Consultancy for Conducting Field-testing under Controlled Conditions of Glyphosate, Alternative Herbicides and Weed Management Practices

TERMS OF REFERENCE

CONSULTANCY FOR
Conducting a field-testing under controlled conditions of glyphosate, alternative herbicides and weed management practices

UNDER 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 the Lavazza Foundation 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 field-testing under controlled conditions of glyphosate, alternative herbicides and weed management practices (data collection of labor, cost, productivity and residue levels, dosage and pre-harvesting period).

2.      Objectives

Overall objective: Proposing effective and alternative weed management practices to reduce environmental pollution, improve the livelihood of coffee farmers, reduce production costs and meet the MRL regulatory requirements of destination markets for the coffee produced in Vietnam.

Specific objectives:

• Confirm Glyphosate pre-harvest interval and possible reasons for excessive Glyphosate levels in green coffee (e.g. drift, concentration, …..); assess wheter there is accumulation of GL in the soil (i.e. does GL remain in the soil and can it be taken up by plants even when no GL was applied in the current year)
• Test different integrated weed management practices and alternative herbicides
• Set up and monitor trials applying the selected weed management methods for 04 consecutive years and
• Report on the results of the trials and formulate recommendations

Specifically, the consultant is expected to:

• Formulate an outline of the field trials including Standard Operating Procedures (i.e. detailed description of the trial hypotheses, experimental setup, data collection framework (which data, monitored when and how), data analysis method,…);;
• Set up and monitor the controlled field trials;
• Provide quarterly and annual reports; these reports shall include information on apllied doses of agro-inputs (if applicable), residue levels and economic (cost/benefit) performance for each trial and  
• Disseminate the results and recommendations to public and private Coffee Sector ‘s stakeholders.

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:

• Experienced and knowledgeable about coffee agronomy and research including statistical field design and statistical analysis;
• Working for coffee related research institute is an advantage;
• Having  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;
• Fluency in both Vietnamese and English languages and;
• Clear communicator, capable of translating complex information into an accessible and understandable format.

5.      Procedures

The procedure will be as follows:

• Announcement of assignment: 25 September 2020
• Submission of proposals plus quotations by candidates: prior to 10 October 2020
• Criteria for assessment of the  proposals:

• Evaluation of the candidates’ proposals and decision made on selection of consultant
• Contract signing: 20 October 2020.

6.      Deadline for proposal submission: 10 October 2020

7.      Contact information

For any question, please contact Ms. Doan Tran Thu Thuy – Project Officer, via email: [email protected]