Overview
USAID SEGAR is seeking a short-term technical assistant/Consultant for preparing Agroforestry business plan reference for cocoa farmer groups of Laham landscape/subdistrict and District government to enhancing sustainable cocoa production and livelihood, widening market access and business partnership.
- Job code: SEKAB
- Type: Consultant
- Job location: Laham Village, Mahakam Ulu, East Kalimantan, Homebased
- Reporting line: Site Manager of East Kalimantan
- Expected Assignment: Immediately – July 31, 2024
- Level of Effort: 20 – 25 days
USAID SEGAR is a five-year (2021 – 2026) project funded by USAID, designed to advancing Indonesia’s development goals in balancing biodiversity conservation and sustainable land use with sustainable economic development and livelihoods inclusive. To achieve this, districts with high conservation values and high carbon stocks are becoming an area of USAID SEGAR support, it is hoped that resource management will improve nature and be more measurable in conserving biodiversity, reducing greenhouse gas emissions glass from unsustainable land use, as well as promote economic growth sustainable and inclusive.
Mahakam Ulu district is one of the priorities jurisdictions supported by USAID SEGAR. This district has 706,711 hectares of protected forest, an estimated 1,677,944 hectares of High Conservation Value (HCV) area and approximately 1,644,421 hectares of High Carbon Stock (HCS) area. Mahakam Ulu District economy was dominated by agriculture and forestry, which provided the largest share (74 percent or IDR 1.343 trillion) of the district’s 2019 GDP1, with major agricultural commodities produced in Mahakam Ulu include rice, rubber, coconut, pepper, cocoa, coffee, and candlenut. Cocoa provided the largest share in terms of area and volume.
The total area of cocoa plantations in Mahakam Ulu district is approximately 1,499 hectares (2019 data), with a total production of 282 tons, productivity of 440 kg/ha and involving around 224 small farmers. The increase in Cocoa prices in the global market has an impact on increasing needs of the area for cocoa. Between 2015-2019, Mahakam Ulu’s cocoa plantation area increased by 75%, from 854 ha to 1,499 ha, but productivity fell by 21.5%. One of the causes of felled the productivity is the price of cocoa bean and access to market of cocoa not yet supporting the interest of cocoa farmers to manage their farm. And therefore, the productivity of cocoa farms going down on that time period.
The actors in the cocoa supply chain are mostly farmers and aggregators, which are concentrated in three sub-districts, namely Long Apari, Long Pahangai, and Laham sub-districts. None of the cocoa plantations in Mahakam Ulu are managed by private companies. Sustainable cocoa development in Mahakam Ulu is still faced various challenges along the supply chain due to its geographical isolation, high transportation costs, lack of understanding of sustainability principles/standards along the cocoa supply chain, and market access to sustainable buyers.
Chemonics International, as implementing partner of the USAID SEGAR Activity, works with the private sector to strengthen certified and sustainable agriculture practices. USAID SEGAR collaborate with Pipiltin Cocoa, an artisanal chocolate company from Indonesia, on sustainable cocoa development in Mahakam Ulu through preparing a feasibility study, strengthening the capacity of farmers in implementing sustainable cultivation practises and piloting a business model that integrates main actors in the cocoa value chain in Mahakam Ulu with the sustainable cocoa market.
To support the above collaboration, a consultant will be assigned to prepare a business plan which will become a reference for cocoa farmer groups in Laham landscape on operationalizing sustainable market partnership with Pipiltin and other potential cocoa buyers. Preparing this business plan will contribute to Objective B of USAID SEGAR: increased implementation of environmental and social sustainability goals within private sector natural resource commodity production supply chains and several related indicators such as the number of people with improved economics and receiving livelihood co-benefits (Indicator 6 and 10), actual and imputed value of sales for goods and services associated with the implementation of USG sustainable landscape activities (Indicator 11).
Objectives
- To provide a cocoa agroforestry business plan that will become a reference for cocoa farmer groups of Laham landscape/subdistrict and District government to enhancing sustainable cocoa production and livelihood, widening market access and business partnership.
- Strengthen the capacity of cocoa farmer groups in Laham Landscape on agroforestry management and business planning and operationalization of the cocoa business in a sustainable manner.
Expected Outputs/Outcomes
- Agroforestry Business plan document for Laham Landscape (Narrative in a word version and quantitative calculation in excel).
- Managers and business staff of targeted Cocoa Farmer groups are trained in preparing and operationalizing cocoa business plans.
Key Tasks
- Preparation: coordination meeting with USAID SEGAR, develop method and workplan, provide business plan document structure/ template.
- Review existing Gapoktan Uma Laham Business Plan (Output of PNP activity in January 2024) and other related documents (i.e. cocoa supply chain mapping, feasibility study of sustainable cocoa development in Mahakam Ulu, etc.).
- Writing draft cocoa agroforestry business plan of Laham landscape document.
- Facilitating discussion in workshop on validation of draft business plan document and the operationalization of business plan.
- Conduct coaching to the Board of members of GAPOKTAN Uma Laham to prepare and operationalize cocoa business plans.
- Finalization of Business plan document (Narration in word version and quantitative calculation in excel).
- Report writing.
Deliverables
- Work plan and timeline for the development of cocoa agroforestry Business Plan of Laham Landscape.
- Business plan document structure/template.
- Draft cocoa Agroforestry business plan document of Laham Landscape.
- Photo of facilitation process of Workshop on validation of draft business plan document and the operationalization of business plan.
- Coaching material, photo, coaching report (contains participants list and their capacity improvement evaluation).
- Final document of business plan (narrative in a word version and quantitative calculation in excel).
- Report on the process of preparing the business plan.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in a field relevant to Economics, Agriculture, Agribusiness, or other related fields.
- Demonstrated experience in preparing business plans for plantation commodities or land-based commodities.
- Demonstrated experience in working on sustainable cocoa.
- Experience working with local government, private sector organizations or business association) and local communities on issues relevant to cocoa commodities and/or plantation commodities.
- Strong understanding of community development and empowerment and ability to assist or empower community groups.
- Demonstrated experience in facilitating and training for community.
- Fluency in oral and written English.
How to Apply
Please submit your application to SEGAR-Recruit@chemonics.com with the subject line “SEKAB_YourName”. The application will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and early recruitment may occur until the position is filled.
