Agricultural Expert – BASATINE Project

Overview

Bolstering Agriculture Systems’ Ability to Invest, Nourish, and Employ (BASATINE) is a four-year project that aims to support farmers and other value chain and associated sector actors in areas of Beqaa and Akkar focused on the production of wheat and vegetables, seeking a territorial approach and promoting linkages with other value chains. Through complementary interventions designed in alignment with the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, the project will immediately address food insecurity and provide needed income and technical support to farmers to survive this tumultuous time, as well improve the capacity of food systems to maintain employment and growth in the longer term via stronger domestic production and system linkages. This will ultimately contribute to greater economic stability – particularly for women, improved rural development, and more positive social cohesion between host/refugee communities at a local level.

CARE, Mercy Corps, Berytech, GNFF, LOST, and Al Majmoua, will build on extensive relevant agricultural experience, including projects funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) and in cooperation with Lebanon’s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), across the proposed value chains and the project’s targeted Beqaa and Akkar Governorates.

Berytech, through BASATINE project, will hire a consultant to map the existing applications that are relevant to BASATINE project and suggest what are the best options available to work with.

Scope of work

Berytech will hire a consultant that will be able to map the existing information systems – mainly mobile applications – already used by farmers; or developed applications with a substantial potential to be utilized. The consultant will understand the vision and mission of BASATINE to be able to suggest the right prospects for the project. They will be an expert in the agriculture field and have a decent technological background.

The consultant will advise on the most promising existing mobile application(s) meant to disseminate critical information for farmers to maximize their income from their products. It is mandatory that the application should be extremely user friendly as the project is targeting the most vulnerable farmers primarily and be in Arabic language; if not fully Arabic, at least have the option to switch to Arabic language. It will potentially include price monitoring data for the farmers’ produce as well as input supplies and weather alerts.

BASATINE will support the selected mobile application to further develop it in order to meet the program’s goals and objectives to become a holistic solution for farmers and different stakeholders in the agricultural value chain.

Expected Deliverables

1. Mapping of 100% of existing and potential information systems (mobile apps and others) in Lebanon:

• After thoroughly grasping the project’s goals, the consultant will research all existing mobile applications locally that fit the requirements. The main target is to find a phone application but any other potential information system available is also to be considered.
• The consultant will provide a list of all locally available applications along with all their features and a basic evaluation of their functionalities.
• The consultant will also check and inform Berytech if other programs are working on agriculture digitalization and provide a detailed report about the different programs’ description and aim.

2. ​Benchmark study:

• The consultant will execute a benchmark study on best practices internationally, in order to determine and understand more what needs to be placed in the application.
• They are expected to analyze between 5 and 10 applications from leading countries in the agricultural world and provide a report of all their features. (1 to 3 pages per application)

3. Design of the round tables to research the farmers’ needs:

• The consultant will design two round table events, one for Beqaa and one for Akkar.
• In each event, the round table must have at least 12 participants, split in half between small farmers and big farmers. They must also be equally split between wheat and/or cereals and vegetable farmers.
• The small farmer in the vegetables field will have less than 5 dunums of planted land while the big farmer will have more than 10 dunums.
• The small farmer in the cereals field will have less than 15 dunums of planted land while the big farmer will have more than 50 dunums.
• The agenda of the roundtables must be approved by Berytech, and the roundtables will be attended by Berytech’s team.

The consultant will deliver a report including:

• A comprehensive minutes of meeting
• A list of the farmers participating in the roundtable along with their info details
• All farmers’ recommendations on the features expected from the app (divided by farmer)
• A recording of the meeting

4. Create an in-depth assessment form:

• After Berytech’s consent on the data collected, the consultant will create an in-depth assessment form with a scoring sheet that involves all important data to check for, while reviewing the local available applications (status, pain points solved or not, hurdles, etc.).
• The information to look for are the ones found in international applications and the data gathered from the roundtables. Few criteria to look at: having Arabic language, user friendliness, price monitoring data, input supplies and prices, petrol / diesel prices, weather forecast and alerts, etc.
• The consultant will share the in-depth assessment form and the scoring sheet with Berytech for approval.

​​​​​​​5. 1. Meet with the owners of existing applications:

The consultant will conduct a one-to-one interview (business assessment) with the owners of the existing local apps to discuss with them the project objectives and fill the in-depth assessment.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

5. 2. Recommendation Report to Berytech:

After scoring the different applications, the consultant will rank them and provide Berytech with the suggested list of potential applications that can move to the next phase along with their SWOT analysis and their scoring sheets.

The report must include:

• Companies’ description.
• CVs of the owners and key personnel.
• Projects references (maximum 3).
• SWOT analysis of each application.
• The consultant’s recommendation.

Risks and mitigations

The consultant is required to attach to their application a risks and mitigations matrix that specifies potential risks they might face while delivering this project and the mitigation measures for each risk.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of the agricultural best practices locally and internationally.
• IT knowledge – familiar with mobile applications.
• Excellent network with farmers.
• Excellent business acumen.

Selection criteria

• Expertise in this line of work, proven track records and experience in the required field.
• Budget scope.

Timeline & application​​​​​​​

The project must be completed within 2 months of contracting.

Candidates should submit the following documents:

• Technical (maximum two pages) describing the methodology to conduct the work based on the content suggested in section: “Scope of Work, Deliverables and Risks and
• Mitigations” elaborating it further.
• Profile and project references (maximum two pages): A brief explanation of the consultant(s) background should be submitted (CVs shall be included as annex).
• Financial Proposal describing the expected remuneration and the proposed timeframe of the intervention.

Important: The header of the technical and financial offers must clearly note the candidate data (Name, address, country, telephone, email and fiscal identity number or another official number).

N.B. The technical and financial proposals must be submitted in different files.

How to apply

For further information or to submit your proposal please send your email to procurement@berytech.org with the following subject line: “Agricultural Expert – BASATINE Project”

Deadline: August 4, 2022.