Horticulture Post-harvest Management Specialist for the Proposed Maharashtra Agribusiness Network Project (MAGNET) in India

The proposed Maharashtra Agribusiness Network Project (MAGNET) will support the state government of Maharashtra through a holistic approach combining a project loan and financial intermediation loan modalities.

The project is aligned with the following impacts:

• achieve average agriculture sector growth rate of 5 per cent;
• promote agriculture produce export;
• and establish fair, competitive, and accessible agriculture markets.

The project’s outcome is: Maharashtra’s horticultural production values and FPOs’ profits increased. The outputs comprise

• (i) institutional capacities of agribusiness institutions and FPOs strengthened,
• (ii) financial and agribusiness capacities of FPOs and value chain operators (VCOs) strengthened, and
• (iii) agriculture value chain infrastructure improved and operational.

Detailed tasks and/or expected outputs. The consultant will be responsible for the following specific tasks and any other relevant matters:

• (i) work closely with ADB project team, MAGNET Society and other government staff, PISC, and other relevant stakeholders throughout the TA implementation;
• (ii) review MAGNET project documents and outputs of high-level technology consultants, project preparatory consulting firm, post-harvest management and direct marketing studies, and other relevant documents;
• (iii) assess, from post-harvest management perspective, the current status and gaps of target crops’ value chains, aggregation, and formation of FPOs in Maharashtra;
• (iv) develop crop-wise assessment and proposals on post-harvest and value chain facility requirements, utilization, and gaps;
• (v) contribute to development of crop-wise assessment and proposals on (a) market access and expansion for both domestic and export markets including branding concepts and (b) capacity development plans of FPOs to enhance their business, financial, and technical capacity and utilize high-level and innovative agriculture technologies and women members; and
• (vi) work with the agriculture technology specialists and PISC to guide the FPOs and VCOs through trainings and subproject identification activities to adopt technically and economically sound facility plan and design with incorporation of sufficient climate and disaster-risk mitigation, energy-saving, gender mainstreaming, social inclusiveness, and other measures.