GIZ
Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI) – Tanzania
TENDER INVITATION FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CROP CUTTING EXPERIENCE (CROP CUTS) AND FARMER SURVEY IN TANZANIA
Competitive African Rice Initiative(CARI) programme aims to improve the livelihood of rice farmers, and to increase competitiveness of domestic rice supply to meet increasing regional demand. CARI’s technical and financial assistance is based on a value chain approach that addresses coordination failures; creates better linkages among rice value chain actors and as a result, increases the expected economic returns for all stakeholders.
Rice is the second most important food grain crop in Tanzania after maize, produced in 64 districts and widely consumed in the country. About 30% of the rice produced in the country is consumed by farmer/producer households, whereas the remainder is sold in the domestic and regional markets, with consumption being the highest in larger urban areas.
An estimated 2.2 million MT of rice is produced annually, making Tanzania the biggest rice producing country in the region. The rice sub-sector has long been identified by the Government of Tanzania as a strategic priority for agricultural development due to its potential for improving food security and income for large numbers of rural households with landholding sizes ranging from 0.5 to 3 ha. There are plenty of opportunities for rice development to “flourish in Tanzania. There are abundant water resources for irrigation (ground water, rivers and lakes) and suitable land (21 million ha) for rice cultivation. There is a potential for increases in national and regional demand due to population growth, urbanization and increase in income.
In 2018, EAC countries imported close to 1 million MT of rice which worth US$415. 2 million mainly from Pakistan, India, Thailand and Vietnam where Kenya accounted for 79%, followed by Uganda (19%) and Rwanda (2%).
Despite the progress and opportunities for growth, the rice sector in Tanzania still faces many challenges that range from production (farm) level (i.e. labor costs, agro inputs, levies/taxes etc.), post-harvesting (i.e. storage costs, marketing etc.), processing (i.e. machineries, utilities, regulatory costs etc.) to cross border trade (transport, regulatory costs, marketing etc.) thus making Tanzanian rice not competitive enough in the EA common market.
There is a lack of reliable information on farm yields in the countries where CARI operates. Only limited data is available from various private and public sources. The available data obtained by CARI from baseline studies and partner reports display varying degrees of reliability, are not statistically representative and in some cases contradictory. The main underlying reason for this is the fact that farmers do not systematically record farm related data of their yields. Yield reports from either the farmers or the partner tend to not be scientific and may under or overstate the actual yield per hectare. Reliable scientific data on yield increases serves as director confirmation of the effectiveness of the CARI intervention.
The aim of this assignment is to obtain representative yield data of smallholder rice farmers in Tanzania, including GPS data of the fields. in addition, several socio-economic questions will be administered in a short questionnaire. Specifically, the proposed
study objectives are to:
- Examine the yield development of rice farmers in selected areas in Tanzania
- Examine the adoption behaviour of farmers in terms of good agricultural practices
Interested candidates should request for detailed tender documents from [email protected] no later than 29th March 2021 and submit Technical and Financial proposals by email no later than 12th April 2021. This tender is intended solely for Tanzania based companies/consultants.
