Team Leader 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.

The consultant will be responsible for overall scope of the TA as the team leader and will make the following specific tasks and any other relevant matters:

• (i) assume the overall responsibility for the preparation, coordination, and other activities of all reports, documents, and other deliverables;
• (ii) work closely with ADB project team, MAGNET Society and other government staff, PISC, and other relevant stakeholders throughout the TA implementation;
• (iii) 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;
• (iv) develop outlines of the TA progress, final, and other reports, assign work to team members, compile inputs, and finalize all the deliverables;
• (v) manage and ensure the timely implementation of TA activities including (a) organizing project trainings and workshops, (b) supporting the executing agency and other government counterparts, (c) organizing tripartite meetings and discussions among ADB, government and TA consultant teams, (d) preparing knowledge products and presentations to promote replication of the project features in and outside India through workshops and ADB forums;
• (vi) identify and create crop-wise lists of anchor FPOs and other beneficiary FPOs (including at least 20% women-owned and -led FPOs) and keep them updated from time to time;
• (vii) work with NIPHT, anchor FPOs (including key famer producer companies [FPCs]), and other relevant institutions in Maharashtra and create crop-wise networks of centers of excellence for capacity development activities and keep them updated from time to time;
• (viii) lead the team in assessment of the current status and gaps of target crops’ value chains, aggregation, and formation of FPOs in Maharashtra;
• (ix) based on the assessment, prepare (a) crop-wise proposals on 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;
• (x) prepare crop-wise mid-term (3–5 years) action plans to accelerate value chain activities and enhance market linkages and update the plans in a rolling manner at the beginning of each fiscal-year by validating all business assumptions, developing annual plans, and defining key performance indicators;
• (xi) develop training materials and train the trainers through the centers of excellence network based on the action plans continuously (100 or more trainers to be trained, of which at least 20% are women);
• (xii) coordinate trainings to FPOs to be conducted by the trainers and organized by the PISC (35,000 or more participants in total, of which at least 20% are women);
• (xiii) prepare knowledge products (presentation slides, publications, etc.) to be used for replication of the project experience and expertise; and
• (xiv) Promote application of relevant high-level and innovative technologies through project activities in collaboration with the PISC.