Consultant of Seed Assistance/Subsidy Program Implementation Guidance Preparation - Sumenep District

PRISMA - Consultant of Seed Assistance/Subsidy Program Implementation Guidance Preparation –
Sumenep District

1. Background of the Program

Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Promoting Rural Incomes through Support for Markets in Agriculture (PRISMA) is a multi-year development program working to accelerate poverty reduction through inclusive economic growth. PRISMA adopts a market systems development approach by partnering with key-stakeholders to improve agriculture market efficiency and sustainably benefit the poor. The program aims to achieve an income increase for a total of 1,000,000 smallholder farming households by 2023. It operates in six provinces of Central Java, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), West Papua, and Papua.
PRISMA has been worked on the Public Private Collaboration (PPC) intervention model in Madura since 2016. Madura is considered a potential maize harvested area covering approx. 22% of the East Java province. The intervention aims at optimizing the overlapping maize seed assistance/subsidy program in the implementation stage of district level as program beneficiary.

The DKPP Sumenep district agreed to shift the allocation of seed subsidies away from the companies’ commercial base to new areas where farmers had not adopted hybrid seed. Meanwhile, the seed companies agreed to - (1) provide capacity building on hybrid maize GAP and their seed product characteristics for the public extension service agents, (2) conduct demo plots to prove their seed product’s suitability, and (3) give GAP assistance to farmer groups receiving the seed subsidies. PRISMA monitored the implementation and harvested the lessons learned.

The result showed that the subsidy allocation overlaps in commercial areas decreased from 90 to 40 percent from 2016 to 2017, while farmers in new areas started to purchase hybrid seed after the subsidy program ended. The overall adoption of hybrid seed and maize productivity in Sumenep increased. Other seed companies also started to see Madura as a potential market and entered the market independently by placing field staff to conduct active promotions. The impact of the district government’s market-supportive policy through smart subsidy has enabled the growth of the seed market in Sumenep. PRISMA’s assessments find approximately 100,000 farmers (around 50 percent of the total farmers) in Sumenep have increased their income from increased yield by using hybrid maize seed and applying its GAP.

Since Madura is still an emerging market for maize hybrid seed, it is important to keep Madura from market distortion circumstance so the commercial market can continuously grow. On the other hand, subsidy programs can be synergized simultaneously. Therefore, the best practices in managing subsidized maize seed allocation need to be legitimated as formal regulation to ensure best practice model application and strengthening market resiliencies.

Central Java provincial government through Agriculture and Plantation Agency (Distanbun: Dinas Pertanian dan Perkebunan Jawa Tengah), facilitated by PRISMA, has successfully published the technical guidance related to seed assistance/subsidy mechanism. During the process, the smart subsidy model of Sumenep district also became a valuable instrument in fulfilling practical experience on seed assistance/subsidy program guidance improvements.

The latest technical guidelines stipulate the need of synchronization between target areas and seed assistance/subsidy model/mechanisms as a basis for planning and implementing the program. The districts government must have data on the condition/market status of each sub-district, considering: (1) average productivity; (2) harvested area; (3) farmers’ adoption of hybrid seed and its GAP; (4) presence of seed companies, kiosks, and off-takers. Based on these indicators, 3 categories of market conditions/status will be generated, namely Strong, Semi-strong and Weak. Meanwhile, the assistance model/mechanism can be delivered through a goods grant, cash transfer or subsidy (price discount) scheme which will be fit to the market status category.

DKPP Sumenep district and PRISMA agreed to have following activities on creating a conducive policy environment to support maize seed market system. One of the important elements is developing a new guidance on seed assistance/subsidy program implementation which considering market status/classification in selecting and deciding subsidized seed allocation. Therefore, PRISMA needs to hire a consultant who will be responsible for undertaking the task.

2. Purpose of The Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to engage a highly qualified and experienced consultant (Short-Term Adviser - STA) to spearhead the development of the maize seed assistance/subsidy program implementation guidance for Sumenep District (DKPP Sumenep district).

