J.1. - STATEMENT OF WORK.pdf

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 1

Sierra Leone Compact:

Agricultural Market Assessment (AMA) Consultant

Scope of Work (SOW) The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) seeks a consultant to assist in project design of the Sierra Leone Compact. While the proposed compact is focused on power, MCC and the

Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) are proposing an activity to enable the productive use of power within agricultural value chains, especially downstream post-harvest in processing, milling, and storage. The goal is to obtain maximum benefits from the proposed energy investment to catalyze inclusive, job-creating private sector growth to reduce food insecurity in

Sierra Leone.

The consultant will inform how MCC and the GoSL can attract, competitively and transparently select, and facilitate private sector investment that will utilize the power investment and associated goods funded by the compact program. Alongside power investments, MCC and the GoSL may also invest in blended finance, technical assistance, and other needed vehicles to enable the agricultural economy to benefit from increased access to power. For example, the blended finance investments, taken jointly with the private sector, may include post-harvest handling and integrated cold chain, food processing and milling equipment, appropriate ag-tech, and ag-related ICT and GIS platforms.

To inform these investments, the consultant will examine local, regional, and international market opportunities for Sierra Leone-grown products in key value chains. The goal is to validate the assumption that growth within the Sierra Leone agricultural economy enhanced by power and related investments can be reasonably accommodated within these markets.

This market analysis should incorporate both short- and long-term variables, including these that may arise from fundamental commodity market trends and climate change issues.

1 Background

Situated on the tropical Atlantic coast of West Africa, Sierra Leone occupies an area roughly the size of West Virginia and is home to an estimated 8 million inhabitants. The country’s economy, valued in 2019 at just over $4 billion dollars, or about $500 per capita, revolves primarily around low productivity agriculture and extractive mineral exports. Like many countries with a similar profile, poverty dominates Sierra Leone’s economic landscape, with just over half the population living on less than $1.90 per day. Growth has averaged about 6 percent annually over the previous two decades, but this number masks several shocks—particularly disease outbreak and commodity price drops— that have rapidly undone gradually-won gains. Coupled with the country’s painstaking recovery from a devastating civil war that ended in 2002, Sierra

Leone has struggled to transform from a rural, subsistence, small-holder farm economy into a more urban, modern, and productive one.

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 2

Longstanding obstacles lie on Sierra Leone’s growth path. Inadequate power and water infrastructure constrain private sector investment and impose costly burdens on both firms and households. The specter of malaria, Sierra Leone’s leading cause of disease burden and death, looms over the country’s human capital development. And Sierra Leone’s growing population struggles to meet its food needs, particularly for staple crops like rice, contributing to a crisis of food security. Against this backdrop, the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic has imposed unwelcome new challenges. Tourists have stayed home, exports have fallen, movement restrictions have choked the country’s farm sector, and food insecurity rates have risen. More than 1 million additional people reported emergency coping strategies in the wake of the pandemic, including selling property and other assets, to keep eating. Roughly half the country has reported downward adjustments in quantity and quality of food.

MCC’s Board of Directors first selected Sierra Leone as eligible for a compact in December 2012 but was moved to the threshold program in December 2014 with an agreement signed in

November 2015. The threshold program provided technical assistance to public utilities and the new regulator to establish a foundation for the more effective and financially sustainable provision of water and electricity services in greater Freetown. This was accomplished by establishing independent regulation, strengthening key institutions, improving and expanding customer service, and increasing transparency and accountability in the provision of these services in order to improve service delivery.

The threshold program benefited from broad support by stakeholders. Some key achievements of the threshold program included finalized roadmaps for both sectors, a completed National

Resettlement Policy, the installation of piping and water kiosks in two test areas of Freetown, finalized Private Investment Policy and Independent Resource plan for the power sector, and the implementation of an innovative Results-Based Financing pilot.

In December 2020, MCC again selected Sierra Leone again for compact development.

Constraints Analysis

After selection, MCC and the GoSL carried out a constraints analysis in 2021 to identify the binding constraints to economic growth. The Constraints Analysis (CA) identified several binding constraints, of which the team focused on two for further development:

• Power: Sierra Leone lacks sufficient power resources, in terms of generation, transmission, and distribution, to support firm and household activities with heavy consequences to private sector investment, job creation, and the country’s fiscal balance.

• Food Insecurity and Supply: Low food production and high food prices force a large segment of the population to sacrifice elements of their diet and livelihoods to survive.

