Consultancy for Ethiopian Honey Sector Diagnostic and Benchmarking Study – International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology

Consultancy and Training

International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology

icipe is a pan-African and non-profit Centre of Excellence for research and development and capacity building in insect science and its applications. Its mission is to help alleviate poverty, ensure food and nutritional security and improve the overall health status of peoples of the tropics by developing and extending management tools and strategies for harmful and useful arthropods, while preserving the natural resource base through research and capacity building. Since its establishment in 1970, icipe has become a significant contributor to science and innovation required to meet the health and food security challenges of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The Centre has achieved this status by developing alternative and environmentally friendly pest and vector management technologies and products that are effective, selective, non-polluting, non-resistance inducing, and are affordable to resource-limited rural and urban communities. icipe is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with offices in Ethiopia and Uganda, a major station on the shores of Lake Victoria, and several other field stations in Kenya. Employing close to 500 international and national staff, icipe also has approximately 150 graduate students who contribute to its research portfolio annually. The Centre currently has operations in more than 40 African countries, and thriving partnerships with universities and research organizations across the world. (www.icipe.org). 

 1.    Background

Honey production is an old tradition in Ethiopia. Currently about 2 million farmers produce honey mainly with traditional methods and tools. The country has a diversified flora and an ideal climate suitable for honey production. According to studies, the country has the potential to produce up to 500 thousand tonnes of honey annually, but only 52 thousand tonnes of honey is produced annually (ESS, 2023). Beekeeping is a common activity among smallholder farmers and landless people since it does not require cultivable land, involves little investment, and yields immediate financial returns (Dekebo et.al, 2019). This sector has the potential to produce jobs for smallholders in both rural and urban parts of the country. With proper market-led programs implemented, the Ethiopian apiculture sector has the potential to create up to four million jobs. However, it continues to face challenges such limited use of improved technologies in honey production, processing and low volume and quality of production, limited value addition, poor market and institutional infrastructure, limited engagement of the private sectors, weak supportive policies and regulations, limited access to quality inputs, weak coordination of actors, limited access to finance and markets, and natural resource base degradation.

To address the constraints and enable the apiculture sector of Ethiopia realize its potential for more jobs creation, the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) and its partners are implementing the Mass Youth Employment in Apiculture (MaYEA) Program in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. To capitalize on the potential of the apiculture sector to create jobs for one million young people, the program promoted an innovative approaches and models by enhancing market-driven value addition to improve sustainability and economic performance of the sector through increased investment in creating access to improved tools and equipment as well as training and business development services for young beekeepers. Overall, the program will implement five overarching interventions: I) increasing national honey and beeswax production; ii) improving honey quality to meet both national and international standards; iii) promoting market-driven value addition and product diversification; iv) enhancing integration of apiculture with other complementary value chains; and v) improving the enabling environment for youth and apiculture sector development. Icipe is leading the implementation of the second and fifth component.

Honey production in Ethiopia faced with multiple constraints including the effect of agro chemicals application on crops, pest and predators, bee disease, absconding, shortage of bee forage, market linkages, lack of modern technology, lack of credit access, poor extension service lack of beekeeping equipment’s, lack of processing and value additions, decline in export market and enabling policy environment. There are, however, fragmented studies on apiculture sector in Ethiopia mainly focusing on production constraints. Apiculture sector holistic study starting from input supply, production, quality, marketing, and policy environment is required to clearly understand the interconnectedness of the problems, opportunities, policy ecosystem and actors across the value chain.

As part of strengthening the enabling environment for the development of the apiculture sector, icipe is seeking the service of a qualified consultant to map, assess the capacity of actors in the apiculture, know baseline situation and provide recommendations to strengthen the contribution of key actors and players in the sector. This ToR is prepared to explain the rationale, objectives, overall approach, and scope of the work required from the prospective consultant.    

2.      Objectives of the study

The general objective of this sector wide diagnostic study is to map and assess the capacity of apiculture sector actors in Ethiopia and identify barriers across the honey and beeswax value chains and highlight areas of intervention to strengthen and transform the apiculture industry into high employment creating sector.

The specific objectives of the diagnostic study are:

1.      Map the market system structure and understand its operation and dynamics, key actors, roles, interests, and their interactions in the apiculture value chain system and assess their capacity vis-à-vis their mandates and suggest capacity building interventions.

