Drought Tolerant Crops Consultant at RTI International

Specific Activities

• Literature review on DTC legume seeds value chain—from breeding, multiplication, work with seed merchants, and marketing; sales and roles of civil society, private sector and county government. Should look priorities and plans of counties in CIDPs and plans of WFP, other NGOs working in this sector, agro-delears, and seed companies and research institutions (KALRO, Universities, CYMIT, etc).
• Estimate demand trends for certified pulse seeds in Kenya/SEK in last 4 years and identify gaps at each level that can be addressed to increase certified seed uptake by farmers especially in the ASAL areas of Kenya.
• Develop a methodology for collecting any additional data/information needed to respond to the objectives of the consultancy. To be representative of the SEK counties of Makueni, Kitui and Taita-Taveta
• Conduct data collection activities and analysis
• A stakeholder validation workshop on the findings (place/county to be determined jointly with KCDMS)
• Provide a comprehensive DTC seed market system report with implementable actions that can spur adoption and use of certified seeds

Deliverables

• Inception report (max 8 pages +Annexes) within 8 calendar days of signing the contract. To include:
• Findings of literature review (5 pages) on a) key players and roles (giving quantities and value where possible) on DTC seed production and marketing in SEK; b) estimated seasonal production, sales by private sector, and demand by farmers/civil society/government for DTC seeds in Kenya/SEK, c) potential challenges and opportunities, and d) gaps in that the assessment will be feeling
• Methodology to be used (max 3 pages), category of respondents to be interviewed, workplan, tools for data collection and categories of respondents whom information will be collected.
• Feedback collection from KCDMS team and selected seed actors (Breeder, Seed merchants and a county representative) and comments shared within 7 days of submission of the report by the consultant. This will include:
• Virtual brief back (max 1 hour) to selected audience (within 30 days of response to #1)
• Minutes of any modifications to be considered/made to findings/report back.
• Data collection activities undertaken, and analysis completed.
• Draft report ahead of the presentation
• A face-to-face presentation (max 45 minutes and 45+ minutes discussion) to a selected audience (by May 15, 2023)
• Final report – (max 16 pages) incorporating feedback from the presentation. Please include any cleaned data that was collected from the assessment i.e., FGD or KII notes.

Period of Performance

Qualifications

• Master's degree and 6 years of experience in agriculture or related fields
• At least 4 years of experience in qualitative research approaches
• Experience in working in ASALS and understanding the dynamics in agriculture led economic growth and resilience,
• Experience working in seed production systems, specifically DTCs seed production, marketing, dynamics around supply and demand
• Fluency is spoken and written English and Swahili