Consultancy for Baseline Survey of GCP Collective Action Initiative for Responsible Use of Agro-Inputs in Vietnam

TERMS OF REFERENCE

CONSULTANCY FOR
THE BASELINE SURVEY OF THE GCP COLLECTIVE ACTION INITIATIVE FOR RESPONSIBLE USE OF AGRO-INPUTS IN VIETNAM

1.      Introduction

The Global Coffee Platform (GCP) is an inclusive multi-stakeholder sustainability platform that convenes coffee stakeholders, prioritizes sustainability issues and catalyzes local action and progress measurement in collaboration with country platforms to create a thriving and sustainable coffee sector. Members of the Global Coffee Platform include farmers and farmer organizations, traders (exporters and importers), coffee roasters and retailers, other supply chain actors, civil society organizations, coffee associations and others.

GCP’s Collective Action Initiatives (CAI) optimize sustainability investments and multiply impact through pooling resources, knowledge, and networks to collectively address country specific sustainability gaps. By partnering with GCP, participants of a CAI support the coffee sector to identify and address complex issues through a structured and collaborative approach.

In June 2020, GCP Vietnam launched a 5-year Collective Action Initiative for effective and responsible use and management of agro-inputs in Vietnam, which focuses on addressing the responsible use of agro-inputs (especially herbicides) in the coffee sector in Vietnam by improving the enabling environment and sector policies, providing support and training to farmers and stakeholders in the Central Highlands and conducting research to gather and document best practices and lessons learned. Results of the Initiative will be shared with Vietnamese and International coffee sector stakeholders in order to upscale best practices. The Initiative has drawn high attention and commitments from roasters, including Nestlé, JDE and Tchibo as well as from organisations as The Sustainable Trade Initiative - IDH, and is being promoted to additional interested actors to participate in this initiative.

In this context, GCP is looking for consulting services to carry out a survey on the management and use of plant protection inputs in certain Districts within the project’s  area.

2.      Objectives

The recruited consultant shall produce an inventory of agro-input suppliers and products sold (pesticides & herbicides) including active ingredient analysis and label matching in both informal and formal shops/agents in Krong Nang district, Dak Lak province and  Di Linh district, Lam Dong province (the outcome will be considered as a representative baseline for the Central Highlands).

The results of this survey will be the basis to finetune the next steps of interventions by GCP.

Specifically, the consultant is expected to:

• Create a list of all the plant protection products (pesticides, fungicides, nematicides and herbicides), intended usage, and the suppliers in Krong Nang and Di Linh districts
• Provide a mapping of current distribution systems of the plant protection products with a focus on herbicides, especially the ones containing glyphosate;
• Provide support to the project in identification of the best LABs for analysis of active ingredients versus label information and highlight labeling gaps and suspected glyphosate containing products
• Describe the application instructions per product and compare with generally accepted standards to identify possibly misleading or wrong user information
• Disseminate the results to public and private Coffee Sector via a sharing workshop organized by GCP

3.      Deliverables

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

4.      Consultant qualification

For this assignment we expect an agriculture consultant who brings the following assets/experiences:

• Understanding of the IPM concept, with at least 10 years working experiences in plant protection/agriculture sector
• Education background (Master, preferably PhD degree) on plant protection, agriculture, economics
• Neutral and trusted
• Mother tongue Vietnamese, good knowledge of English
• Clear communicator, capable of translating complex information into an accessible and understandable format
• Ideally knowledge of the Vietnamese coffee sector.

5.      Procedures

The procedure will be as follows:

• Announcement of assignment: 10 July 2020
• Submission of proposals plus quotations by candidates: 10 - 24 July 2020
• Criteria for assessment of the proposals:

• Evaluation of the candidates’ proposals and decision made on selection of consultant
• Contract signing: 01^st August 2020.

6.      Deadline for proposal submission: 24 July 2020

7.      Contact information

For any question, please contact Ms. ?oàn Tr?n Thu Th?y – Project Officer, via email: [email protected]