2.      Deep dive analysis of the state of the apiculture sector all the way from input supply (production), quality, processing, marketing, and policy using quantitative data and information and identify investment areas to transform the sector.

3.      Identify systemic-level constraints (including the root causes) and understand why the system is not working related to policies, regulations and institutional frameworks, access to finance, marketing and technologies that hinder the transformation and job creation capacity of the sector.

4.      Assess the capacities of the market players and Identify opportunities for quick investment to bring systemic changes to make the apiculture high employment creating sector.

5.      Based on the findings, populate the MaYEA Program MEL Matrix with baseline and target values in consultation with program MEL team.

3.      Scope of the work

The consultant is expected to undertake the following specific tasks.

·       Conduct extensive desk review of relevant secondary data, reports, and studies in the Ethiopian apiculture sector.

·       Describe the study design and prepare tools required for the assessment.

·       Collect and analyze data from relevant stakeholders in the apiculture sector (public and private actors) and set the baseline information.

·       Conduct key informant interviews, group discussions and consultations with informants at key actor’s office.

·       Conduct focus group discussions (FGDs) with youths and women beekeepers through field visits to selected honey production areas.

·       Review national policies and strategies related to honey production, processing, and marketing and identify issues for reinforcement.

·       Consult honey standard setting, quality testing and accreditation (certifying) institutions on the opportunities and challenges in improving honey quality, safety, and marketability.

The assignment covers the whole system of the apiculture sectors including policy makers, researchers, private actors (honey processors, traders), honey quality testing and certifying institutions, financial service providers, producers, buyers, processors, and exporters. In addition, the consultants will complete the Program MEL Matrix with baseline values and targets from the data collected with focus on components 2 and 5 of the program. They will work closely with MEL team of the program to populate the MEL matrix.

4.      Methodology of the Assessment

The consultant will follow a participatory actors mapping and capacity assessment approach following standard capacity assessment frameworks. Analysis of systems (players) in the apiculture sector is the central focus of the assignment. The consultant is expected to adopt appropriate Stakeholder analysis, sector diagnostic study and capacity assessment frameworks to conduct the assessment.

Qualitative and quantitative data on the trends, prospects, dynamics, and challenges of the honey sector will be collected and analyzed. The study should be thematized into at least three components: production, supporting functions (market and finance) and policy and institutional aspects.     

5.      Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver the following key outputs.

1)      Inception report outlining the background, objectives, methods, data collection tools and timeline of the work.

2)      Draft report based on agreed report outline, which will include findings, conclusion, recommendations, capacity building plan, policy briefs.

3)      Presentations: the report will be presented to program and partner team for collecting inputs.

4)      The final report will be submitted by the consultant after incorporating all comments from the program and partner team.  

The draft and final report should be organized in the three thematic areas indicated above: Production, supporting functions and policy aspect of the apiculture sector. The report contents should be agreed and approved by icipe before writing up starts.

6.     Timeline

The assignment is expected to be conducted over a period of two months starting May 2024. The work requires a total of 45 person days distributed over two months.

7.   Management arrangements

The consultant will be offered a fixed-price contract to accomplish all the above tasks and deliverables. The consultant is expected to budget for his/her professional fees. The project will provide transport services, accommodation, and daily-subsistence allowance within program intervention areas. The consultant will report to the programme coordinator for all administrative logistics and the Senior M&E expert of the programme on all technical matters. The programme MEL team will facilitate access to relevant data, facilitate linkage with program teams, local stakeholders, and ensure the overall quality control of the deliverables. 

Team and Required Qualifications and Experience

The assignment is expected to be conducted by a team of 2 multidisciplinary teams that have skills and experience in Apiculture/agriculture, Capacity/institutional Assessment and market System development approach. The team members are expected to have the following mandatory experiences.

·       Experience in conducting capacity needs assessment and value chain (food systems) actors mapping and strengthening in the agriculture/apiculture sector.

·       Demonstrated practical experience in value chain and/or Market system analysis.

·       Qualification MSc/MA and above in Agricultural Economics/Economics, apiculture/Agriculture, Value Chain and Market System Development.

Lien