TITLE: Implementer (Firm) of cool transportation intervention in Nigeria

REPORTS TO: Futoshi Yamauchi

LOCATION: Nigeria

JOB DESCRIPTION:

To feed its growing population amid climate change and other challenges, the developing world needs a flourishing food system that is nutrition-sensitive, efficient, safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable. This requires bringing modern technologies to local communities, helping stakeholders to acquire the relevant technical know-how, and building strong partnerships and institutions. Developed countries around the world can play important roles in these efforts and Japan is one of them. We explore how Japan can lend its expertise to address food and nutrition challenges in the developing world by examining the transferability of Japan’s advanced technologies, know-how and institutional innovations to the developing world.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), under its research project “Rebuilding rural livelihoods and food security in conflict cum food crisis affected Northeast Nigeria through cool transportation with advanced Japanese technologies” that is funded by the Government of Japan, conducts an impact evaluation study to assess impacts of cool transportation on rural livelihoods.

This project aims to contribute to greater social stability by rebuilding rural livelihoods in conflict-affected northeast Nigeria, seriously impacted by the war-induced food insecurity crisis, with an intervention to introduce cool transportation. In many developing countries, including Nigeria, much of fruit and vegetable production is lost largely because of lack of an adequate cold chain, including postharvest handling, cold storage and temperature-controlled transportation. As a result, not only the availability of fish, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs and meat but also the safety and nutritional content of the food are affected. Under such conditions, all agents in the supply chain including farmers suffer from income reduction, while consumers face un-stable and lower-quality supply of normally more nutritious foods. Inadequate development of value chains and deficiencies in high costs associated with cooling systems are main causes of such losses.

In particular, the intervention increases economic returns to horticultural production by connecting producers in the conflict affected northeast region and large demand centers located in the southern region. The advantages of our approach are two-fold: flexibility in determining target areas/beneficiaries and responding to the needs, both made possible by the mobility of our intervention. The intervention will (i) create employment opportunities, (ii) reduce food loss and (iii) improve health/nutrition among local people.

The intervention is part of the randomized control trial (RCT) to detect impacts of cool transportation on various outcomes. The RCT will randomly select beneficiaries among wholesalers who wish to be served within selected markets in Plateau, Bauchi and Gombe, possibly through rotations over time.

Scope of work

·Support our research/survey team to identify candidate markets in which (i) cool transportation has not been introduced and (ii) there are many wholesalers who wished to be served.

·Implement the cool transportation intervention in Plateau, Bauchi and Gombe.

·Work with our research/survey team to support the randomized control trial.

·Transport horticultural products from the origin markets/states under our experiment to a market in the southern region, to be determined, and sell the products to the wholesalers/retailers.

·Collect logistic data while in cool transportation.

·Work with a food scientist team to collect laboratory data on spoilage in temperature controlled and uncontrolled cases using a refrigerated truck.

·Support an experiment that provides information on the quality of products, including being temperature controlled in transportation from the origin markets/states.

·Support the installation of a forced air evaporative cooling unit in Nigeria, including identifying a strategic location for the installation for experimental purposes.

Required qualifications of the consultant team

·Demonstrated experience in cool transportation business operations in Nigeria

·Demonstrated knowledge of the technical, material and financial requirements of the cool transportation services

·Have a solid technical/engineering team to maintain refrigerated trucks

·Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

·Formal registration in Nigeria

Preferred qualifications

·Internationally recognized as a social enterprise that has been actively promoting off-grid cooling, especially solar powered cold storages

·Excellent tracking records on cool transportation in Nigeria

·Have worked in a project with IFPRI in recent years

·Strong networks relevant to the proposed work within Nigeria

Application documents

Please upload all required documents (in English) as one PDF in your application:

·Cover letter

·Company profile

·CVs of key personnel

Kindly direct questions to Futoshi Yamauchi ( [email protected] ), Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute.

Deadline of application is May 12, 2023.