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 : M.FREGENE@AFDB.ORG & D.BENNIRAN@AFDB.ORG
INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANCY
CONSULTANT TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION OF A NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL INPUT SUPPORT SCHEME (NAISS) IN NIGERIA
Brief Description of the Assignment :
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is seeking the services of a consultant to support implementation of a National Agricultural Input Support Scheme (NAISS) in Nigeria.
The broad objective of the assignment/ The Consultant shall work with relevant stakeholders such as Government (Federal and State), Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Plc (NIRSAL), Commercial Banks, major suppliers of seeds and fertilizer, Agro dealers to review the past implementation of the GES program with a view to coming out with the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of the programme and use same to develop a cheaper, cost effective and efficient National Agricultural Input Support Scheme (NAISS) method of supporting the Nigerian farmers through appropriate subsidy – taking into consideration the limited ability of the State Government to contribute to the system, thereby facilitating access by farmers from all nooks and crannies of the country to good quality seed, fertilizer, agricultural mechanization, agrochemicals, animal and fishery feeds, amongst others.
Department Issuing the Request : Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department — AHAI
Place of Assignment : The Consultant will be based in Abuja, Nigeria for the duration of the contract.
Duration of the Assignment : 06 months
Tentative Date of Commencement : 24 February 2020
Detailed Terms of Reference for the Assignment : [TORs below]
Deadline for Applications : 12 February 2020
Applications to be submitted to : Mr. Martin FREGENE (M.FREGENE@AFDB.ORG)& Ms. Dorra Ben Nirane (D.BENNIRAN@AFDB.ORG).
TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR) FOR THE RECRUITMENT OF A CONSULTANT TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION OF A NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL INPUT SUPPORT SCHEME (NAISS) IN NIGERIA
Background
The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) seeks to re-introduce the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Program to its agriculture sector, through the implementation of the e-wallet system for agro-input distribution to farmers.
The GES Program will be implemented end-to-end by a Consultant engaged by the Bank embedded at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nigeria while taking into considerations the learning’s from the 2012 – 2016 implementations.
The Growth Enhancement Support (GES) was introduced in 2011/2012 by the Federal Government of Nigeria under the erstwhile Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) as a vehicle for the distribution of agricultural inputs and other services to the identified and registered farmers and other beneficiaries.
It was introduced to address the anomalies associated with the direct procurement and distribution of agricultural inputs (particularly fertilizers) by Government as the direct procurement was tainted by corruption leading to only 11% of the farmers receiving the subsidized fertilizer despite the huge amount expended by the Government on subsidy.
It was launched and operated via an electronic wallet (e-wallet) platform using mobile phone to provide targeted support for seeds and fertilizers to five million farmers in the first year (2012) and 20 million farmers within four years. The plan was to register 5 million farmers on yearly basis and to reach 20 million farmers by the fourth year i.e. 2015 purposely to developed a database of the farmers.
The Scheme was presented to the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting of 10th November, 2011 as a new policy framework for providing access to agricultural inputs by farmers in Nigeria where the Council endorsed and directed that the scheme be implemented across all the States and FCT. As part of the agreement, participating States under the policy were not to undertake public sector procurement and distribution of farm inputs in order to ensure that the private sector oversees distribution of farm inputs for long term sustainability. Specifically, the States and FCT were requested to provide in writing their willingness to partner with the Federal Government by fulfilling the following conditions viz :
- A firm commitment in writing indicating its readiness to participate in the Growth Enhancement Support and the Electronic-Wallet system that will be used to provide support to farmers ;
- Agree that the State will not run a parallel programme of government procurement and distribution of seeds and fertilizers and other farm inputs, to avoid undermining the Growth Enhancement Support scheme. The State agrees that distribution of fertilizers and seeds as well as other farm inputs, would be done by the private sector operators ;
- Agree to provide 25% support from the State to complement the 25% to be provided by the Federal Government in order to bring the total support for subsidized cost of fertilizers, seeds and other farm inputs to the small holder farmers in the States and FCT to 50% ;
- Provision of list of small holder farmers block by block or unit by unit in the Agricultural Development Project (ADP) system in the State for use in the verification of the farmers’ database and for effective targeting of farmers; and
- The list of warehouses available in the State that could be leased/rented to the agro-dealers to ensure that the agricultural inputs reach the farmers at door steps (i.e. at the village levels).
