Request for Quotation (RFQ) at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) invites interested vendors / organisations to indicate interest by submitting RFP documents for the following works:

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the UN in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Working with both governments and businesses, we aim to transform food systems so that they deliver more nutritious food for all people.

At GAIN, we believe that everyone in the world should have access to nutritious and safe food. We work to understand and deliver specific solutions to the daily challenge of food insecurity faced by poor people. By understanding that there is no “one-size-fits-all” model, we develop alliances and build tailored programmes, using a variety of flexible models and approaches.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Request for Quotation (RFQ) for the Supply of Agricultural Inputs for Vitamin A Maize Production in Kaduna

Background
GAIN is implementing the Strengthening Nutrition in Priority Staples (SNIPS) Project which will add a nutrition lens to and deliver an integrated suite of activities to support GIZ’s Green Innovation Centre (GIC) in Nigeria. This nutrition project will strengthen the GIC priority value chains and improve food security and safety through improved diets for farmers, farmworkers, other workers in businesses in these value chains, and among the wider population in Nigeria. The following broad objectives for this programme are:

• To increase consumption of safe, nutritious foods by smallholder farmers, their families, and the wider population
• To strengthen cassava, maize, sweet potato, and rice value chains in Nigeria which provide more, safe nutritious foods to consumers
• To increase use of nutritious varieties of the target staples in processed foods
• To improve productivity & efficiency of farmers and other businesses to improve the production of safe, nutritious foods in the cassava, maize, sweet potato, and rice value chains

To reach our overarching goal of improving nutrition through improved diets, the project will build on the increased consumption of the staple crops, which is the primary focus of the GIC, through the following related interventions:

• A workforce nutrition program to support farmers and workers in these value chains to improve and diversify their diets.
• Business support services to make a wide variety of nutritious and safe foods more accessible, affordable, and desirable; and
• Increased production and consumption of biofortified varieties of maize, cassava, and sweet potato.

Farmers’ nutritional health is directly linked to their productivity and earning potential in terms of their own household, farms, and businesses and their contribution to national economic growth. However, farming families and households are often not aware of the importance of the nutrient content of the foods they produce and consume, and they are often unaware of the importance of the consumption of a diverse diet. Farmers engaged in the production of the priority staples in focus may be able to access foods that meet their energy needs but even earning good income from their business does not usually translate to accessing a sufficiently diverse diet. The costs of poor nutrition on lost revenues to businesses in a context like Nigeria, where underweight, stunting, and anemia are prevalent in rural areas, and obesity rates are growing could mean as much as 2.7% of GDP is lost from lower worker productivity (Chatham House, 2020).

The Workforce Nutrition component (WFN) will support farmers and workers in these value chains to improve their diets. The Workforce Nutrition component aims to reach rice and maize value chain workers (from smallholder farmers to processing employees) with workforce nutrition interventions that aim to improve the consumption of nutritious foods as part of a healthy, diverse diet for workers, farmers, and their households. The Programme also aims to engage business owners in the supply chain, local government and state authorities on the importance of farmer/worker nutrition for greater resilience and productivity. Throughout the program, GAIN will lead regular advocacy and engagement with business managers, and government officials on the importance of workforce nutrition for both workers and farmers.

SMEs handle most of the food that is produced, transported, marketed, and consumed in low-income countries such as Nigeria. These SMEs are however hindered by a lack of business knowledge and skills and often lack the resources to take advantage of the opportunities around them to innovate and secure higher value from their smallholder investments. Lack of awareness of food safety regulations, good practices, and how to adhere to them, also means that many consumers are exposed to contaminated or otherwise unsafe foods.

The Business Support component will empower women and young people and unleash the creativity and energy of youth and women to support their families, succeed in agri-business, and attempt to tackle malnutrition, prevent foodborne illnesses as well as food and social insecurity. This component will increase women and youth involvement in value-added agriculture and entrepreneurship that directly addresses the specific challenges that women and rural youth face in the four focal states for this Project. It will respond to opportunities to harness the political will at local, state, and national levels in Nigeria to invest in creating economic opportunities for women and youth in the production, processing, and sale of nutritious and safe foods. This will be achieved by significantly increasing the knowledge and information available to women and young people about nutrition, food safety, increasing their participation in decision-making, and targeting business support and investments so they can bring forward innovations, increase livelihood opportunities and build nutrition sensitivity into the GIC value chains. This will be carried out using three interlinked approaches:

• Improving nutrition quality of staple foods produced by SMEs and farmers involved in GIC activities.
• Improving the capacity of food safety and value chain actors to adhere to standards and regulations on best practices.
• Supporting technical innovations for supply chains through innovation challenges and innovation clinics.

One in three people globally experiences vitamin and mineral deficiencies leading to severe health outcomes including premature and preventable death in infants and young children. Micronutrient deficiencies can also constrain work performance resulting in slower economic growth and widespread, intergenerational poverty. Nearly two-thirds of Nigerian children are at risk of vitamin A deficiency due to inadequate amounts of vitamin A in their diets (NDHS 2018) and generally inadequate access to a diversity of food at the household level due to rising levels of poverty. This “hidden hunger” is particularly acute in countries like Nigeria and among farming families who grow and eat their food and diets are overly reliant on  staple foods, lacking in the diversity of foods needed to meet multiple nutrient requirements.

The Biofortification component aims to work with farmers and farming households to promote the adoption, cultivation, and utilization of these staples by the farming households and other food processors. The workstream will promote Vitamin A Cassava, Vitamin A Maize and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) in Oyo, Kaduna, and Benue/Oyo states, respectively. In order to facilitate access to inputs for Vitamin A Maize (VAM) production, the project plans to distribute agricultural inputs (Seeds, fertilizer, herbicide and Aflasafe) to all enrolled 4000 VAM participants in phases in Kaduna State. 2000 participants will benefit from the first phase while the remaining 2000 will benefit in subsequent years.

Scope of Deliverables

The vendors shall provide the following:

Expected Vendor
The vendor should be willing to supply to designated location approved by GAIN in Kaduna state Nigeria and should have the following:

• The vendor should have prior experience supplying agricultural inputs to organisations, most especially International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) with good recommendations from clients.
• The interested vendor must have a legal right to operate in Nigeria, must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and have a TIN number.

Application Closing Date
29th April, 2022.

Submission of Documents
Interested vendor should send an expression of interest including reasons for interest in the task, qualifications, quotations and prior experience in undertaking similar supply to: [email protected] and cc [email protected]. Please use the subject line “Quotes for Agricultural input” when responding.

Click Here(PDF) for a detailed description of the RFP.