Quarterly Report: October – December 2018 Usaid’S Avansa Agrikultura Project
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QUARTERLY REPORT: OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2018 USAID’S AVANSA AGRIKULTURA PROJECT January 31, 2019 This document was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Cardno Emerging Markets USA, Ltd. (Cardno) for USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project, contract number AID-472-C-15-00001. QUARTERLY REPORT: OCTOBER – DECEMER 2018 USAID’S AVANSA AGRIKULTURA PROJECT Submitted by: Cardno Emerging Markets USA, Ltd. Submitted to: USAID/Timor-Leste Contract No.: AID-472-C-15-00001 DISCLAIMER The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project Contents ACRONYMS............................................................................................................................................................................. II 1. BACKGROUND.................................................................................................................................................................. 3 2. HIGHLIGHTS THIS REP ORTI NG P ERI OD ................................................................................................................. 4 2.1. SUB-PURPOSE 1 – IMPROVED ABILIT Y OF TIMORESE CIT IZENS T O ENGAGE IN ECONOMIC ACT IVIT IES ..............4 Output 1: Market Linkages Improved and Expanded across the Horticulture Value chain .......................... 4 2.2. SUB-PURPOSE 2 – INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY OF SELECTED HORTICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS..........................7 Output 2: Sustainable Horticulture Productivity Improved at the Farm Level .................................................. 7 2.3. EMBEDDED THEMES.....................................................................................................................................................17 Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture ................................................................................................................................... 17 Incorporating women and youth ............................................................................................................................... 18 2.4. PRO JE CT ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEM ENT ........................................................................................................18 3. COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA OUTREACH ACTIVITIES ............................................................................ 19 4. ENVIRONMENTAL REVI EW S .................................................................................................................................... 20 5. GRANTEE AND SUB-CONTRACTOR PROGRESS ............................................................................................. 20 6. SUSTAINABILITY ............................................................................................................................................................ 26 8. KEY ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR NEXT QUARTER ............................................................................................ 27 9. PMEP ................................................................................................................................................................................. 28 10. US AI D’ S AV ANS A AGRIKULTURA PROJECT OFFICE ORGANIGRAM ..................................................... 33 Quarterly Report October – December 2018 Page i USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project Acronyms AHME Associacao Hortikultura Municipio / Ermera Municipal Horticulture Association ASHORTIL Associacao Horticultura de Timor Leste / Timor-Leste’s Horticulture Association (national level) CCA/NRM Climate Change Adaptation/ Natural Resource Management DG Director General FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FTF Feed the Future GIZ Gesellschaft für Internationale Zussamenarbeit JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency KJFL Kuna Juventude Fila Liman M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MAF Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries MCI Ministry of Commerce and Industry (formerly MCIE – Ministry of Commerce Industry and the Environment) MDF Market Development Facility MSI Marie Stopes International MOU Memorandum of Understanding ND National Director NGO Non-governmental organization NRM Natural Resource Management PHD Partnership for Human Development (DFAT funded project) PNTL National Police of Timor-Leste RFA Request for Application SEIGIS Secretaria de Estado da Igualdade do Genero e Inclusao Social (Secretary of State for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion) STTA Short Term Technical Assistant TAF The Asia Foundation TOMAK To’os ba moris diak (Farming for Prosperity - DFAT funded project) TOT Training of Trainers TRM Tuba Rai Metin UNDP United Nations Development Program UNTL University of Timor-Leste ZOI Zone of Influence Quarterly Report October – December 2018 Page ii USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project 1. Background USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project is a horticulture value chain activity aimed at addressing the key challenges of rural poverty, natural resource degradation, food insecurity, and under-nutrition. The value chain approach will be applied in achieving increased productivity along key horticulture value chains, including vegetables, fruits, and legumes. Through the promotion of sustainable production practices, increased functionality of farmer groups and associations, improved market linkages, and increased availability and access to quality agricultural inputs and services, including access to finance, the project is stimulating and supporting increased economic activity and growth in targeted rural communities and municipalities. Sustainability of these interventions is supported by work to maintain sound policies and an enabling environment relevant to the sector, as well as efforts to increase resilience to climate change and improve natural resource management as it relates to farm systems. The project supports the Development Objective of the USAID/Timor-Leste Mission: institutional and human capacity for development strengthened to improve the lives of Timor-Leste’s citizens. The overall purpose of USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project is to accelerate inclusive and sustainable economic growth through increased productivity/profitability of the horticulture value chain and to support nutrition-smart agriculture interventions that support increased food production, agriculture income, and women’s empowerment. This will be achieved through two project Sub-Purposes and two Embedded Themes. Sub-Purpose 1 – Improved Ability of Timorese Citizens to Engage in Economic Activities Within Sub-Purpose 1, four activities will be implemented: 1.1 Strengthen market linkages 1.2 Support development of agribusiness and agri-support service providers 1.3 Regulatory and trade policy improvements 1.4 Improving capacities of government to support horticulture development and improve nutrition Sub-Purpose 2 – Increase productivity of selected horticultural value chains Within Sub-Purpose 2, two activities will be implemented: 2.1 Conduct tailored training to improve productivity 2.2 Integrate NRM and nutrition training with farmer groups Embedded Themes Within Embedded Themes, two activities will be implemented: Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Incorporating women and youth Quarterly Report: October – December 2018 Page 3 USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project 2. Reporting Period Highlights Significant activities were undertaken from October to December 2018. The following provides a summary. 2.1. Sub-Purpose 1 – Improved Ability of Timorese Citizens to Engage in Economic Activities Output 1: Market Linkages Improved and Expanded across the Horticulture Value chain Objectives: To transition from a subsistence-based horticulture sector to a commercial sector, private sector participation in the value chain needs to increase. This includes developing linkages between farmers and final markets, strengthening linkages between input suppliers and farmers, developing new markets through value-added production and processing, and improving capacities of agribusiness service providers, including trainers, financial intermediaries, and extension workers. Activity 1.1: Strengthen market linkages o Seven collectors received a grant from the project between June and July to purchase vehicles to collect fruits and vegetables from farmers to deliver to markets. Four collectors received their vehicles, these included three motorized tricycles with dumps and one truck. Three more collectors are waiting for their cool box trucks to be delivered. It has taken over six months as the vehicles had to be imported to Timor. The companies and the project shared the cost of the vehicles. The project continued to train all seven companies in business management practices and connected the collectors to farmers and buyers. Despite heavy rains, which resulted in reduced farm-level production, the seven collectors have purchased and sold 14,679 kilograms of fresh produce worth $39,596 this quarter. The sales by companies are as follows: Products Collector Farmer Groups Marke ts Q uantities Sales (location) & Location Item (KG) Agfesbamo Gleno, Ermera Local market 18 products 2,688 $5,568 Megedova Gleno, Ermera Local market and Tasi 15 products 2,748 $5,759 Tolu, Dili Laledu Berry Maubisse, Ainaro Lita store, Kmanek 20 product s Matak (Maubisse) supermarket, W Four, 7,880 $24,666 Leader Beralau Hatu-Udo, Ainaro Local market 5 product s 248.15 $622 Sar a Collector Maubisse, Ainaro Kmanek restaurant,