Engagement of a Consulting Firm to perform an Annual Outcome Survey for SADP II

LOAN NO: P165228

CREDIT NO: IDA -64220 -LS

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: ENGAGEMENT OF CONSULTANCY FIRM TO CONDUCT ANNUAL OUTCOME SURVEY

REFERENCE NO: LS-MAFS-161925-CS-CQS

DURATION: 85days

DUTY STATION : PMU MASERU

BACKGROUND

The Government of Lesotho is implementing the Smallholder Agricultural Development Project (SADP) 2 with financial support from the World Bank, Government of Japan and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The project covers ten districts – Maseru, Leribe, Botha-Bothe, Mokhotlong, Thaba-Tseka, Berea Mafeteng, Mohale’sHoek, Quthing and Qacha’sNek. SADP is coordinated by the Project Management unit (PMU) based in Maseru. The project has four components:

• Component 1. Promoting Climate Smart Agricultural Practices and Advisory Services. This component aims at strengthening the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to adjust and modify their production systems to minimize the potential future impacts from climate variability
• Component 2. Improving Agricultural Commercialization and Nutrition. This component will build on Component 1 by addressing financial constraints in the agricultural sector so that the training and advisory services provided under Component 1 is complemented with much-needed financing to help the farming community undertake productive and profitable investments.
• Component 3. Project Management, Coordination and Monitoring and Evaluation It is responsible for: implementation and coordination, financial management and procurement, communication, visibility and awareness programs, environmental management and safeguards, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Component 4. Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC). This is a zero allocation to partially cover emergency response via implementation of key activities by the appropriate agencies to respond to the emergency. Between 70 and 80 % percent of Lesotho’s population live in rural areas, and more than three quarters of all rural inhabitants are engaged in agriculture, depending largely on traditional low-input, low-output rain-fed cereal production and extensive animal grazing systems. For most rural households, limited employment opportunities exist outside agriculture. In the past, remittances by mine workers were a major source of rural livelihoods, providing vital cash for purchasing agricultural inputs and productive assets or investing in household assets for housing structures, but over the past decade there has been a substantial decline in these remittances. Lesotho registered economic growth in recent years, mainly due to growth in the industrial sector (including textiles, garment production, and mining). Yet opportunities to expand and diversify the industrial sector are few and far between, so a large share of the population will depend on agriculture as a key livelihoods and income strategy for some time to come.

Rural development will continue to play a key role in Lesotho’s development strategy. The potential for agricultural production is limited due to the country’s agro-ecological and climatic conditions, including recurrent cycles of drought, erratic rainfall, hail and frost, and limited areas of arable land. This is compounded by the fact that even available production potential is not exhausted due to poor farming practices, limited use of quality seeds, selection of inappropriate crops, and lack of diversification. This situation is aggravated but unsustainable land management practices resulting in declining soil fertility and widespread soil erosion.

However, despite the difficult environment, opportunities for developing commercially viable smallholder agriculture in Lesotho exist through increasing crop and livestock productivity and by enabling smallholder farmers to better respond to market demand for specific commodities. New and emerging opportunities on the demand side include small slaughterhouse operations, larger orchards creating demand for locally produced fruits growing numbers of urban consumers, potential for niche products, and road improvements that facilitate access for producers and traders. Fruits, vegetables, potatoes, wool and mohair, poultry and pigs are commodities that provide specific opportunities. Rural-based enterprises include seed suppliers ranging from major seed companies with distribution networks in Lesotho to small seed producers; input suppliers and local hardware stores in most towns that sell seeds, fertilizers, and farm tools; small nurseries that produce vegetable, fruit and forest tree seedlings and saplings; hatcheries that produce day-old chicks; feed stores that distribute animal feed; suppliers of veterinary services, veterinary drugs, and artificial insemination services; and providers of machinery services. On the output side, markets exist for fresh produce ranging from supermarkets that occasionally source local fruits and vegetables to district and community-level stores; for live animals and animal products ranging from the large-scale meat wholesalers to small-scale butchers and traders; for wool and mohair both through some 73 private woolsheds and the 127 government- owned but local association-operated woolsheds; and for milk through at least seven milk protection points to the Daily Plant. Other local outlets also exist for these products, such as hotels, guesthouses and local craft workshops, and for other more niche products such as mushrooms, herbs and essential oils. Some of the more commercially _ minded farmers can access these services and markets directly in South Africa.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

• Objectives of the Program, Geographic focus and Targeted Beneficiaries

• • The program Development Objective (PDO) is to “Support the increased adoption of climate smart Agricultural technologies in Lesotho’s Agriculture, enhanced Commercialization and improved Dietary diversity among targeted beneficiaries”.

This will be achieved through the following inter mediate results:

• Land area brought under climate-smart agriculture and sustainable landscape management (CSA technologies include use of improved and stress tolerant varieties, irrigation, protected agricultural initiatives, Conservation farming practices)
• Increased household commercialization level in project area
• Farmers adopting Climate Smart Agricultural Practices by farmers
• Households with increased dietary diversity

• • The program is implemented in all ten (10) districts of the country. Each of these districts has relatively high production potential.
• The program is targeting individual smallholder farmers, groups and agricultural businesses/agro-processors that (i) need support to improve their sources of livelihoods; and (ii) have the basic resources including livestock, farming implements, land and ability to raise cash contribution to successfully improve agricultural productivity and commercialization levels by promoting and strengthening farmers adaptation and resilience practices based on recent climatic conditions. These will be done while also mainstreaming nutrition within value chains that will be supported.

• Objectives of the Annual Outcome Survey (AOS) Building on the baseline survey, the project intends to conduct annual outcome surveys every year. AOS will be carried out covering a smaller sample of 380-600 beneficiary households every year, without control group households.

The objectives of the second SADP II AOS are:

Measure changes happening at the household level in terms of livelihoods and food security during the project period that are attributable to programs and activities of SADP II.

Assess targeting efficiency and the extent of participation of project beneficiaries in SADP II project activities

Provide evidence of the success or failure of the SADPII project.

Provide timely performance information necessary to undertake corrective actions.

Using the results framework of the SADP II project that was populated with status quo indicators on the adoption of climate-smart agriculture principles and practices, productivity and commercialization of agriculture, livelihoods, dietary diversity, food, nutrition, and income security of the target beneficiaries, among many other indicators; this second SADP II AOS aims to repopulate the results framework of SADP II project with current indicators, approximately two years after SADP II project implementation has started. The comparison of the baseline technology adoption, livelihood, productivity, and food and nutrition indicators with those that are going to be generated during the first and second SADP II AOS, will allow project implementors to determine if the desired activities, results, outcomes, and impacts of SADP II intervention are being achieved, and if not, investigate why they are not being achieved, and take necessary corrective measures.

The contract with the institutional consultant to be hired for Annual Outcome Survey will have the possibility to conduct future AOS upon satisfactory performance.

• Sampling Method and Sample Size• Interviews will be conducted at the household and agribusiness level.
• Eligibility to be included in the sample is defined in following the project’s targeting criteria. Interviewees must be current project beneficiaries from the following categories:

• Commercial farmers and Agri-businesses.
• Irrigators from Irrigation Members.
• CSA/Lead farmers
• Nutrition Club• The sampling method should assure that the information obtained from the annual outcome survey is representative of the respective beneficiary group.

Table 1: Categories of beneficiaries

Nutrition Club

1702

|

Irrigators

130

|

Agri-businesses

240

|

Total

4603

(380-600)

5.0 Timing for Implementing the Fieldwork

The annual outcome survey will mainly focus on agriculture