Consultants for farm models
Regional Biotrade II is a four-year project (September 2020-August 2024) funded by the Government of Switzerland through the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The program follows on a previous phase which ran from September 2016 to September 2020. The goal of the project is the conservation of biodiversity through sustainable trade of biodiversity products in a manner that integrates local exporters / producers into global value chains and increases income for the rural population women and men that depend on biodiversity resources for their livelihoods in the Mekong region.
The new phase of the program includes three country components covering the core target countries of Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos, and a regional component covering light-touch intervention in Cambodia and partnerships with regional and international companies and organizations. HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation has overall management responsibility, and directly manages the Laos, Myanmar, and Regional components, while Vietnamese NGO CRED works on the implementation of the Vietnam component.
The project is in partnership with UEBT (https://uebt.org/about-uebt), a non-profit association that promotes sourcing with respect, to support Biotrade companies in Vietnam to implement Biodiversity Action Plans in their production areas. These companies are producing Cinnamon cassia, star anise, and benzoin. We have identified some risks for biodiversity that the current cultivation and wild collection practices are posing. Among others:
- Monoculture, high-density farming, and the practice of cutting down trees for harvesting are degrading soil, reducing genetic diversity, and plants' natural resilience.
- Pests are increasingly problematic and the use of agrochemicals, also high toxicity, is increasing as well with consequent contamination and degradation of soil and water as well as
- Expansion of cultivation and wild collection activities is often happening at the cost of natural and even protected areas that are converted or overexploited
- Changing climatic conditions – higher temperatures and longer dry seasons – seem to impact plant health but there is no clear understanding of this.
- Wild collection does not necessarily ensure the long-term sustainability of the used species due to the lack of important data on species behavior (such as regeneration rates, and factors promoting and restraining regeneration) and no specific efforts are done in order to promote the species regeneration.
We are looking for local experts or organizations to support companies and producers to understand: (1) The causes behind the risks described above; and (2) Which farming and wild-harvest-based production models can be promoted that contribute to overcoming the risks mentioned above and also have a positive impact on biodiversity regeneration?
The consultant(s) will provide technical support to companies to identify models for the regenerative production of Cinnamon cassia, and star anise in Vietnam with the following tasks:
- Review some findings that UEBT local biodiversity staff has gathered from field visits.
- Consult relevant literature.
- Accompany UEBT local biodiversity staff in field visits to gather missing information to be able to respond to the questions above.
- Write a short report in Vietnamese which the local UEBT biodiversity staff will translate into English where recommended production models are described in the way they could be implemented in the visited field, and pros and cons of each model are highlighted.
- Support UEBT local biodiversity staff in presenting the models to the companies.
- Support the companies in setting up pilots to test the models.
- Monitor the pilot implementation in the first year and refine the models when needed.
Please send applications before 16 July 2023 to HELVETAS Vietnam:
- P.O Box 81, 298F Kim Ma Street, Ha Noi, Vietnam
- Contact Person: Mrs. Dieu Chi Nguyen
- Mobile: 0903280841
- Email: chi.nguyen@helvetas.org