Given the strong preference for a power-focused compact by the GoSL, the CA was followed by an assessment of the “root causes” of the power constraint that concluded: “Sierra Leone has

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 3 insufficient availability of affordable and reliable electricity to satisfy demand among households, businesses, and social institutions.” During subsequent stakeholder engagement, GoSL and MCC together defined a core problem with four principal dimensions: (1) an unreliable power supply, (2) the high cost of electricity, (3) low access to electricity for productive use, and (4) weak governance and regulation within the power sector.

The root causes of this core problem appear to be: (a) insufficient and costly generation sources; (b) dilapidated and insufficient grid infrastructure that is susceptible to climate risks;

and, at the root of these, the need for (c) institutional and inclusive technical capacity development in the sector and (d) financial viability of the sector (i.e., revenues sufficient to cover costs, including operational and maintenance requirements as well as new investments).

These root causes, which are interrelated, hinder the sustainable growth of the power sector, and deter much-needed private sector investment.

Sierra Leone’s unreliable electricity service imposes significant costs for the private sector, undermines investment, and reduces enterprise productivity. Poor reliability is driven by insufficient supply of electricity to meet demand, as well as a failing network and vulnerability to climate risks like changes in rainfall, flood and drought events, landslides, and extreme heat.1

Power sector assets in coastal areas are particularly exposed to climate-related erosion, storm surges and flooding. The most visible effects are frequent and prolonged outages and low connectivity to the electric grid. Self-provision of power through costly and polluting diesel generators is common.

Promoting Productive Use of Power in the Agricultural Economy

While the GoSL and MCC team are primarily focused on developing a power compact, it also identified an opportunity to enhance these investments by enhancing climate-resilient energy access for the agricultural economy. The goal is to leverage the power investment to maximize economic benefits, poverty reduction, climate resilience, inclusion, and gender and to address

Sierra Leone’s Food Insecurity Constraint. Within the agricultural economy, the GoSL and country team highlighted the potential from supporting the strategic deployment of power for off-farm food sector activities, particularly in storage and processing. The goal of this intervention is to reduce Sierra Leone’s high rate of post-harvest losses, increase access to markets, and to add value through processing and other complementary activities targeted to

SMEs, farmer-based organizations and cooperatives, and women and youth farm-based associations and cooperatives. With the reduction of post-harvest losses, it is also possible that improved market prospects will stimulate increases in productivity on-farm by boosting incomes and funds available for investment.

Interventions to boost access to power and enhance its productive use could potentially include blended finance, capacity building, business development services, training and targeted policy

1 Princeton Energy Resources International (2020) CEC Africa (SL) Western Area Power Generation Project WAPGP (See 16.1, p231) (link); GoSL

(2010) initial National Adaptation Plan (iNAP); Asian Development Bank (2012) Climate Risk and Adaptation in the Electric Power Sector (link);

USAID (2020) Ghana’s Integrated Resource and Resilience Planning Program- A Case Study for Future Activity Design (link).

https://www3.opic.gov/Environment/EIA/ceca/ESIA.pdf https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/29889/climate-risks-adaptation-power-sector.pdf https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00X3HT.pdf

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 4 and institutional reform, utilizing new technologies, strengthening the capacity of farm-based organizations and associations, and a focus on climate resilience that can help realize the power investment’s potential more fully within the food and agriculture sector. Specific options may include finance options for private investors, a grant facility to aid connection to new power and the acquisition of new equipment, outreach to impact investors for blended finance and/or work with DFC and others to finance anchor firms at key power infrastructure locations.

Technical assistance may include training and capacity building, particularly for new machinery technologies, as well as financial literacy can also ensure the long-run, sustainable impact of the power investment.

An assessment of market opportunities, energy needs, and climate vulnerabilities will help to identify those areas with the best prospects for strategic support. Since the existence of markets for agricultural products play a central role in determining the impact and sustainability of these energy access investments, this SOW is focused on establishing what products have the best prospects for domestic, regional, and global overseas markets – and what conditions may be impeding or aiding this access.

Assumptions

Since this is a power-focused compact, neither MCC nor GoSL envision any on-farm interventions. The energy access for productive agriculture investments will be designed to reduce post-harvest losses, increase productivity in processing, improve product quality, enable market access, and add value downstream from the farm. The goal is to have the power and access investments boost the productive use of energy in the agricultural sector to increase the value of production, reduce food insecurity, boost on/off-farm income and employment, and catalyze private sector growth.

The project is based on the following assumptions that should be considered in this study:

• Domestic, regional, and global markets exist for targeted value chains, and Sierra Leone’s farmers could be highly competitive with targeted interventions downstream from the farm.