The consultants responsibilities will encompass conducting a thorough review of the relevant current and previous regulations regarding maize seed assistance/subsidy program both national and sub-national levels, including its analysis of the program, getting the best understanding from the relevant stakeholders through interview session as well as FGD event.

He/She will work collaboratively with district and local authorities to gather their input and insights, ensuring that the guidance is in line with the other regulations both national and sub-national levels, socialized and internalized to relevant government institutional units in the respective district, and can be effectively implemented.

3. Key Roles and Responsibilities

PRISMA wish to engage a consultant in carrying out this assignment. This will include desk review, organising the meeting, FGD and depth interview, preparing maize seed assistance/subsidy program implementation guidance for DKPP Sumenep district, its dissemination and socialization.

The Consultant is expected to deliver areas of work as outlined but not limited to the followings:
a) Facilitate the whole process of reviewing of the guidance (PEDOMAN, or JUKNIS or JUKLAK) of maize seed assistance/subsidy program and developing the new guidance for the DKPP Sumenep district.
B) Plan and arrange all necessary activities that support the new guidance on implementation (PEDOMAN, JUKNIS or JUKLAK) of maize seed assistance/subsidy program reviewing and preparation process.
C) Review relevant literature as well as the existing regulations related to the maize seed assistance/subsidy program and its guidance.
D) Prepare and develop draft of the implementation guidance (PEDOMAN, JUKNIS or JUKLAK) of maize seed assistance/subsidy program revision and submit to PRISMA and or DKPP Sumenep district at timely manner.
E) Close coordination with the DKPP Sumenep district to make sure that the framework and various aspects or elements connected to the development of the maize seed assistance/subsidy program implementation guidance are effectively addressed.
F) Conduct series of meetings with all stakeholders related to the guidance preparation.
G) Coordinate consultations with stakeholders to ensure that the guidance reflects a shared consensus and incorporates relevant input.
H) Organize and involve in the FGD to get input and confirmation.
I) Organize and involve in the dissemination workshop event.
J) Maintain regular coordination, provide, and submit a summary of progress, along with other deliverables, to PRISMA in timely manner.

4. Key Selection Criteria
The consultant must have:
a) Good negotiation, communication, and presentation skills.
b) Good understanding and analysis of the agriculture sector and the market dynamic.
c) Solid knowledge of government policies and planning processes, particularly in the area of agriculture sector.
d) Experience in facilitation programs especially on policy engagement and working closely with the government at least in district level.
e) Experience in developing or writing policy documents for at least district level.

Desirables Criteria:
a) Minimum hold bachelor’s degree in agriculture, economics, social, legal or equivalent experience with a minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience.
b) Sound experience in facilitating multistakeholder workshops or FGD.
c) Good networking both with local government and other maize market actors in the provincial and district level.
d) Understand the maize value chain and its market dynamic context.
e) Exceptional written and oral communication skills in both Bahasa and English.

5. Functional Relationships

The liaison reports to PF2/ Maize sector – Ahmad Turmudzi (PBC).

6. Indicative Timeline
The work for the consultant will be maximum 40 working-days for the period of January 2024 until 30 April 2024.

7. Deliverables

The deliverables of this assignment will be as follows:

• Activity plan
• 1st Coordination Meeting with DKPP Sumenep district
• Relevant regulation desk review report
• One on one meeting with Dinas and related stakeholders report
• FGD Report
• Submission the first draft
• 2nd Coordination meeting with DKPP Sumenep district to review the Draft
• Submission the Final Draft
• 3rd Coordination meeting with DKPP Sumenep district to update the Final Draft and getting approval
• Release decree of the guidance
• Dissemination
• Assignment Report

Company Overview:

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Application closed on Wednesday, 13 December 2023
Women and people with disability are encouraged to apply.