2023-11-09

Funding Agency:  Asian Development Bank
Client: Asian Development Bank
Date: April 2020 – July 2021 

The TA will support the implementing agencies to prepare for the policy actions required to comply with the program’s second tranche conditions. The recent transition to federalism has resulted in the reorganization of responsibilities among the three tiers of the government and the creation of new institutions to deliver public services related to agriculture. A key issue at present is the weak coordination among the three tiers of the government and among the various institutions. Fulfillment of their new responsibilities is also constrained by inadequate staffing levels within these institutions. The TA will provide capacity building support to foster coordination among the different tiers of the government and the various institutions.

Actual services provided by the firm:

Scope of Work

1.     Provide Agribusiness Advisory Services:

• Preparing sample business plan templates for at least two high-value commodities
  
• Preparing a sample business plan template and operational guidelines for custom hiring of agricultural machinery
  
• Preparing a training manual for promotion of inclusive agriculture and agribusiness, and deliver training (ensuring at least 50% of participants are women, and that indigenous peoples are informed and represented in the training);
  
• Preparing socially and gender-inclusive provincial strategic investment plans for prioritized commodities
  
• Facilitating orientation on the ADB-assisted Agricultural Development Strategy (ADS), 2015?2035, to municipal governments of Gandaki Province, including orientation on the flagship program and gender equality and social inclusion strategy of the ADS
  
• Drafting terms of reference for mainstreaming gender and social inclusion in the operations of the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperatives
  
• Organizing various capacity building programs for government staff; and
  
• Undertaking any other activity needed to comply with the second-tranche actions.
  

2.     Improve Government Regulatory Capacity:

• Developing minimum national standards for establishing seed testing laboratories of different categories
  
• Drafting plant protection regulations and pesticide management regulations
  
• Developing maximum residue levels of pesticides for at least ten priority food items and a pesticide residue surveillance protocol and an operational plan for two priority commodities
  
• Preparing a plan for upgrading existing and establishing new food safety laboratories under the Department of Food Technology and quality Control
  
• Completing all pre-requisites for International Organization for Standardization / International Electro Technical Commission (ISO/IEC) 17025 accreditations for pyrophytes and carbamates pesticides testing at the Central Food and Feed Reference Laboratory
  
• Completing all pre-requisites for ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation of molecular unit in the CVL for virology tests
  
• Completing all pre-requisites for ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation for Newcastle disease and Peste des Petits Ruminants vaccine production unit of the National Vaccine Production Laboratory; and
  
• Organizing capacity building programs for government staff