• Improved value chains could contribute significantly to an increase in the disposable income of participants (including landowners, tenant farmers, and laborers), in the targeted rural areas, and are likely to substantially benefit women (as landowners or laborers especially in rural areas).

• Improved value chains are financially sustainable because they will support the long-term operations and maintenance costs of any the new post-harvest and associated power infrastructure.

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• Investors and communities can agree on investment arrangement(s) that are economically viable, sustainable, and promotes economic and social equity for local communities and landholders.

Risks

Due diligence into the agricultural economy in Sierra Leone identified several major constraints that could undermine the ability for value chain actors to benefit from a power investment.

One of the most important was a lack of power, which strongly aligns with the overall compact logic. Input markets, especially for seed and fertilizer, were another major constraint that impedes the ability of farm systems to improve productivity and income. However, this constraint may be mitigated by the fact that the GoSL is working to reduce the public sector role in these markets through policy reforms. Other challenges to improved agricultural sector performance include a labor shortage and poor access to credit. Lack of access to extension services and poor agronomic practices were other constraints. A final major risk is ensuring there are viable markets for value chains. Addressing this risk is the goal of this project.

Understanding markets and the ability for Sierra Leone’s domestic producers to compete is the goal of this SOW.

While recognizing the important income growth and poverty reduction opportunities offered by commercial agriculture, due diligence so far and literature on agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa point to risks that can challenge successful transitions from subsistence to cash crops for poor farmers and women. Poor farmers, less powerful smallholders, women, and other disadvantaged groups such as youth, may not be well-positioned to benefit from investments in the productive use of power if not properly engaged early in the process.

MCC has a poverty reduction mandate, and a strong corporate commitment to Women’s

Economic Empowerment. To be successful, investments in the productive use of power in the agricultural economy must include consultation processes and institutional arrangements to adequately engage local communities and ensure that smallholder farmers, women, and other vulnerable groups such as youth, substantially benefit from the schemes.

Some potential risks of making the most of the productive uses of power in the agricultural economy include:

• A lack of demonstrated market demand for products/value chains supported through this activity.

• Market demand for products may not be as estimated because competitors such as importers may respond by dropping prices to maintain market share. This may be a particularly significant issue in the rice value chain.2

2 Rice prices have been sticky downwards. The availability of energy may significantly reduce the operational cost of the few rice producing companies. The challenges may be is that net productivity changes may not be enough to significantly reduce dependence on imports.

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• Overall beneficial economic impacts may not justify the investment, given MCC’s 10 percent minimum economic rate of return criterion. The proposed interventions may not be sufficient to ensure a transition to higher value-added agriculture given other constraints to agricultural investment and productivity.

• Although the GoSL is in the early stages of reforming input markets, they may not be effective enough to allow positive benefits to accrue from power and associated productive use/access investments in the agricultural economy.

• The potential impact on poverty reduction may be limited. Specifically, improvements post-harvest may not increase employment and income and may not result in enough distribution of project benefits among various segments of the population, especially smallholders, women, and youth. Without strong employment effects, the benefits of the project may be limited. The poor, women, and others with weaker capacity to value and negotiate around land may become more vulnerable as land values increase. Without broadly shared economic benefits, the justification for MCC funding of the projects would be weak.

• There are inherent risks and complexities in supporting greenfield post-harvest systems where beneficiaries lack experience in post-harvest value-added activities such as rice milling or managing cold chains.

• Institutional arrangements developed for the project around ownership, management, and maintenance of physical assets in the systems may be inadequate and unsustainable. MCC is looking at working with farmer-based organizations and investors to support the sector but there is concern that this structure may not be sustainable, especially if it cannot charge full cost-recovery tariffs for equipment.

• Gender and social inequalities in the project areas may result in unequal participation in project opportunities, and thereby perpetuate and aggravate unequal access to productive resources and further exacerbate gender and income inequalities.

• Economic uncertainty due to the novel coronavirus global pandemic and other possible disease outbreaks.

The Food Security Challenge

Sierra Leone imports more than 70 percent of food consumed, with an average cereal import of 350,000 million tons against a domestic production of 1.3 million tons per year over the 2014– 2018 period. Rice prices have risen from about SLE 1.5 million per MT to 5.5 million over the last 10 years (constant 2014-2016 prices) (FAOSTAT, 2021). As a result, the food share of total

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 7 expenditures remains very high with one source estimating that about 31 percent of all households spend at least 75 percent of their budgets on food (WFP, 2020).

Productivity, especially after post-harvest losses, and value addition are low. Other than the power constraint, a primary driver of low productivity comes from a highly fragmented and public-sector driven input supply system. Nearly 60 percent of surveyed farmers reported difficulties in accessing seeds as they were more expensive and more difficult to access than before. There is also the issue of the timely availability and quality of seeds and the lack of demonstration sites to show farmers the potential of improved varieties. This is made unwilling to apply modern practices.