Primary Objectives :
The Growth Enhancement Support (GES) Scheme, was evolved to assist targeted smallholder farmers with farm inputs via electronic (e-wallet) platform to enable the farmers grow from one scale of operation to another scale (from small scale to medium and large scale). It has three main objectives:
- To assist farmers with access to farm inputs at their door steps in line with international best practices;
- To create and develop permanent farm inputs markets down to the rural areas where the farmers live for easy access of farm inputs ;
- Help government to support farmers with farm inputs in a transparent and accountable manner so that the impacts of the support can easily be ascertained.
Implementation Modalities :
- The Federal and State Governments share the cost of GES support on equal basis i.e. Federal 25% and State 25% making 50% except for seeds where the Federal Government pays for 100% subsidy at the initial stage to encourage the use of improved seeds amongst the farmers ;
- The Federal Government in addition, engaged the services of platform provider and Supply Chain Managers (1 Platform Provider and 3 Supply Chain Managers) between 2013 and 2014/early 2015 ;
- Fertilizer, seed and other input companies were building their supply chains through network of agro-dealers to reach the farmers in the villages/wards and sell to the farmers directly under GES at 50% subsidy support and market determined rates to non GES farmers as GES built permanent inputs markets ;
- Granted that the number of agro-dealers are limited at the start of the programme in 2012, efforts were made by the Federal Government of Nigeria under the scheme (through collaboration with the States, banks and IFDC/SCMs) to scale up the number of agro-dealers to meet the ratio of one agro-dealer to 800 farmers as quickly as possible ;
- States/FCT Governments provided stores/warehouses to the suppliers/ Agro-dealers on lease or free to store agricultural inputs within their respective States while others build or rent their own warehouses/stores; and
- Supply Chain Managers could not be engaged at the start of the scheme in 2012 due to circumstances beyond control but this was resolved with the engagement of three (3) Supply Chain Managers (SCMs) that provided services from 2013 to 2014/2015 dry season exercises. The activities of the Supply Chain Managers were later transferred to the Regional/State Offices of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to save cost and other loses.
Achievements :
The program during the implementation between 2011-2015 achieved the following :
- A total of 14.756 million farmers registered into the national database ;
- The number of fertilizer companies increased from 10 to over 50 ;
- The number of seed companies grew from 25 to over 134 ;
- The number of agro-dealers (input distributors) who were not existing before the introduction of the GES scheme reached over 1,200 ;
- The number of market outlets (redemption centres/selling points) reached over 1,700 and were used on sustainable basis to build permanent inputs markets in the country ;
- The number of direct/indirect employment along the input value chain was over 200,000 in addition to numerous jobs created along the production chain ;
- The number of crop, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture value chains under development by the Ministry increased from 2 to 34 ;
- The dry season GES programme which was mainly for rice production at inception in 2012/2013 was increased to four (4) crops during the 2013/2014, 2014/2015 and 2016/2017 dry season namely maize, wheat and groundnut. The subsidy payment for the dry season GES was solely being funded by the Federal Government at 50% subsidy.
Take-over of the e-wallet platform by FMARD :
The Ministry is also considering the strategies of taking over the management of the technology platform after the exit of Cellulant Nigeria Limited. However, the recent introduction of Version 4 upgrade and the Ministry’s new partnership with the NIMC in developing NAPI had compelled the Ministry in retaining Messrs Cellulant Nigeria Limited to achieve a seamless transaction and guarantee integrity of records without disrupting the GES cycle.
The version 4 technology upgrade is a more robust unified technology that provides smart hubs, clustering, dynamic data interchange, self-provisioning of services such as registration, enumeration and POS devise integration. It is believed that the deployment of this version 4 will ensure that problems encountered at the redemption centres are resolved permanently.
Against this backdrop, the Consultant will conduct a robust review that will involve all the stakeholders of NAISS and come up with a new implementation arrangement that is transparent and devoid of sharp practices from any stakeholders along the value chain.
Statement of Objective of the Assignment :
The Consultant shall work with relevant stakeholders such as Government (Federal and State), Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Plc (NIRSAL), Commercial Banks, major suppliers of seeds and fertilizer, Agro dealers to review the past implementation of the GES program with a view to coming out with the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of the programme and use same to develop a cheaper, cost effective and efficient National Agricultural Input Support Scheme (NAISS) method of supporting the Nigerian farmers through appropriate subsidy – taking into consideration the limited ability of the State Government to contribute to the system, thereby facilitating access by farmers from all nooks and crannies of the country to good quality seed, fertilizer, agricultural mechanization, agrochemicals, animal and fishery feeds, amongst others.
