REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Promotion of mud crab (Scylla serrata) seed production, nursery and grow out technologies in Bangladesh

Background

Feed the Future Bangladesh Aquaculture Activity (BAA) is a five-year program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), implemented by WorldFish, to sustain positive aquaculture sector growth through an inclusive Market Systems approach. The Activity aims to improve the sustainable livelihoods for a large number of smallholder farmers and other stakeholders engaged in the aquaculture value chain in Feed the Future Zone of Influence (ZOI) and Zone of Resilience (ZoR).

The Activity will stimulate aquaculture sector growth, increase employment and income, and improve food and nutrition security for households. It will serve as a facilitating role by coordinating linkages among the value chain actors in the private, public and civil society sector of Bangladesh.

The aquaculture market is constrained by many challenges – one of them is access to quality inputs and appropriate information for their optimal utilization, which affects the production and productivity of many rural fish farmers, nurseries and hatcheries. Identification of quality inputs and information about their right usage for fish farming has a direct impact on farmers’ productivity and income.

The Activity is interested to develop and promote a joint business model by engaging relevant private sectors to provide a complete solution in terms of creating access to information alongside appropriate inputs to ensure optimum production, delivering increased profitability for the farmers.

Objective

Objective 1: Increased productivity of aquaculture production systems

Aquaculture development in Bangladesh has been constrained by a lack of high-quality seed and feed as well as poor management practices. To address these the Activity, in collaboration with private sector actors, aims to i) increase the availability of improved fish seed, ii) increase the availability of affordable, high-quality fish feed and iii) increase adoption of best pond management practices.

Objective 2: Strengthened aquaculture market systems, with particular attention to expanding opportunities for women and youth

Aquaculture market growth has been driven by increased production. However, despite clearly expressed consumer concerns over farmed fish safety and quality, postharvest handling and market supply chains are poorly managed. The result is reduced profitability across many key aquaculture value chains, threatening the sustainable growth of the sector. Meanwhile, despite the growing importance of farmed fish to the national economy, the sector has little representation in policy making bodies or the ability to address consumer concerns. To address these issues the Activity, in collaboration with private sector actors, will i) increase market linkages, ii) increase engagement of the private sector in aquaculture markets and iii) improve the enabling environment for inclusive aquaculture sector growth.

Objective 3: Increased awareness and adoption of nutrition-related behaviors, with a particular focus on women and youth

Despite considerable progress, undernutrition rates remain high for the poor and vulnerable. Poor dietary quality leads to inadequate consumption of key vitamins and minerals, contributing to childhood stunting, cognitive impairment, reduced productivity and lowered earning potential, thereby undermining national development. These issues can be addressed through increased consumption of fish, a rich source of micronutrients such as vitamin A, iron, calcium, zinc and essential fatty acids, particularly by children and pregnant and lactating women. The Activity will, in a gender-equitable manner, focus on i) increasing nutrition awareness and practices and ii) improving access to diverse and nutritious food.

Targets

• 400,000 men, women and youth in the Feed the Future ZOI have improved access to better quality aquaculture inputs, services and/or market channels.
• 30 percent increase in investment by the private sector in the Feed the Future ZOI in aquaculture production and markets related to inputs and services (seed, feed, production/market-related information, technology, etc.).
• 30 percent increase in productivity from ponds and ghers in the Feed the Future ZOI.
• 20 percent increase in the number of households adopting improved nutritional practices (consumption of nutritious food, dietary diversity and hygiene practices). 

Mud crab (Scylla serrata) has emerged as a potential exportable commodity supporting the livelihoods of more than 300,000 fishers, traders, brokers, transporters, and exporters in Bangladesh. At present mud crab aquaculture heavily depends on the crab seeds (i.e. crab juveniles or near adults) collected from the wild stock, mostly from Sundarbans and coastal mangroves. This puts intense pressure on the wild stock for which declining in the natural stock size is of major concern. Farmers are reluctant to collect crablets from newly established crab hatcheries and nurse before stocking into grow-out ponds. As a result, demand for creablets being produced at hatcheries is very low while the price of crablets is very high. The promotion of crablets nursing technology would increase availability of juveniles for grow-out famers in Cox’s Bazar, Khulna, Shatkhira and Bagerhat districts, and eventually would help increase income and nutritional security of thousands of crab growers and other actors of the crab value chain in the country.  It will also reduce the dependency on the natural stock of crab and thus, conserve biodiversity.

Considering the mentioned challenges, partnering with an organization, the Activity would like to promote mud crab seed production, nursery and aquaculture in the southern region through awareness raising, capacity building, strengthening linkage support, etc. of community people and other relevant aquaculture market actors.