Fertilizer in Sierra Leone is exceedingly expensive, and the supply system is inefficient. Prices are among the highest in the world because fertilizer is almost entirely imported as a pre-blended, pre-bagged product sent by shipping containers. The supply chain for fertilizer is inefficient, and high soil acidity in Sierra Leone reduces the impact of fertilizer on yields by 50- 70 percent, further driving up the real cost of fertilizer for agricultural producers.

Most of the post-harvest processing and handling is confined to processing activities set up by a handful of external investors, primarily in coffee, cocoa, and basic food commodities where few benefits accrue to the poor. Other products receive almost no modern post-harvest handling, resulting in high losses and product value destruction. Most of the extant small number of rice and cassava processing is supported by generators, firewood, and mechanical equipment – which largely workaround to compensate for a lack of reliable power. Consequently, inadequate storage and underdeveloped processing currently lead to high losses of rice and perishable products, ultimately reducing the supply and raising the price of food. This also diminishes value-preserving/adding opportunities, reduces farm income, and raises dependence on imports that increases vulnerability to price volatility, international trade conflicts, and other supply disruptions.

The focus on relaxing power constraints coupled with complementary activities in the food value chain downstream from the farm helps address the food insecurity constraint that is also impeding Sierra Leone’s economic growth. The provision of power along with other targeted interventions could boost specific activities around storage, packaging, and processing that can play a key role in reducing food spoilages, losses, value destruction and the loss of market access—all are critical drivers behind Sierra Leone’s food insecurity challenge.

The concept envisions a special focus on the application of power infrastructure to elements of Sierra Leone’s critical food insecurity constraint, particularly with post-harvest value chains. Technologies for both storage and processing rely heavily on affordable, reliable electricity, without which investments in post-harvest food chain activities cannot commence or expand. Increasing access to affordable electricity in high food supply production sites across the country coupled with private sector facilitated investments in storage facilities and other technologies and enablers (business development support, training, access to finance, etc.) will create opportunities for income generation and job creation along the value chain, while

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 8 increasing food supplies and lowering prices, improving food safety, and increasing access to nutrient-dense foods.

Potential Value Chains of Interest

In an initial assessment of Sierra Leone’s agriculture, GoSL and MCC have identified a list of possible value chains of possible interest. An assessment of social, environmental, and climate impacts and opportunities along these value chains should be included in the assessment for every value chain. Specifically, this means identifying who the value chain actors are: small and medium holder farmers (women/men); farm-based associations and cooperatives and

SME who are not farmers but do small scale processing.

This list may not be exhaustive, but breaks down into these types:

1. Domestic and regional staples such as rice, oil palm products and cassava products.

These products are grown throughout the country, but processing facilities need to be located close to reliable production areas and be linked with markets to obtain maximum value for the commodities in question. Women are heavily involved in the production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava, so further development of these local and regional value-chains would create opportunity for greater women’s empowerment.

2. Domestic high value markets for horticulture, dairy, poultry, and egg. Women play a particularly central role in the horticulture sector, creating significant opportunity for greater women’s empowerment in this sector.

3. Export-oriented products such as cocoa, coffee and some horticulture and fish products.

Horticulture for fresh export (and likely for processing) would need to be located relatively close to both production areas and with other facilities near Freetown for quick access to the seaport and/or international airport. Some export crops are dominated by relatively few firms that tend to capture most of the value of these products. This can limit the possibilities for inclusive growth. Addressing these structural dynamics will be important to improving the sector and ensuring the price incentives are passed along to the traders and farmers. Men are most involved in export crops, limiting opportunities to empower women.

Note: The horticulture value chains include fruit such as pineapple, mango, papaya, lime, orange, coconut, banana, kola nut, and vegetables such as chili pepper, cucumber, plum tomato, okra, and ginger. Other products may include groundnuts, cashews, and nutmeg.

The market study should clearly identify the potential domestic, regional, and global markets for these products – and others that may have strong competitive prospects after a power and access intervention. The study should not just focus on short-term prospects but should account for long-term global competition. It would include an assessment of natural disaster

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 9 and climate risks to understand how climate change has impacted production and markets over the past several years, and how future climate projections could impact growth in these sectors. Finally, to ensure any growth is inclusive it should include a description of actors in the value chain with a focus on women and other smallholder farmers and the poor.

