Consulting Services, Feasibility Study for Improvement of Agricultural Value Chains

Brief description of the Contract:

In its new Programme for the Promotion of Agricultural Growth and Productivity in Ethiopia, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through GIZ and KfW intends to strengthen agricultural value chains based on small-scale agricultural production, including production and processing in the agricultural sector with the aim to improve agricultural productivity, income, and employment. The programme closely integrates with ongoing national initiatives and agricultural development programmes, particularly the Growth and Transformation Strategy II and the Agricultural Growth and Transformation Plan Phase II. The German Development Cooperation through the Financial Cooperation, KfW, aims at supporting the enhancement of agricultural productivity through several interventions (modules): The promotion of mechanization (ongoing module), promotion of agricultural financing (in planning) and improvement of agricultural value chains (in planning).

The focus of the upcoming Feasibility Study will be on the module “improvement of agricultural value chains”. The intention of the Feasibility Study is twofold:

(1)       To investigate potential to align support to the Agricultural Growth Programme (AGP).

(2)       To understand which measures in the short and medium term at national, regional and local level would strengthen the resilience of beneficiaries in participating in agricultural value chains

AGP is a multi-donor initiative implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia and supported by various development partners. Ethiopia has expressed his interest in getting support of the German Development Cooperation to the AGP and the German government is prepared to consider this support.

Ethiopia is currently hard hit by two crises: COVID 19 and the Desert Locust Crisis. The two events are of unprecedented magnitude. Depending on the degree of crop and pasture damages as well as the geographical extent and overlap, both events do have the potential to threaten the livelihood basis of small-scale farmers and to cause serious disturbances of agricultural value chains at all levels.

The purpose of the Feasibility Study is to

(1)       Elaborate a module for the improvement of agricultural value chains, suitable for the Ethiopian-German Financial Cooperation, contributing to the goals and result areas of the Agricultural Growth and Transformation Plan as implemented through the Agricultural Growth Programme. The envisaged financing volume for this programme is EUR 25 million (plus an additional option of EUR 25 million):

(2)       Identifying crises specific needs at local, regional and national level in order to safeguard beneficiaries, respectively mitigate the consequences of the crises and ensure their continued engagement in production and processing.