruitment process for local and international agribusiness investors to develop a soy bean- maize agriculture production ecosystem in Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon.
• Document and share key lessons that would guide the implementation of similar initiatives in selected TAAT-S countries.

Department issuing the request: Agribusiness Development Division (AHAI.1)

Place of assignment: The Consultant will be based at the Bank’s Headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire for the duration of the contract.

Duration of the assignment: 06 months

Tentative Date of commencement: 01 March 2019

Detailed Terms of reference for the assignment: [TORs below]

Deadline for applications: 17 February 2019

Applications to be submitted to: Ms. Dorra Ben Nirane D.BENNIRAN@AFDB.ORG

ANNEX I

Terms of Reference for a Consultant to Support Design And Implementation of Transformation of The African Savanah Initiative (TAAT-S)

BACKGROUND

1. Africa has 400 million Ha of Savannah, twice the size of the Brazilian Cerrados, that can support production of maize, soybean, and livestock, and turn the continent into a net exporter of these commodities while providing direct jobs for tens of millions of young people and indirect jobs for many more. Currently, less than 10% of the African Savannah is being cultivated. The African Savannah stretches across 25 countries, from Senegal in West Africa to Angola and Mozambique in southern Africa, and supports the livelihoods of 239 million people, 136 million of whom live in extreme poverty;
2. The African Development Bank has launched a Feed Africa Strategy that takes a commodity value chain and Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZ) approach with emphasis on commodities that possess comparative advantages and potential for import substitution, future demand, and poverty alleviation. For example, the African Savannah AEZ has prioritized maize, soybean, and livestock (poultry, beef, dairy, small ruminants, piggery, etc.) with a special focus on widespread dissemination of modern and proven technologies to raise productivity, access to finance, mechanization, and a new generation of entrepreneurial farmers. Low productivity makes African agriculture uncompetitive and creates a negative net trade balance, currently estimated at US$35billion and projected to increase to over US$100 billion by 2025. One third of calories consumed in Africa comes from the outside. The Bank’s new approach to transforming African Agriculture designates increased productivity as number one enabler for transformation;
3. The Feed Africa strategy recognizes that rapid agricultural transformation at scale has occurred in other countries and provide valuable lessons to achieve agricultural transformation in Africa. For the African Savannah AEZ, the “Cerrados miracle” that happened in Brazil in the 1980s until early 2000s and the no-till “Brown Revolution” in Argentina are relevant examples. Indeed, South America is the first tropical and sub-tropical region of the world to join the global food powerhouses. Through skillful development of production technologies adapted to the tropics of new crop and livestock varieties and innovative soil and crop management packages, wide scale dissemination of these technologies, low interest loans, and ambitious rural development programs, and strong global demand for soybeans and maize, Brazil and Argentina became one of the top 5 food exporting countries of the world within two decades;
4. The strategy highlights the Bank’s catalytic role and how this can be enhanced by partnerships, including with South American Institutions, in three broad ways: design of interventions, based on technological and institutional innovations for high productivity and high gross margin food production; secure buy-in from Regional Member Countries (RMCs) and effective implementation leveraging the Bank’s development expertise on the continent; and scale up success across diverse physical and socio-economic environments to create momentum for transformation;
5. A key lesson learned from South America production models highlights the importance of promoting strong interaction between the private and public sectors. In both the Argentinian and Brazilian cases, the public interventions helped to resolve several bottlenecks affecting agriculture production. As a result, solutions found impacted positively in the agriculture generated income creating the necessary conditions for scale up technical assistance and extensions programs;
6. Ghana has a rapidly growing middle class, thanks to political stability, a strong educational system, and an economy growing on average at 4-7% annually of the past decade. However, these dynamics have also led to an increasing level of food imports. Ghana imported over a US$2billion of food, especially poultry and meat products in 2016. Demand for soybean, a key ingredient in poultry feed exceeds 150,000MT per year while local production is roughly 60,000MT, leaving a short fall of 90,000MT that is met by imports from Brazil and the US. According to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), approximately 77% of local soya production occurs in the sector of the country, with processing largely taking place in the center of the country and consumption largely in the South. Yields of soybean are very low about 1MT/Ha per hectare. The market makers for soybean are Ghana nuts Company, Bosbel oil, Tringo Ltd, and Ratkia holdings, with a total demand of 96,400MT per annum or 64% of the total market demand. Ghana currently imports 100,000 MT of ready-to-cook chicken. To put in context, 13 million broilers each of 8 cycles/year would consume an equivalent of 80,000 to 90,000 MT of additional soy. Animal protein production is one of the best added value opportunities for grain. This opportunity would practically double the local soybean meal market;
7. The Savannah of Ghana where most of these crops are produced has a higher incidence of poverty and food insecurity. The agricultural sector faces additional challenges in the: low crop productivity and a single growing season compared to two in the South. There is a need for a different approach for development of agriculture in Ghana that raises productivity of farmers, helps them market their produce, and increases land usage via crop rotation that combines conservation agriculture with overall productivity; INNOVATIVE APPROACH AND LINKAGE TO EXISTING BANK PROJECTS IN GHANA, GUINEA, ZAMBIA & GABON
8. The Transformation of the African Savannah Initiative (TAAT-S) seeks to transfer the experiences of Brazilian Cerrados experience and conservation agriculture to Africa to create a thriving food production sector in the vast African savannahs and to achieve the second major success of tropical agriculture in the world. TAAT-S will facilitate the introduction and adaptation of tropical crop and soil technologies, entry of commercial farmers and new private sector investments, and engagement of local farmers to achieve an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable global food powerhouse in the African savannahs. TAAT-S will begin in a first phase of eight countries, namely Ghana, Guinea, DRC, CAR, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and Mozambique. A pilot phase development of 100,000Ha is planned to begin in Ghana, October this year, to pull together and implement the concept of innovation platforms – made up of technology providers, the best and local R&D institutions, commercial and small holder farmers, input suppliers, equipment manufacturers, policy makers, etc. as the primary vehicle unit for implementation of ‘frontier agriculture’ needed for the transformation of the savannahs;
9. The Bank’s Agriculture and Agro-industry department has a two-pronged approach to value chain development namely: increased and sustainable productivity, and agribusiness development. The flagship project of the increased and sustainable productivity is the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT); a bold plan to double African farm yields by expanding access to modern food production technologies of high-yield and nutritious crops, livestock, and aquaculture to millions of farmers, and tackling pests and disease epidemics.
10. Agribusiness development entails building competitive commodity value chains by linking increased productivity to increased value addition, downstream marketing, and policy reforms for an enabling environment to facilitate inflow of private capital, market linkages and demand led agricultural products. This is a market driven, agriculture-as-a-business agenda that encompasses the entire food system, not just agricultural production and processes, and requires new skills, financing, and a thorough understanding of commodity value chains