Post-Harvest Management

The value chain analysis will build upon the commodity work. This exhaustive assessment of potential value chains will help identify the private and public sector investments needed for agribusinesses, including farmers, cooperatives or associations, packers, processors, transporters, warehouses, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, to pursue profitable opportunities in the agricultural sector. In as much as it affects value chain prospects, an assessment of the GoSL’s relevant regulatory and legal framework may also be needed.

We know that while some critical components exist in Sierra Leone, they are extremely limited. There is very little post-harvest and cold chain capacity present in the country. While a high volume of perishable products is imported, there appears to be little to no Sierra Leone-based refrigerated transportation in which to move products throughout the country. Retail grocery stores and their captured storage areas inside the stores account for nearly all the cold storage capability in the country.

Other Planned Studies

Agriculture Productive Use of Energy Study

Under a separate contract, GoSL and MCC will seek a consultant to understand current power use and constraints to improved ag economy performance in Sierra Leone. This study will inform design of power investment to best serve post-harvest needs by informing the investment’s location, size, and technologies with data on ag production, processing, and specific populations of interest.

The results of the study will also help determine how can power be applied to post-harvest activities, with an emphasis on processing, storage, and packaging. This would span the range of technologies, crops, locations, and final markets, as well as notional costs and economic returns, all of which might matter to the final power design. This study will likely focus on, and thus be informed by, the value chains identified by this study.

Technical Assistance Facility and Blended Finance Design

An additional study will focus on designing ways to overcome barriers to improved performance in the post-harvest space. It will focus on finding ways to enable the food sector to take advantage of the power investment to reduce poverty, boost inclusive economic growth, and reduce food insecurity.

This work could include surveys of currently operating firms, a landscape analysis of the financial services available to such firms, and a technical assessment of skills or training necessary to functionally operate the equipment and technologies necessary for operation. It will also evaluate firms’ abilities to access finance and training critical to bridging any remaining gaps between the power

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 10 infrastructure and its productive use by looking at possible blended finance modalities and technical assistance interventions. It will build on the results from this study.

Impacts of the Novel Coronavirus

In early 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19, a global pandemic. The global economy has been significantly affected as each country attempts to fight the pandemic by minimizing the risk of community spread transmission. The consultant must undertake the tasks in this consultancy considering the evolving global pandemic. The consultant will need to consider methodologies appropriate to conduct this work considering the restrictions in Sierra

Leone. The recommendations for the compact program should also consider emerging trends in the investment climate because of the pandemic. Ultimately, MCC hopes that the compact program helps Sierra Leone in the economic recovery from the pandemic and builds long-term resilience to future global economic disruptions.

2 Tasks

To fulfill this task order, the consultant will carry out the following tasks:

1. Host a virtual kickoff, review background documentation, develop workplan and inception report.

2. Validate the market opportunity in Sierra Leone for key value chains for crops and related processed products for the domestic and export markets. It will look at backward and forward linkages in the value chains.

3. Assess Sierra Leone’s value chains and the institutions policies that affect them.

4. Integrate the findings of the assignment into a final report and recommendations to be used for final project design and implementation planning. The findings will play a crucial role in informing two other studies on productive use of energy and project design, as noted above.

Document Review and Planning

The consultant will review conduct necessary research, interview key stakeholders, and review the reports and other documentation provided by MCC and GoSL to plan for the completion of this assignment. The consultant will prepare an inception report outlining the detailed methodology, schedule to complete the assignment, and any foreseen risks to the completion of the assignment.

Validate Opportunity for Domestic and Export Markets

Initial work carried out by the GoSL and MCC indicates that there are several value chains that could bring substantial benefits to Sierra Leone through investments in both power infrastructure and access as noted above.

To validate, or refute, this assumption the Consultant will:

• Document Sierra Leone’s current demand for identified value chains to 2030.

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• Document how Sierra Leone is currently meeting this demand with domestic production and imports.

• Assess the degree to which domestic production could supplant imports.

• Assess demand for the export market for identified value chains and reasons behind demand or lack thereof, especially any quality issues

• Identify the types and estimate the scale of potential markets and business opportunities through value addition and processing associated with the projected production market opportunity.

• Identify the types of actors along the value chains, paying special attention to opportunities for gender and social inclusion.

Based on this analysis, the consultant shall recommend a list of 10-15 crops for which it proposes preparing a value chain assessment.

Assess Value Chains in Sierra Leone

To begin the work, MCC would like a better understanding of the existing available systems to support agriculture in Sierra Leone. This assessment is broken into three subtasks to examine value chains, infrastructure, and institutions.

