Consultancy Service of Value Chain Assessment for Longan/late Fruiting Longan and Son Tra in Son La, Dien Bien and Yen Bai

The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) is one of a network of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). As a global leader in agroforestry research and development, ICRAF’s ultimate purpose is to improve human welfare by reducing poverty, increasing cash income, improving food and nutritional security, and increasing environmental resilience through improved agroforestry systems. ICRAF has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya and works in 21 countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Background:
Agroforestry offers an integrated approach that can secure the livelihoods of rural households while curbing land degradation and deforestation. The project “Agroforestry for Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers in North-West Vietnam” is a research project, funded by Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) with the overall aim to improve the performance of smallholder farming systems in North-West Vietnam through agroforestry. The project seeks to increase the productivity of associated crop and livestock systems, leading to more diverse and sustainable production systems and better income from tree products.

The project has been implemented in Son La, Dien Objectives of the assignments:Bien and Yen Bai provinces as a close collaboration between the departments of agriculture and rural development (DARD) in Son La, Dien Bien and Yen Bai provinces, Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (NOMAFSI), Northwest Centre for Forestry Sciences and Production, Tay Bac University (TBU) and World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF Vietnam).

The findings from the project’s scoping survey revealed that one of the reasons that farmers may be reluctant to adopt agroforestry systems is their perceived lack of profitability. Often, this is linked with the absence of tree products that have high commercial value in the system and/or insufficient knowledge and skills in marketing. One of the specific objectives of the project (objective 3) therefore aims to identify opportunities to add value to agroforestry products and to link farmers to the profitable market outlets though pro-poor value chain (VC) approaches.

ICRAF Vietnam is looking for an experienced national consultant on market value chains to lead and carry out the value chain analysis (assessment) for Son tra and longan/and late fruiting longan longan in the project provinces which is planned to be implemented from June to November 2012. The analysis aims at:

- giving an insight about the actual situation of the chains – the process from provision of inputs for producing of Son tra (Táo mèo) and Longan/late fruiting longan up to the final sale of the product to consumers;

- identifying critical issues in the chains needing attention in the future and (iii) proposing an upgrading strategy to improve the chains with special focus on generating added value for poor farmers.

Objectives of the assignments: Overall objective of the assignment is to apply pro-poor VC approaches based on agreements and close collaboration with relevant stakeholders for designing a vision, upgrading strategy and a realistic action plan for the improvement of Son tra and longan/late fruiting longan value chains.

Assignment/Tasks: In order to achieve the overall objective of the assignment, two major tasks are to be implemented as follows:
- Organize a training workshop to train the staff of the project partner institutions and conduct together with the trained staff the chain mapping and chain analysis for longan/ late fruiting longan and Son tra products.
- Assist and lead the local stakeholders to formulate value chain promotion strategies as well as action plans for chain improvement in the project region.

Specific activities to be carried out:
The two main tasks are elaborated into following activities:
1. Organize a training workshop on value chain analysis, covering following main contents:
- Introduction to VC concept, necessity of application of VC approach, VC selection process.
- VC mapping (Aiming to identify business functions, chain operators and their linkages and supporting actors along value chain).
- VC analysis (focusing on analysing and identifying constraints and opportunities).
- The training workshop will cover selected theoretical content with applied case studies and practical exercises on the actual case of longan/late fruiting longan and son tra in the 3 provinces later on.
2. Conduct rapid field survey and rapid market research on son tra and longan/late fruiting longan products in the project provinces in close collaboration with project partner institutions.
3. Based on results of previous surveys and the training workshop to conduct quantification and economic analysis of the VCs and propose an upgrading strategy as well as operational upgrading objectives for longan/late fruiting longan and son tra VC.
4. Organise a stakeholder planning workshop on longan/late fruiting longan and Son tra VC, covering following main contents:
- Review and agree on results of the VC analysis
- Discuss and agree on the proposed upgrading strategy and operational upgrading objectives for Son tra and longan/late fruiting longan VC.
- Elaborate an action plan for interventions.
- Identify and agree on actors and a mechanism for implementation of the upgrading strategies and action plans.

Deliverables:
In terms of project implementation, the expected outputs will include:
- Staff of partner institutions are sufficiently trained and able to carry out VC analysis by themselves
- A formulated vision, upgrading strategies and operational plans for development of longan/late fruiting longan and son tra value chains in the three project provinces.
- Operational mechanism for carrying out the longan/late fruiting longan and son tra VC promotion (How to reach the vision and strategies? Who are the actors and what are their roles: local institution, other donors, national programs, private partners or as participants of the VC, concrete commitment about their contribution, who contributes what to the VC project.)
- For project documentation purpose, the expected outputs will be a final report in Vietnamese and English, covering following points:
- Documentation of the pro poor VC methodology
- Analysis of the longan/late fruiting longan and son tra value chains
- Training materials and training workshop report on pro poor VC approach and its application for longan/late fruiting longan and son tra chains.

Time schedule: The assignment will take place tentatively between June and December 2012.
The candidate consultants are invited to submit a proposal with an action plan and estimated budget based on the TOR above and send it to ICRAF - The project coordination office or via email to [email protected] (Dr. Hoang Thi Lua) before 20 May, 2012.