Specific objectives:

• To assess the existing market of mud crab in Bangladesh
• To assess the operation of mud crab hatchery/ies in the south west area of Bangladesh
• To provide recommendations for actions to support the growth of mud crab hatchery/ies, nurseries and grow out systems
• To provide recommendations for other actions to support the value chain of mud crab, for example technical support to farmers or to mud crab buyers and exporters
• To identify the demand to increase the mud crab production in Bangladesh

Scope of Work

The consultant (s) /consulting firm/s if selected will provide the following key results related to the intervention within an eight-month project period.

• Conduct interviews with stakeholders in mud crab production; District and Upazilla staff of DoF, relevant BFRI staff, mud crab producers (at least 50 farmers from Khulna and Cox’s bazar), mud crab buyers and exporters
• GIS mapping on mud crab value chain including all production clusters, nursery, hatchery and buyers
• Assess existing practices, identify gaps and accordingly develop capacity building materials for crab farmers, nursery operators and hatchery operators on better management practices
• Develop the skills of the nursery and grow-out farmers through training and visits
• Facilitate market linkages between farmers and market actors
• Support farmers’ access to better quality inputs including crablets, feed and aqua medicinal products through promotion and marketing
• Facilitate pond/gher demonstration (nursing and grow out) on better management practices and share learnings

Key Deliverables

Reports and documents needed to be delivered -

D.1 Current context:

• Estimation of present demand for mud crab crablets/seed
• Identification of constraints of mud crab fattening 
• Estimation of present collection of mud crab seed from nature by locations
• Estimation of present production of mud crabs for marketing by locations
• Estimation of profitability of mud crab hatchery, nursery and fattening with calculations of fixed and variable cost and benefits for crab production in ghers, pens and cages
• Estimation of potential increase in export of mud crab, identification of constraints to export with special emphasis on handling and packing of the mud crab and the final quality of the product
• Recommendations for action based on opinions of the stakeholders and based on the experience of the consultant (s)/consulting firms
• Documentation of different fattening methods
• Details (including GIS map) of crab value chain in Bangladesh 

D.2 Capacity building, linkages and communications

• Building capacity of crab market actors (farmers, nursery and hatchery operators, packers and processors )
• Promotional activities for raising awareness to farming communities
• Strengthening linkages and channels with the relevant aquaculture stakeholders
• Development of communication and business promotional tools and methods

Expected Results

The expected results of this intervention are -

• Increased adoption of better management practices by crab farmers, nursery and hatchery operators in Bangladesh
• Improved production and productivity led to better income for the crab farmers and nursery operators
• Increased access to better quality inputs including crablets, feed and aqua medicinal products
• Increased access to forward market opportunities
• Availability of information and aquaculture services through the strengthened supply chain and effective market linkages
• Improved nutrition and food security

BAA Offers

BAA will provide both technical and financial support to execute the proposed and agreed upon business models/ideas:

• Financial support to leverage the companies’ investment. If short-listed, the final agreement will be negotiated with selected, qualified companies.
• Facilitation and co-development of the proposed business models or strategic plans.
• Technical support as needed for successful implementation of the proposed models/initiatives.
• Facilitation of identifying or developing business linkages with other market actors.

BAA Fund Is Not For

• Working capital (e.g. day to day operational costs, salaries of regular staff, rent of buildings, office, warehouse, storage houses, regular purchases)
• Direct payments/subsidies to producers/aquaculture farmers
• Common IT and fixed assets (e.g. computers, cameras, projectors, vehicles, machineries and equipment)
• Common physical assets (e.g. buildings, warehouses, storage rooms)

Eligibility Criteria

• Have an experience and proven success on similar intervention
• Have commercial and profit interest and incentives in the capacity development of aquaculture stakeholders.
• Proposed business models/concepts which satisfy and support one or more of the following will be given preference (i) new and innovative business models, (ii) expansion of successful business models into new and underserved geographic markets and (iii) expansion of the business models targeting underserved customers in the rural areas, such as youth and women
• Proposed business models must demonstrate continuity and sustainability.
• Cost-share amount must be verifiable and it should not come from other USAID assisted projects or programs.
• An active certificate of incorporation (for individual companies, a trade license);
• Joint stock registration certificate (if applicable);
• An organizational organogram of key personnel, inclusive of the names of such personnel;
• Tax Identification Number (TIN);
• VAT registration number;
• Proof of a segregated bank account (providing the name and address of such an account);
• The consulting firm must bear all annual income tax (AIT).
• Percentage of VAT and total amount of VAT should be mentioned in the proposal.
• Other valid papers (provided by government institutions).

GRANTS AWARD PROCESS

EVALUATION

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Interested parties should submit application by using the attached application form and budget template on or before January 01, 2023 to: wfbanaproject@cgiar.org mentioning the title of solicitation or Request for Application (RFA) in the subject line.