Value Chains

An exhaustive assessment of selected value chains – those for promising products identified above by the GoSL and MCC – will help identify the private and public sector investments needed for agribusinesses, including female and male farmers, cooperatives, or associations (male/female membership), packers and processors, transporters, warehouses, wholesalers, and retailers, to pursue profitable opportunities in the sector.

The Consultant shall start the assessment of each value chain with a SWOT analysis (or similar) by capturing the existing conditions and identifying what public sector investments are necessary to strengthen or support the value chain. The consultant shall produce value chain reports for each crop

(see also detailed list in Section 3.3). Then the consultant shall assess the:

• Estimate production costs and yields for potential commodities in Sierra Leone.

• Compare production costs and yields for potential commodities against imports if the latter account for a significant share of the market. Imports should be evaluated on a CIF bases.

• Examine production inputs including land, water, and labor requirements.

• Current input supply and quality/availability including quality seed, fertilizer, crop protection products, and extension services.

• Financing options for links across the value chain.

• Opportunities for women-owned businesses throughout the value chain.

• Institutional strengths and weakness of cooperatives and associations of value chain actors

• Opportunities for women and youth owned enterprises throughout the value chain.

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Infrastructure Assessment

The Consultant shall assess potential aggregation points, post-harvest processing centers, precoolers, packaging centers, markets, ports, border control points, road conditions, energy supply and distribution points. The Consultant will also analyze the market and transport links needed to maximize and maintain the value of high-value horticulture products and show evidence when available of the potential to create new markets which can take advantage of and utilize existing cold chain infrastructure (if any). For products entering international trade, this should also consider Sierra

Leone’s capacity for compliance of regional and internal regulations such as sanitary and phytosanitary and other standards.

Policy

The consultant should review the past, existing, and proposed future of policies and institutions and institutional arrangements that significantly affect specific value chains. This institutional review should include extension services, farmer/producer cooperatives and trade associations with a specific focus on those institutions that support the crop and value chains chosen above. The consultant should make recommendations for ways to strengthen these institutions particularly in ways which would be attractive to private sector investment and growth in the sector.

Final Report and Recommendations

The final report and recommendations deliverable shall summarize the recommendations of the consultancy and detail a plan for the pre-Entry into Force period and 5-year implementation period. The final report should detail:

• Most promising value chains in Sierra Leone and specifically to be considered a promising sector to boost energy access in the post-harvest space. This should include a validation of the stated assumptions around the potential for targeted value chains to thrive in Sierra

Leone through domestic demand, import substitution, and export potential.

• Recommendations to address any gaps to support the development of the value chains to include other investments in post-harvest space, or institutional/regulatory strengthening.

• Specific recommendations of activities or support services necessary to harness opportunities to benefit women and youth. These should be informed by international and regional best practices.

• In consultation with the MCC economist, provide a preliminary estimate of the costs, returns, and risks of the investment by value chain. Model the projected benefits in employment and income disaggregated by sex. Include an assessment of social, environmental, and climate risks to the value chain.

The final report should include a strategic plan on how MCC and the GoSL should implement the project regarding securing private sector investment and maximizing benefits for farmers, land holders, and other affected community members with a focus on enhancing access to benefits by women and youth.

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3 Deliverables

Below are the expectations of MCC and the GoSL with regards to the content of each of the deliverables. All deliverables shall clearly analyze the social and gender dimensions, where relevant and applicable.

Inception Report

The consultant shall host a virtual kickoff meeting between the consultant, MCC and GOL. The

Inception Report should include a workplan and updated version of the Consultant’s proposal, highlighting any significant changes resulting from contract negotiations. It should confirm that personnel are ready to mobilize, as proposed, including travel schedules (pending COVID-19 restrictions). In addition, it should present an updated version of the deliverables schedule with specific dates.

Market Opportunity Validation Report

The Market Opportunity Validation Report shall cover the assessments described in Tasks 2.2 and should include the consultant’s recommendations to MCC and the GoSL, regarding the crops for which it shall prepare a value chain assessment, as per task 2.3.1.

Report on Existing Value Chains, Supporting Infrastructure, and Institutions

Understanding that reliable and sustainable production, storage, marketing, and processing systems are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for successful horticultural production, the consultant shall prepare a report section focused on the infrastructure and institutions that will be necessary to ensure success in the key value chains. This section should also reflect on and provide recommendations for improvement with regards to the policy and regulatory regimes that impact the sector.

Value Chain Reports

Specific to the approval of the crops proposed for a detailed value chain assessment, the Consultant shall produce individual reports for each crop that details the following (as noted in Task 2.3.1), along with the broader assessment described in Task 2.3.1.

