Irrigation & Agriculture Mechanization Consultant

PROJECT BACKGROUND:

Feed the Future Egypt Rural Agribusiness Strengthening Project (“the Project”) is a five-year USAID-funded activity, supported by the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative. The Project aims to improve the competitiveness of Egypt’s horticulture producers and related down-stream businesses and food processors. The Project promotes a more competitive and inclusive Egyptian economy through growth in selected horticultural sectors with special focus on securing employment and increasing agriculture-related incomes of smallholder farmers. The Project operates in Greater Cairo, Upper Egypt, and the Nile Delta, through three regional offices in Luxor, Minya and Gharbia, in addition to the main office in Giza. 

ASSIGNMENT BACKGROUND

The Irrigation & Agriculture Mechanization Consultancy is critical toward the overall success of the Project. The consultant will work alongside key Project staff, including the Production Post-Harvest (PPH) Team Leader, Post-Harvest Lead, local Technical Trainers, and field coordinators to develop water management and fields of efficient utilization of Agriculture Mechanization training curriculum that will address critical weaknesses amongst smallholder irrigation systems and appropriate agriculture practices. The consultant will verify training needs through a series of field trips for irrigation systems assessments/required development of Agriculture Mechanization. Once gaps and training priorities are confirmed, the consultant will develop irrigation and water use efficiency manual and mechanization applications tailored to each governorate where the Project operates.  The consultant will be required to make several trips to the field for farm visits in different governorates in Upper Egypt and Delta.

ASSIGNMENT DURATION: Maximum of 115 days during 2022

PRINCIPLE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Training needs assessment

• Identify training priorities of smallholder farmers in Irrigation production, water use efficiency energy costs and mechanization applications through field visits to farmers in Upper Egypt.
• Identify training priorities of smallholder farmers in irrigation development, water management and efficient mechanization through stakeholder meetings that involve lead farmers, extension agents and other input suppliers leaders.

Curriculum development

• Develop water management training manual that describes all irrigation best practices and comprehensive program including all systems and energy sources and manual for relevant agriculture mechanization applications.
• Developing curriculum for the local master trainers, producer organization (PO) coordinators, university graduates and Project interns so the Project has the same message delivered to farmers.

Farmers’ capacity building

• Assess technical training needs of the Project’s farmers and training staff; and provide training to the Project’s local trainers in each governorate to ensure that they are capable of effectively implementing the Project interventions in their governorates.

Farmers Follow up Visits

• Assess implementation of training recommendations
• Identify and resolve any field issue as requested by agronomy team
• Supervise and assess the local master trainers’ performance

DELIVERABLES:

• Written report on results of training needs assessment
•  Field ToT Curriculum that includes:
  • Clear description of training program outcomes 
  • Identification of core competencies that must be strengthened in order for outcomes to be achieved. When relevant, core competencies should be differentiated by levels of mastery to help show progression in development efforts.
  • Detailed training session plans that address each core competency. A core competency may be addressed by multiple training sessions (i.e. water management, developed irrigation systems, agriculture mechanization applications, etc.
  •  Each training session description should include learning objectives, session schedule, necessary materials and a written description of each element of the ToT session.
• Water management development manual with detailed description of best practices of every irrigation system in different soil types.
• Agriculture Mechanization Applications manual for target value chains