Cultivating New Frontiers In Agriculture (CNFA)- Request For Proposal For The Development Of Benue State Rural Development Policy

DEADLINE: 8TH SEPTEMBER, 2021
CULTIVATING NEW FRONTIERS IN AGRICULTURE (CNFA)
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BENUE STATE RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Section 1: Introduction, Technical Background and Scope of Work
(1.1) Introduction: The Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity is a USAID program implemented by CNFA in Nigeria. The goal of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity project is to strengthen the enabling environment for agribusiness finance and investment. To achieve this goal, the activity focuses on four interrelated components: 1) improving the agribusiness enabling environment; 2) broadening access to finance by mitigating the credit risks of agribusinesses; 3) facilitating investment opportunities for agribusinesses to expand and scale up operations; and 4) enhancing the performance of agribusiness Medium Small and Micro-Enterprise (MSMEs). In line with the U.S. and Nigerian Government’s commitment to growing the non-oil-based economy, these efforts will increase the quality, quantity, market access, and diversification of Nigeria’s economy.

The Activity signed an MOU with Benue State Government to increase private sector finance and investment in the agribusiness sector in the state. The five-year MOU outlines the shared and individual responsibilities to help drive agribusiness development collaboration between the Activity and the Benue State Government. One such joint commitment is the review of the Benue State Rural Development Policy to scale up stakeholders’ participation in the production, processing and marketing of products to enhance food security in the state. The Activity will continue to work with other donor organizations and development partners on this initiative. The proposed Benue State Rural Development Policy is the foremost deliberate effort by any government in Benue State to enhance rural development through a well-articulated policy framework.

The state has competitive and comparative advantages across several value chains and is driving investment into the rural economies through the development of the agricultural sector. The focus of the Benue State government rural development actions covers the following value chains; cassava, soyabeans, yam, aquaculture, maize, plantain, cowpea and banana. The overarching goal is to encourage and stimulate the rural economic development of the state’s diverse agricultural resources to guarantee food security, reduces rural poverty and facilitate agro-industrial growth.

The purpose of this rural policy is to stimulate engagement processes that integrate all stakeholders’ interest in evolving an enabling environment for improved performance in the rural economies of Benue State. The other objective of the policy is to ensure optimal utilization of the limited and depleting rural resources in the State for achieving sustainable development, encouraging investment in agriculture, addressing social, economic and environmental considerations and provide framework for Local Government Areas (Rural Communities) to formulate their respective economic development policies by incorporating community-specific concerns and priorities to achieve both short-term and long-term objectives.

The Benue State Rural Development Policy shall also:

• Protect and strengthen sustainable rural resources management practices that are supportive of an inclusive agricultural/environmental activity for multiple benefits.
• Increase responsible investment and positive incentives aimed at promoting sustainable rural integrations of gender and youth management.
• Establish and foster targeted rural economic development research to enable national evidence-based programs that will drive sustainability in rural economic growth and development.
• Identify and list partners to work with rural actors and users of rural resources and address the constraints they face in increasing the rural ecosystem towards a more contemporary service.
• Prevent and minimize rural resources degradation and restore/rehabilitate degraded rural resources such as forestry, water, rivers, soils (including historically degraded soils) especially through soil conservation approaches that have proved to be successful.
• Promote effective education programs to ensure adequate inclusion of sustainable rural resources management and extension services.
• Establish a framework for rural resilience for market infrastructure information systems.

The policy will be accompanied by an implementation plan to execute the policy in a way that can increase the likelihood the policy will achieve its intended outcome and accomplish its strategic objectives and goals. The plan will educate all stakeholders at all levels of the policy, change pre-existing administrative operations and systems (or create new ones) and monitor and/or enforce the policy as needed.

The Benue State Government will, through this policy, prioritize public private sector partnerships and economic diversification through the improvement in the enabling agribusiness environment on input and output markets; gender and youth inclusiveness; education and knowledge sharing; support innovation and technology, mechanization, and digitization of the sector. The success in the adoption of the best management practices relies on the quality of information obtained from the rural economies to produce a fit for purpose policy to meet the needs of an ever-growing population

Offerors are responsible for ensuring that their offers are received by CNFA in accordance with the instructions, terms, and conditions described in this RFP. Failure to adhere with instructions described in this RFP may lead to disqualification of an offer from consideration.

CNFA will consider proposals in response to this RFP from eligible Independent Consultants and Firms.

Application Submission
Offer Deadline and Protocol:  Offers must be received no later than 5:00PM, WAT on September 8, 2021. Offers must be submitted by email to operations@ag-invest.org.

Please reference the RFP number in any response to this RFP. Offers received after the specified time and date will be considered late and will be considered only at the discretion of CNFA. The cover page of this solicitation summarizes the important dates of the solicitation process. Offerors must strictly follow the provided deadlines to be considered for award.

Click to Download Benue Rural Policy