1. Overview of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (high-level SWOT analysis).

2. Value chain map, including costs and activities associated with:

• Inputs: seed, fertilizer, crop protection products, mechanization equipment, extension, and finance.

• Production: land (open air, protected), water (rain-fed, irrigated), labor (especially if skilled).

• Product transportation, packaging, and logistics (There will be instances where, due to product characteristics and/or proximity to market, there will be no need for refrigerated handling/storage/transportation. Consultant should differentiate

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 14 between those products which require refrigerated handling and those which do not and cost them accordingly).

• Warehousing and storage.

3. Cold chain map for perishable products including (if applicable):

• Sorting, grading, packaging.

• Pre-cooling.

• Refrigerated storage.

• Refrigerated transportation.

• Marketing: wholesale, retail (formal, informal).

4. Value addition and processing opportunities:

• What opportunities currently exist in Sierra Leone?

• Which associations and cooperatives are best placed to play a role in value addition or elsewhere in the value chain e.g. processing of low-quality fruit into fruit juices?

• Opportunities for joint-venture or other cooperating arrangements with companies in Sierra Leone which are currently engaged in value-addition activities e.g.

packaging of apples and other value-adding activities.

• Identify opportunities for local producers to become part of international value chains by working with exporters.

5. Value chain financing:

• How does capital flow to various links in the value chain?

• What constricts that flow?

• What might be done to alleviate any bottlenecks?

• How do value chain operators manage financial risk?

• How are women, youth, and other vulnerable groups impacted?

• Is the liquidity available for smallholders to finance pre-harvest activities? At what cost? With what security? Funded at what level of final anticipated proceeds? With what requirement of affiliation with/guarantee from an aggregative group or anchor farmer?

6. Opportunities for women-owned and operated businesses.

7. Illustrative investment opportunities throughout the value chain.

In addition to identifying the various links in the value chain, the Consultant shall also identify the ideal timing for engagement with these different actors to ensure they are prepared to participate once the post-harvest schemes are functioning.

Institutional Assessment

This section of the report should look at the institutions and institutional framework that support value chain development for the commodities identified.

Final Report and Recommendations

The final report and recommendation should be an integrated product of the full assignment.

Building off the individual tasks, the consultant should provide clear recommendation what value chains should drive GoSL and MCC GOL design of productive uses of energy interventions.

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The final report should highlight any risks to the compact investment and recommend mitigation measures to address those risks. The final report and recommendation should prioritize those actions that are necessary for the success and sustainability for the energy access for agriculture while also identifying the complementary actions that should be taken by the GoSL or other donors in support of the program.

4 Deliverables Schedule

Below is a schedule of due dates for deliverables. Dates shown are the beginning of the week following contract signing. For example, the first deliverable, the Draft Inception Report, is due the first day of the second week after signing.

In its Inception Report, the Consultant shall present this schedule with specific dates correlating to the timeframes indicated below. Please note that this schedule assumes that the Consultant will be preparing the three deliverables following the inception report simultaneously.

Deliverable Due Date for

Draft

Virtual kickoff, Work Plan, Inception Report (Task 3.1) W 3

Market Opportunity Validation Report (Task 3.2) W 8

Existing Value Chains, Infrastructure and Policy (Task 3.3) W 12

Final Report and Recommendations (Task 3.4) W 24

Once draft deliverables are received, MCC and the GoSL will have ten [10] business days to review the deliverable and provide feedback to the consultant. A final deliverable will be due ten [10] business days following receipt of this feedback. Payment will be provided upon acceptance of the final deliverable.

5 Format

The Consultant shall submit all deliverables to MCC in electronic form. In general, all draft electronic documentation will be accessible via MS Office including MS Word for text, MS Excel for data tables, MS PowerPoint for presentations and Project for schedules. Final version should be submitted in MS Office and Adobe Acrobat. All reports shall be submitted in English.

6 Staffing Requirements

Bidders must present a staffing plan and document the credentials of personnel qualified to perform the tasks and prepare the deliverables specified above. The staffing plan set forth below is illustrative. Each bidder should feel free to propose a staffing plan and the personnel it deems necessary to execute their unique approach to carry out this assignment successfully.

Key Personnel

As the Contract will specify, the Consultant will require the express, written consent of MCC to change any personnel in a position deemed Key Personnel.

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 16

The staffing should include a Project Manager / Team Leader with the requisite skills and experience required to manage this assignment. The Team Leader may take on the responsibilities of one of the positions listed under “Other staff,” described below.

Qualifications include the following:

• A minimum of 10 years successful experience managing diverse teams conducting agricultural market and value chain assessments. Bids should reference specific accomplishments.