Nature/Scope of Work :
The consultancy service shall involve the review of the entire system and proposal of a need strategy. The consultant will also coordinate and supervise implementation of the new strategy that will lead to effective delivery of inputs to the teeming millions of Nigerian farmers with support and participation from the Government (Federal and State), Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Plc (NIRSAL), Commercial Banks, major suppliers of seeds and fertilizer, Agro dealers, Development Partners (World Bank, IFAD, IFDC, DFID), Representatives of Farmers and Commodities Association, amongst others)other private stakeholders, amongst others.
In other words, the Consultant will work with the ICT platform service provider to be engaged by the Ministry i.e. Messrs Cellulant to design and implement a realistic, implementable system subject to review of all relevant documents on the Scheme and all relevant stakeholders to facilitate efficient input distribution systems based upon the following :
- A database of smallholder farmers: taking into account farmer profile, location, cropping patterns, productivity levels, input and financing requirements, etc. ;
- Mapping of :
- Agro-dealers matched to farmers’ location ;
- Private sector fertilizer suppliers and private sector seed companies ;
- Extension services or training centres ;
- Financial service providers ;
- Mapping of existing financial institutions and products targeted at the agriculture sector, and based on the outcome ;
- Propose financial products specifically targeted at agro-dealers, input suppliers and farmers for their input financing needs ;
- Design a shared risk financing mechanism for input suppliers and agro-dealers that potentially involves government guarantees to commercial banks to finance seed and fertilizer supply to farmers ;
- Propose incentives options and/or support delivered directly to farmers to adopt improved crop varieties and fertilizer and to reduce risks for farmers ;
- Develop the ICT architecture required to connect various relevant stakeholders- input dealers, suppliers, financiers, etc., to permit development of an agro-dealer network and an electronic voucher (e-wallet) to deliver support directly to farmers ;
- Develop a strong supply chain of agro-inputs to farmers via stocking of agro-inputs by agro dealers and redemption of inputs by farmers ;
- Propose operational mechanisms and manage early stages of implementation and provide a detailed exit/handover plan ;
- Train and build the capacity of Government, farmers and other stakeholders to operate the system ;
- Generate reports for research, advocacy and daily operations; and
- Provide tools for monitoring, evaluation and audit of the system.
Specific Assignment of the Consultant :
The specific assignment of the Consultant shall involve :
- Review of the past implementation of the program using the available literatures, documents as produced by the Ministries, Development Partners and other stakeholders such as Development Partners, with a view to assessing the strength, weaknesses and opportunities of the past GES program and use same to propose a cost-effective National Agricultural Input Support Scheme (NAISS) ;
- Determine that the e-wallet platform can be reactivated on by Messer Cellulant and what is required ;
- Establish that the database of farmers is still in good condition and can be available upon request ;
- Establish modality for a rapid revalidation of the national farmer database, which includes implementing a contractual relationship with ADP workers across all States ;
- Establish a seamless integration with custodian Banks for payment purposes ;
- Coordinate activities between all stakeholders – Supply chain managers, input suppliers, agro-dealers, farmers and State Governments ;
- Familiarize the Input Suppliers and Agro-Dealers with the improved distribution processes and structures ;
- Establish the implementation process of ensuring that State Governments and other stakeholders participate in the program ;
- Develop a work plan for the program in line with the budget structure ;
- Discuss risk and mitigation strategies ;
- Discuss and propose the possibility of re-introducing the Governance structure of the GES working group to be chaired by the Honourable Minister ;
- Ensure that the Ministry structure for the Program supervision both at the State and Federal is still in existence ;
- Ensuring the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting of the program activities ;
- Review the contribution by the Federal, State Governments and farmers and taking into consideration the current economic situation and most especially as it relates to the current inability of the States to pay salaries not to talk of supporting farmers access to inputs and come up with suggestions on the appropriate level of contribution by the Government and farmers’ financial exposure to the program ;
- Review the necessity of the financial service provider platform ;
- Suggest the percentage subsidy to be provided on inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, mechanization, etc.;
- Review the existing criteria for the selection, recruitment, training and number of Agro dealers in each of the 109 Senatorial Districts of the entire country ;
- Review the alternative method of using preference agricultural value chain clustering centres as redemption or sales centres as against using all the 109 Senatorial Districts as redemption or sales centres ;
- Work with financial platform service providers to ensure that the farmers’ database are properly cleaned and validated for the program ;
- Review the existing practice for the provision of loans to Agro dealers and explore the possibility of using the NIRSAL Microfinance Banks or Agro Small and Medium Enterprise Scheme (AGSMEIS) to provide financial facility to the Agro dealers nationwide ;
- Propose an efficient, transparent redemption arrangement either through the clustering centres for various value chains across each State of the Federation based on different areas of comparative advantage nationwide ;
- Work out a better arrangement of replacing a redemption centre with agricultural input centre at various value chain clusters across the country ;
- Work out the possibility or liaising with other Development Partners such as IFDC, DFID and others for possible support on the delivering objective of the program.
