RFP on Impact Assessment of Livestock Development programme in Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka & Telangana

Request for Proposal on Impact Assessment of Livestock Development programme in Andhra Pradesh (AP), Karnataka and Telangana

Introduction

India’s livestock sector is one of the largest in the world with 56.7% of world’s buffaloes and 12.5% cattle. By the end of the 12th Plan, demand for milk is expected to increase to 141 million tons and for meat, eggs and fish together to 15.8 million tons. However, only 12% of the total public expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors is account livestock and about 4-5% of the total institutional credit flowing to agriculture and allied sectors.1 Studies commissioned by ITC in the past have identified some key challenges faced by the Dairy sector in the project areas, which require improvement: (i) breed improvement and low penetration  of Artificial Insemination; (ii) lack of access to finance; (iii) Unreliable or inconsistent labour; (iv) Limited access to medical knowledge or resources; and (v) Lack of nutritious feed. Considering all these issues, ITC has designed its Livestock development programme to address the issue of lowyields and productivity due to poor management practices and extension services.

Background of ITC’s Livestock Development Programme

As part of the Company’s commitment to inclusive and sustainable growth, ITC implements livestock development programmes to promote animal husbandry as a viable livelihood option, since the majority of rural households including the landless, own cattle. In rural households, approximately 30-50% of income is account animal husbandry activities. In order to address the major gaps discussed above, ITC has rolled out a comprehensive programme to provide doorstep artificial insemination (AIs) from high yielding pedigree bulls and promote better management practices for cattle rearing through capacity building of cattle owners. All the services are provided through local youths trained and positioned as AI technicians.

The livestock development programme is operational in 25 districts of 7 states where 211 Cattle Development Centers are functional in extending animal husbandry services to over 16.66 lakh milch animals. The project is implemented in partnership with BAIF Development Research Foundation which has proven experience in livelihood improvement of poor communities through its livestock development programmes across India, since 1967.

The study aims to assess the efficacy of the programme against its stated objectives in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

Objectives of the Project

1. Breed improvement of local livestock through doorstep artificial insemination services by trained local youth;

2. Promote sustainable cattle rearing practices through provision of services and training of cattle owners in fodder and feed management, vaccination, deworming and cattle housing.

In addition, since 2016-17, focus is laid on promotion of indigenous breed conservation through artificial insemination

Scope of the Study

The study will assess the programme broadly in three areas: (a) Efficacy of programme delivery; (b) measurable impacts; and c) impact of the programme on improvement of native breed population.

Section A – Comparisons between major implementation systems prevalent in the project areas to identify best practices:

1. Difference between programme design vis-a-vis designs of other breed improvement programmes implemented in the same area. Compare the efficiency in qualitative (as perceived by beneficiaries and other stakeholders) and quantitative terms (data based). To assess the above, the agency to particularly cover the following:

• Training and Capacity building of technicians;
• Cluster and logistics planning; and
• AI delivery system and post AI service provision.

2. Success of adoption of management practices due to awareness generation initiatives – green fodder source, nutrient mixture & supplements in feed, vaccination & deworming services prevalent in ITC intervention areas as compared to other programmes in the same areas.

Requirements from the agency

1. The agency selected for this project should have expertise in assessment of similar projects and have prior experience in conducting sampling methodology, data collection, collation, compilation and analysis.
2. The agency to conduct a preliminary visit to the project area to understand programme in detail. Based on the observations, the agency to plan the sampling methodology, questionnaires for field interviews and logistics (translator etc.), Focused Group Discussions and case study documentation.
3. Each of the quantitative parameters considered for assessment to be compared against decided proportion of control.
4. The sampling methodology to take care of neutralizing all external factors so as to ensure that the results are the most accurate representation of the field situation. Proportionate selection of control cases to be planned as per statistical methodology.
5. Field testing of questionnaire to be done with initial set of farmers and based on the feedback, entire study to be executed.
6. Group discussion and other modules to be taken up as per plans and conducted through structured questionnaires and checklists. These exercises are meant for extraction of qualitative data and cross tabulation and validation of the quantitative survey results.
7. Time to time sharing of emerging data and trends based on field data with ITC. Subsequent to discussions with ITC, these findings and analysis will be fine-tuned and taken into consideration for the study report.
8. Submission of draft report and final reports with all raw data backups and analysed data tables in excel spreadsheets.

Contact Details

For submission of RFP or any further queries all correspondence may be directed to: itcmsk@itc.in

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