Establishment of 25 Coffee Clonal Mother Gardens, 25 Demonstration Sites and training of 500 Lead Farmers: Pathways to Prosperity Project in Kenya At Solidaridad East & Central Africa

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Solidaridad Network is an international solution-oriented civil society organization working through eight regional expertise centres to transform markets to make them more sustainable and inclusive. Our eight regional expertise centres include Asia, Eastern and Central Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Southern Africa, South America, West Africa and our global Secretariat in the Netherlands. Solidaridad Eastern and Central Africa, one of the regional centres, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with country offices and programmes in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. We bring together supply chain players and engage them with innovative solutions to improve production, ensuring the transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy that maximizes the benefit for all. We facilitate strengthening of local capacity in developing countries, support the creation of enabling environments for economies to thrive, and improve market access. Solidaridad embraces the public-private and people partnerships (PPPP) in order to test innovations, speed up change, and take success to scale. Globally, Solidaridad works around Coffee and other 12 commodities/sectors (http://www.solidaridadnetwork.org)

1. The Pathways to Prosperity Coffee Project in Kenya
   1. Assignment Objective:

The Pathways to Prosperity (P2P) Coffee Project is a seven-year project funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign affairs supporting smallholder coffee farmers through 3 pathways; (i) creating viable and resilient production systems ii) catalysing inclusive service delivery systems and iii) championing inclusive markets. The programme will co-create and implement tailored interventions to facilitate transformation in the coffee sector contributing to increased sustainable production (productivity and quality) and incomes, enhancing resilience to the impacts of climate change and other shocks and the creation of decent jobs and inclusive supply chains. The P2P project aims to build the capacity of 101,500 smallholder coffee farmers (30% women and 10% youth) from Nandi, Kericho, Kisii, Nyamira, Bungoma, Transnzoia and Bomet Counties to produce good quality coffee, strengthen the leadership and governance of 100 cooperatives and provide a platform for cooperatives to link & interact with 500 service providers to establish long term relations that go to serve the interests of both.

The intended long-term impact is that small- holder coffee farmers thrive by participating in the supply chain that is economically viable, socially responsible and environmentally sound by 2029. Smallholder coffee farmers will have an opportunity to participate in economically viable value chains by increasing their productivity through adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP’s) for increased incomes. It prioritises the inclusion of women and youth. Environmental conservation is a key element focusing on adoption of climate resilient practices, implementing carbon projects as well as adopting agroforestry.

2. 1 Background

A coffee clonal mother garden is a special plot of land on which the parent plants of the recommended clonal varieties are grown to harvest nodal stem cuttings of young shoots for vegetative propagation or used as scions for grafting. This is a desirable propagation method especially in the Kenya context where access to high-quality certified seeds is still a challenge. The project seeks to promote the adoption of high-yielding, pest/disease resistant and climate resilient coffee varieties to increase coffee productivity. The clonal gardens will therefore play a big role in providing scions for grafting of traditional varieties as well as top-working already existing coffee bushes.

On-farm demonstrations are a valuable tool in the teaching of new management practices or technologies, it allows producers, and trainers to learn new management options and observe how they will perform them on actual farms at field scale. For the Pathways to Prosperity Project, demonstration sites will play a big role in supporting the on-farm transfer of skills, knowledge and practices for the adoption of coffee farmers. The project will promote capacity-building initiatives that teach farmers about Good Agricultural Practices on the farm and Good Processing Practices at the wet processing facilities.

The Lead Farmer Concept focuses on the expertise of the model farmer and their ability to demonstrate and instruct community members in new technologies and practices. By training at least 500 lead farmers on Good Agricultural Practices, recommended Good Processing/Manufacturing Processes and Climate Smart Agricultural practices, they will pass these to their peers through training on their farms and the designated demonstration sites spread across the project areas. Learning and transfer of skills and knowledge to other members of the cooperative societies will be boosted by periodic educational forums and field days organised and convened at zonal and cooperative level.

The overall objective of the assignment is to establish 25 clonal mother gardens, 25 demonstration sites and train at least 500 lead farmers spread across 7 counties; Bomet, Kisii, Nyamira, Nandi, Kericho, Transnzoia and Bungoma.

1. Scope of Work:

This Terms of Reference (TOR) seeks to have the consultant conduct the following;

1. Clonal Mother Gardens
2. Carry out a site assessment for the 25 sites where the clonal gardens will be set up.
3. Take soil samples for all 25 sites, this includes pathological and nematology scanning.
4. Carry out field preparation, layout of the sites, prepare holes, backfill the holes, source for 100 (per site) certified seedlings of Ruiru 11 variety for planting.
5. Plant at least 5 to10 shade trees (mix of Sesbania sp and Calliandra sp) per site.
6. Establish hedge barriers of Tithonia/ Grevillea Sp for all the sites.
7. Up to 9 months of managing the sites with proper management i.e. weeding, spraying, mulching, pruning etc.
8. Demonstration Sites
9. Carry out a site assessment for the 25 sites where the demonstration sites will be set up.
10. Take soil samples for all 25 sites, this includes pathological and nematology scanning.
11. Carry out field preparation, layout of the sites, prepare holes, backfill the holes and source for 100 certified seedlings (40 Ruiru 11, 40 Batian and 20 of traditional varieties i.e. K7 and SL series) for planting.
12. Plant at least 10 shade trees (mix Cordia sp, Tree Tomato and Calliandra sp) per site
13. Establish hedge barriers of Tithonia/ Grevillea Sp for all the sites.
14. Up to 9 months managing the sites with proper management i.e. weeding, spraying, mulching, pruning etc.
15. Training of 500 Lead Coffee Farmers
16. Select and train at least at least 500 Lead Coffee Farmers on Good Agricultural Practices and Good Processing Practices at the wet mill processing units.
17. Train at least 500 Lead Farmers on Climate Smart Agricultural Practices in coffee farming.
    1. Methodology.

The consultant will;

1. Together with Solidaridad, map and identify the sites and lead farmers.
2. Carry out the initial site assessment.
3. Establish the clonal gardens and demonstration sites as per the specifications in 3.0 above.
4. Train at least 500 lead farmers on GAP, GMP and CSA practices in coffee.
5. Deliverables:
   1. Work plan and expression of interest (EOI) for the assignment, outlining;
      1. A detailed methodology for the implementation of the assignment.
      2. A detailed work plan for the work.
      3. Prepare a detailed assessment report of the 50 sites.
      4. Share sample results of all the 50 sites (cost of testing to be covered by Solidaridad).
      5. Final assignment report.
6. Expert/Consultant’s Profile:

Qualified and experienced Consultancy Firms should develop a comprehensive expression of interest (E.O.I) outlining:

• Statement on the interpretation of the TOR

• A description of the methodology

• A detailed work plan

• A detailed financial proposal (inclusive of relevant taxes) for carrying out the assignment

Each EOI submission should be not more than 5 pages and include the following:

5.0 Duration of the assignment.

The assignment is expected to take place within 9 months after signing the contract.