Justification for the Assignment :
The current administration as a way of fulfilling the Government promise to ensure that Nigerian farmers have access to inputs most especially, fertilizer, improved seeds, amongst others, entered into an agreement with Moroccan Government through the provision of necessary inputs for the manufacturing and blending of fertilizer at a cheaper price and at the same time ensure the access of farmers to these inputs at cheaper rate from any nook and cranny of the country.
To drive this, Government established the Presidential Initiative on Fertilizer that coordinates the production of fertilizer through various blenders at a cheaper rate using subsidized raw materials from the Moroccan government. However, access to the fertilizer in the rural areas of the country at an affordable price has become a mirage since the discontinuation of the GES. The fertilizer remains again an essential commodity to poor farmers across the States of the Federation. It has therefore become necessary for the entire system to be overhauled through a functional and appropriate strategy that will address all the weaknesses of the previous GES and bridge the logistics gap of delivering fertilizer from the blenders to the farmers. The current administration is therefore desirous of returning to the GES as the best means of ensuring delivery of quality inputs to the Nigerian farmers.
Methodology :
The Lead Consultant that will be employed using the Consultant Qualification (CQ) shall work with the relevant Government Agencies, all stakeholders – Government (Federal and State), Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending Plc (NIRSAL), Commercial Banks, major suppliers of seeds and fertilizer, Agro dealers, Development Partners (World Bank, IFAD, IFDC, DFID), Representatives of Farmers and Commodities Association, amongst others)other private stakeholders, amongst others) involved in inputs distribution such as Presidential Initiative on Fertilizer, Seed Companies, Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), NIRSAL Microfinance Banks, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Commercial Banks, amongst others to develop an appropriate strategy that will lead to a transparent method of facilitating access of Nigerian farmers to inputs at the right time and right cost.
Qualification of Consultant :
The individual Consultant to be recruited must possess the following qualification :
- Minimum of first degree in Agricultural related discipline such as Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Engineering ;
- Master in Agricultural related discipline or Business Administration ;
- Relevant experience in International and Nigerian National Procurement system (Nigerian Procurement Act) ;
- Conversant with the implementation of the Growth Enhancement Programme in Nigeria or in any other country ;
- Familiar with the recent review carried out in the past or of recent by Nigerian Government on GES and various reports produced by Government on the program.
Schedule of Payment :
The recruited Consultant shall be remunerated based on AfDB’s remuneration guideline for consultants that depends on number of years of experience and availability of resources.
Selection Method :
The individual Consultant shall be selected using the Consultant Qualification (CQ) through the provision of his/her Curriculum Vitae (CV).
Duration :
The project shall be for a period of six months renewable based on achieving the tasks set out in the section “Specific Assignments”.
Confidentiality of Information :
At all times and for all purposes, the consultant shall regard as strictly confidential all knowledge and information not within public domain which may be acquired in the course of carrying out this project. He/she shall not directly or indirectly disclose such information or knowledge to any person whatsoever except with the written permission of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD).
Reporting :
The consultant shall report to the Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development through the Director, Farm Input Supply Services (FISS) Department. He shall also report to the Director of Agriculture and Agro-Industry at the AfDB.
Duty Station :
The consultant shall be stationed in Abuja and embedded in the Farm Input Supply Services (FISS) Department, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Areal 11, Garki, Abuja.
ANNEX II
Please attach an updated Curriculum Vitae using the template below :