Consultancy for Review of Vietnam, EU and USA Plant Protection Chemical Lists and Legislations and Map Potential Contaminant Risks for the Coffee Export Sector

TERMS OF REFERENCE

CONSULTANCY FOR

Review of Vietnam, EU and USA plant protection chemical lists and legislations and map potential contaminant risks for the coffee export sector. 

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 organizations and coffee trading companies as the Sustainable Trade Initiative – IDH, the Lavazza Foundation, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe- NKG and Sucden is being promoted to additional interested actors to participate in this initiative.

Being put into official operation since 2020, up to now, the CAI has gained some initial research results including many interesting findings and useful information that can be shared with the Government and stakeholders to lobby for elimination or optimization of the use of (banned) Agro- chemicals, especially the ones containing Glyphosate in coffee production.

Thanks to the efforts of GCP CAI and other actors in the coffee industry in policy advocacy, the Government of Vietnam has taken timely and strong actions to prevent the trade and use of Glyphosate in the coffee production to meet requirements of the European market. As a result, the level of Glyphosate residue in green coffee produced in the 2021-2022 crop has tended to decrease significantly.

However, with the increasing requirements of traditional coffee export markets of Vietnam such as the EU and the United States, for food  hygiene and food contaminants, Glyphosate is not the only chemical which attract the concern of these target markets. To ensure the smooth export of coffee, Vietnam also has to follow the new EU and US pesticide regulations and meet the stricter MRL requirements and continuous update the list of banned pesticides.

In this context, GCP is looking for a consulting service to review the list of chemicals banned and used in Vietnam coffee sector vs the EU and USA regulations and new MRL requirements. Further to identify and map potential contaminant risks which Vietnam Coffee Sector can anticipate.

2.      Objectives

The main objectives of this assignment are :

• Map the differences between the  lists of banned pesticides  in  Vietnam,  EU and the USA;
• Review and compare US and European MRL requirements (current and new anticipated pesticide regulations) for plant protection chemicals  commonly used in coffee production in the CH’s with VN regulations;
• Highlight  possible trade and export risks related to contaminants and the use of (banned) pesticides to the coffee sector and Vietnamese government  and
• Propose recommendations to help the Government of Vietnam and public and private sector actors in the coffee sector overcome challenges related to the MRL requirements of the target markets

Specifically, the consultant is expected to conduct literature review to:

• Compare the differences among the list of banned plant protection chemicals in Vietnam and those of Europe and the USA;
• Prepare an up-to-date list of the current and anticipated MRLs set by the European and US markets for chemicals commonly used in coffee production in Vietnam,
• Provide the study report and
• Disseminate the results and recommendations to public and private Coffee Sector stakeholders

3.      Deliverables

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

4.      Consultant qualification

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

• Experienced and knowledgeable about coffee agronomy, research and study tasks related to this field
• Having  at least 10 years working experiences in plant protection/agriculture sector
• Education background (Master, preferably PhD degree) on plant protection, agriculture, community development and/or education);
• 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 the assignment:  01 March 2022  
• Submission of proposals plus quotations by candidates: prior to  15 March 2022  
• Criteria for assessment of the  proposals:

• Evaluation of the candidates’ proposals and decision made on selection of consultant
• Contract signing:   20 March 2022

6.      Contact information

For any question, please contact Ms. Le Phuong Tu – Project Officer, via email: [email protected]