• Demonstrated capacity to communicate effectively with private sector operators.

• Substantial experience in Sub-Saharan Africa preferred; Sierra Leone or West Africa experience a plus.

Other staff

MCC anticipates that the following expertise may be necessary to complete the tasks. The consultant is expected to propose the staff and qualifications they deem necessary to complete the tasks. All proposed staff must be fluent in written and spoken English.

Market Analyst (Senior Technical Expert)

The team will need to analyze a significant amount of trade data and other market information and organize it into clear presentations, under the direction of the Team Leader. Qualifications for this role include:

• A minimum of 7 years of experience in designing or implementing agricultural projects, preferably in the relevant value chains and in Sierra Leone or West Africa experience a plus.

• Familiarity, and proven success, with extracting pertinent information from large databases including COMTRADE and FAOSTAT.

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to translate data into clear written and graphic presentations.

• Market Analyst is likely, but not required, to have an advanced degree in agricultural economics, data science, or another relevant field.

Agronomist/Horticulturalist (Senior Technical Expert)

The Agronomist/Horticulturalist will lead the effort to identify the crops that offer smallholder producers the most opportunity and will calculate the cost of production for these crops.

Qualifications include:

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in relevant value chains, preferably in Sierra

Leone or West Africa experience a plus.

• Proven ability to identify crops which smallholders are likely to be able to produce successfully and sustainably.

• Successful experience preparing and presenting detailed cost of production analyses.

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 17

• The Agronomist/Horticulturalist is likely, but not required, to have an advanced degree in horticulture, crop science or another relevant field.

Market Linkages Specialist (Senior Technical Expert)

The market linkages specialist will validate the assumptions regarding import replacement within Sierra Leone, as well as the market opportunities in Africa and beyond, for the specific crops identified as most promising. This will involve direct interaction with buyers representing each of the major retail and foodservice segments within Sierra Leone, and beyond.

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in relevant value chains, preferably in Sierra

Leone or West Africa experience a plus.

• Proven ability to identify market channels for crops which smallholders are likely to be able to produce successfully and sustainably.

• Successful experience preparing and presenting detailed cost of marketing analyses.

• The Agronomist/Horticulturalist is likely, but not required, to have an advanced degree in agricultural economics marketing, horticulture, crop science or another relevant field.

Post-Harvest Handling Specialist (Senior Technical Expert)

The Post-Harvest Handling Specialist will lead the efforts to assess the capabilities of the selected value chains to move crops from the field to the consumer and the improvements needed to make these value chains commercially viable. Qualifications include:

• In-depth knowledge and experience working in post-harvest functions, including, but not limited to, sorting, grading, packing, storage (including cold storage), and transportation (including refrigerated transportation) of horticultural crops.

• Ability to communicate effective with value chain operators performing these functions.

• In-depth knowledge about the state of the art for performing these tasks in horticultural value chains in Africa (strongly preferred given the high number of horticultural value chains).

• The Post-Harvest Handling Specialist is likely, but not required, to have an advanced degree in crop science, food logistics and marketing, or another relevant field.

Gender and Inclusive Agriculture Specialist

The Gender and Inclusive Agriculture Specialist will be responsible for leading analysis of the horticulture investment environment and market issues from a gender and social inclusion

(women, the poor, youth, and marginalized groups) perspective. They will identify needs and constraints of both women and men, related gaps as well as opportunities and priorities to create an enabling environment for equitable participation. The Specialist will also contribute to the development of the assessment methodology and other deliverables and will collaborate

Agricultural Market Assessment – Statement of Work – Sierra Leone 18 with the team in the execution of all activities to ensure that proposals and recommendations are gender responsive and inclusive.

Qualifications include:

a. A master’s degree in international development, business, social sciences, agronomy, agricultural economics, or another related field.

b. Strong technical expertise and at least 10 years of experience in developing transformative strategies for gender and social inclusion in agriculture and private sector development, particularly related to agricultural value chains/market focused on increasing women’s participation, productivity, income, and benefit in agriculture systems. Experience in horticulture will be an advantage.

c. Demonstrable experience in conducting gender and social analysis to inform design and programming in development projects.

d. In-depth understanding of gender issues in developing countries and experience working in Africa; Sierra Leone experience a plus.

Climate Specialist

The Climate Specialist will be responsible for leading analysis of the climate-related aspects of the power for productive use. They will identify the climate challenge opportunities connected to Sierra Leone’s agriculture economy from farm to market and contribute to the development of the assessment methodology and other deliverables and will collaborate with the team in the execution of all activities to ensure that…