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The purpose of this consultancy will be to assist the AfDB, and the government of Ghana, in particular MoFA and other National Development Institutions in the process of building competitive commodity value chains, specifically:

1. Ensure the implementation of TAAT-S technology and policy recommendations, business plans, and all other recommendation from the consultants and implementing partners on competitive production of soya bean, maize and livestock commodity value chains in Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon.
2. Facilitate the TAAT-S private sector investment effort with respect to the identification and recruitment process for local and international agribusiness investors to develop a soy bean- maize agriculture production ecosystem in Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon.
3. Document and share key lessons that would guide the implementation of similar initiatives in selected TAAT-S countries.

TASKS RELATED TO THE ASSIGNMENT

1. Support the set-up process of a Public Private Corporation to serve as coordinating entity for Agribusiness Value Chain development; the corporation will be responsible to provide an attractive incentive framework and a transparent, predictable and facilitating environment for private investments in the soya bean, maize and livestock commodity value chains in Ghana; the consultant will work side by side with AfDB, the Government of Ghana and other private-public entities in Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon;
2. As a result of TAAT-S studies related of soya bean, maize and livestock commodity value chains in Ghana, and business plans prepared, facilitate the identification, engagement – including road shows, and recruitment of private sector investors as coordinating companies in the five TAAT-S production hubs in Ghana. Coordinating companies are defined as companies that coordinate the ecosystem of actors required for successful implementation of commercial production, including seed and assorted input providers (fertilizers, plant protection services), germplasm providers, agricultural equipment manufacturers, commercial farmers, domestic and international investors, Agri-processing companies, major integrated agribusiness conglomerates, etc;
3. Support the TAAT-S team in the follow up process relative to the implementation activities of the Ghana pilot project. The consultant will work together with the selected stakeholders to agree on a tentative work-breakdown structure and a detailed schedule, listing the project milestones, activities, and deliverables relative to the Set-up process of Public Private Investment Promotion Mechanism for Agribusiness Value Chain and the TAAT-S investment promotion activities;
4. Prepare detailed annual reports, including interim quarterly reports, on implementation of item #2 and #3 above for submission to the Government of Ghana and to the Bank. The annual report should include a section on a Knowledge Management (KM) on how best practices are being shared between the hubs and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of project KPIs;
5. Compile project documents (reports produced internally among the clients or by third-party consultants), including internal reports, but also reports and publications that will be shared with other stakeholders, such as presentations, investment guides, investment promotion plans, etc..

OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

Typical outputs and deliverables shall include:

• A functioning Public Private Investment Promotion corporation to coordinate development of the Soy and Maize Value Chain in Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon.
• At least three coordinating companies identified and recruited for the commercial production of soya bean, maize and livestock commodity value chains on at least 20,000 to 25,000 hectares in Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon.
• Quarterly and an annual report of implementation of TAAT-S in Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon submitted to the Government of Ghana and the Bank.
• Visually-compelling publications/presentations/reports intended for investors/stakeholders, such as investment guides, etc.
• Facilitate the development of a network of the various conglomeration of service providers, which will be linked to the commercial hubs under TAAT-S in Ghana, Guinea, Zambia & Gabon.

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

Academic: An advanced degree to Master of Science level (MSc.).

Work Experience:

• At least 10-years relevant work experience in project development, business development, agriculture and agribusiness project modeling, leadership of technical and economic feasibility studies on the African continent, including previous experience in one of the countries: Ghana, Guinea, Zambia or Gabon ;
• Demonstrated track record in managing third-party consultants, coordinating among diverse stakeholders, etc.;
• Previous work with the Bank or other multi-lateral development banks and institutions in the same field will be an advantage.
• Demonstrated track record in mobilizing private sector entities (commercial farmers, agri-processing conglomerates, impact investors, venture capital/private equity fund managers) towards investment opportunities in agriculture and agribusiness in Africa;
• Fluent in English and French, and good working knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese.

Duration

The duration of the assignment will be 06 months commencing on 1^th March 2019.

Location

The Consultant will be based at the Bank’s Headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire for the duration of the contract.

Reporting Requirements

The Consultant will report to the Division Manager of the Agribusiness Development Division (AHAI.1) S/he will be directly supervised by the Chief Agriculture Policy Economist , AHAI.

Please send a one page Motivation letter, an updated Curriculum Vitae & (see AfDB Personal History Form (PHF) available at https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Generic-

Documents/CONSULTANT_JOB_APPLICATION_FORM.docx