Consultant - Livestock Nutrition
Technology Specialist (Nutrition and
Feed Formulation)

Project Description:

CNFA is an enterprise development organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to stimulating sustainable growth in the agricultural sector. CNFA specializes in fostering private sector investments in training, new technologies and marketing as a mean to increase the overall competitiveness of agricultural value chains, to expand exports, and to develop skills in the rural workforce. By generating higher incomes for farmers, processors, entrepreneurs and distributors, CNFA helps improve livelihoods and reduce poverty. CNFA is currently implementing the four-year, USAID-funded Pakistan Agricultural Technology Transfer Activity (PATTA), a project which will bring to scale private sector solutions to improve agricultural productivity in Pakistan. PATTA will partner with agricultural technology companies to commercialize products and services that can increase the productivity and competitiveness of smallholder farmers and mobilize private sector investment in agricultural technologies. PATTA’s partnerships will give smallholder farmers boarder access to affordable technologies to increase productivity, build resilience to climate change and reduce postharvest losses.

Expected Results of PATTA:

• Increase smallholder farmer access to affordable, appropriate and effective agricultural technologies;
• Enable agricultural technology-related businesses to expand and adapt their products and services to meet smallholders needs;
• Scale up the adoption and use of agricultural technologies.

Assignment Background: Outdated and ineffective agricultural technologies are among the leading causes for Pakistan’s agricultural productivity falling short of its potential. Scaling up the production, distribution and adoption of agricultural technologies in Pakistan is made challenging by lack of information, difficulty in accessing credit, the geographically wide dispersion of smallholders, and the diversity of challenges facing different subsets of smallholder farmers, including women and other marginalized or disenfranchised groups. 

Pakistan has the fifth largest livestock population in the world and livestock products, including meat and dairy, account for 12.0% of national GDP and 55.4% of the total value of agriculture. Livestock is an enormously important component of rural activity and is unvaryingly a part of a mixed farming portfolio that minimizes the risk of crop failure. Livestock provides regular income from milk and contributes to the financial security of farmers as animals can be sold for meat in times of financial hardship. Small subsistence farmers hold 97% of the livestock in Pakistan, with 40-55 million people (over six million households) having some dependency on livestock. Despite its significant livestock population, the dairy and meat sector in Pakistan comes nowhere close to achieving its potential. This is due to the limited availability of nutrition resources, which is a serious concern in Pakistan. In some areas of Pakistan, green fodder is scarce all year due to poor terrain and climatic conditions, leaving farmers to rely on wheat straw, cotton seed cake and leftover pieces of dry bread. The latter is often infected with fungus that damages animal health. So, balanced nutritional products like urea molasses blocks with durable binder, and new feed formulations generated via software and with the prospect of smallholder affordability, are needed to enhance the production and socioeconomic status of smallholder livestock farmers.

PATTA plans to launch a program for the capacity building of: 1) of supply side partners involved in feed manufacturing and supplies through introduction of new least cost feed formulations for dairy buffalos, sheep and goat rearing operations, bypass fat and bypass protein formulation with a focus on effectiveness and affordability for smallholder livestock farmers.

Assignment Objective: The objective of this assignment is to provide technical support and system management skills to partner feed manufacturers (Solve Agri, Metra Asia, and Farm solution) for the formulation of least-cost rations for smallholder farmers involved in dairy production and livestock fattening – including farmers that work with sheep and goats. Moreover, the consultant will support the local manufacturing of nutritional products such as molasses urea block, bypass protein and bypass fat.

Assignment Scope: The STTA’s tasks will include but will not be limited to:

1. Coordinate with Livestock Technology Specialist to develop a work plan of activities;
2. Visit PATTA Stakeholders from various temperate zones of Pakistan to identify existing feed and nutrition availability and practices;
3. Suggest feed requirements for dairy, beef, sheep, and goat operations in different climatic conditions and suggest appropriate nutritional formulation packages;

4. Provide input for structuring training modules for PATTA stakeholders;
5. Provide input and develop a guide for the feed manufacturing industry for feed and nutritional products formulation;
6. Suggest guidelines on feed formulation, nutrition, feed management software and
7. Any other technical support related to livestock as per the program requirements; 

Deliverables:

1. Develop a detailed work plan based on the assigned tasks, including a timeline to accomplish the tasks;           
2. Provide a 1-page bi-weekly update to the PATTA Director Agricultural Technologies;
3. SOPs of least cost rations (Buffalo dairy, fattening, sheep and goat) for feed manufacturers;
4. SOPs of urea molasses block with durable binders;
5. SOPs for bypass protein and bypass fat manufacturing;
6. Provide training to PATTA stakeholders from various provinces / zones on livestock feed technologies;
7. Presentation to USAID Pakistan and PATTA of assignment completed and proposed way forward for SSPs;
8. Final report and training guidelines pertaining to feed formulation, nutrition product formulation, potential manufacturers of feed inputs, and/or equipment needed to improve nutrition practices.

Qualifications:

This position is open to international and local candidates. Desirable consultants will have:

• An advanced degree in the field of animal nutrition or animal husbandry, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, or relevant degree;
• Hands-on experience in animal and nutritional product feed formulations and nutritional (like urea molasses mineral block), and experience in bypass protein and bypass fat manufacturing;
• Extensive experience working with commercial feed manufacturers and commercial farms. Previous experience in working in Pakistan, will be a plus;
• More than 15 years of professional and practical experience working in the fields of livestock and meat production, value addition and global marketing;
• Requisite prior experience conducting senior-level consulting assignments with USAID-funded projects in Pakistan, with a focus on the development of the livestock agribusiness value chain using an integrated supply chain approach;
• Experience in developing countries on designing and development of livestock interventions;
• Documented report writing skills in English.