TERMS OF REFERENCE
Consultant : Data collection firm
Background
IFPRI (South Asia) is currently embarking on a Gates Foundation-funded research project titled Linked Farms and Enterprises for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa and Asia (INCATA)
This project is a cross-country collaboration between RIMISP (Latin American Center for Rural Development) Rural, Michigan State University and IFPRI and will focus on Kenya and Odisha in India.
INCATA is designed to study the relationship between commercial small-scale producers (cSSPs) and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in agrifood value chains upstream and downstream of the farm (e.g. input suppliers, traders, processors), to understand whether and how these enterprises and relationships between them contribute to inclusive agricultural transformation. The projectโs main objectives are:
(1) Enhance Public Policies: Enable supportive public policies for commercial small-scale producers and agrifood micro, small, and medium enterprises.
(2) Boost Investment Impact: Increase the impact of public and private investments in improved products, services, and practices for cSSPs and agrifood MSMEs.
(3) Improve Data and Evidence: Enhance the quality, availability, and utility of data and evidence by filling global and national gaps regarding the role of commercial SSPs and MSMEs in driving inclusive agricultural transformation.
Our proposed research will study horticulture value chains in Odisha. These high value crops are particularly important for diversification, raising farmer incomes, and nutrition. An improved understanding of the factors that support their development will inform more effective policy design and implementation in support of the inclusive agricultural transformation. We also believe that this research will complement IFPRIโs other engagements with the Government of Odisha.
Statement of Work
IFPRI intends to conduct surveys of farmers, traders (wholesalers and retailers), and input dealers, , in six districts in Odisha โ Koraput, Ganjam, Bolangir, Keonjhar, Cuttack and Anugul. The survey firm will implement data collection as part of this project. The components of the field research are as follows.
1. Conducting a listing of farmers in villages pre-selected by IFPRI, according to a pre-agreed process. Listing will be conducted in 168 villages in 24 blocks (7 districts per block, 4 blocks per district), in areas with high, medium, and low concentrations of vegetable cultivation. The listing is a complete census of all households in selected villages.
2. Conduct a community survey in each of 168 villages, comprised of structured focus group discussions with knowledgeable community members. Community survey respondents will be asked to identify all vegetable traders and agricultural input supply shops operating in their village.
3. Conduct personal interviews with households resident in each village. 16 households will be interviewed per village, comprised of 10 vegetable growing households, 3 non-vegetable growing agricultural households and 3 landless households (total 2688 interviews). In 25 of these villages, we will interview 10 additional farmers (i.e. a total of 250) who are part of a Government program that promotes vegetable clusters. Thus, the survey firm will interview 2938 farmers in total. We estimate that each interview will last approximately 60-90 minutes.
4. Conduct interviews with vegetable traders and input suppliers operating in and around selected villages. We assume an average of 2 vegetable traders and input suppliers interviewed per village (total 336 traders, 336 input suppliers). We estimate that each interview will last approximately 45 minutes.
5. These tasks are expected to be carried out during October and November 2025. All data are to be collected via a Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), developed by IFPRI using Survey CTO.
The survey firm is expected to carry out the following tasks:
Collaborate with IFPRI in the finalization of survey instruments and protocols.
Obtain local ethical clearance in India.
With assistance from the IFPRI team, prepare the field implementation manual in English and the local language(s) prior to enumerator training. The field manual will be the basis for quality assurance of the data collection process.
Organize the selection, hiring and payment of enumerators to conduct the required data collection work.
Facilitate the enumerator training in collaboration with IFPRI staff. It is expected that this will entail approximately three separate trainings for different groups of enumerators with 5-7 days of classroom training, in-field practice sessions and debrief.
Facilitate field testing of the survey before final data collection. Offer refresher training for enumerators if needed.
Develop a field schedule for the data collection team to be shared with IFPRI in advance; this should include the date-wise plan at the block level along with contact details of the field manager and supervisors, so that the IFPRI team can conduct field visits.
Develop spot- audio- and back-checks and share these with IFPRI for feedback prior to the start of data collection.
Develop a dashboard that will present real-time survey information that can be accessed by the IFPRI team.
ยท Conduct the tasks mentioned in the previous section.
ยท Share the data generated from the spot and back-checks with IFPRI so that issues can be promptly resolved.
Share the complete data generated from CAPI with IFPRI during the data collection, as and when the data is uploaded to the servers. These data will not be the cleaned data sets, but the raw data sets as sent to the firm from their survey teams.
Conduct routine data cleaning to ensure consistency and range-checks, following a data cleaning protocol that IFPRI will share prior to the end of data collection. Share the error check do-files with IFPRI.
Provide responses to queries from IFPRI in relation to data cleaning, if and as needed.
Deliver cleaned electronic data of the completed work.
Provide a short data collection report including data collection and management and cleaning process, the template of which will be discussed with IFPRI.
Throughout this process, demonstrate responsiveness to IFPRI communications, especially around any urgent data collection issues.
Required qualifications
Demonstrated experience conducting field work and survey work in Odisha within the last 5 years. Experience with agriculture surveys is preferred.
Demonstrated experience conducting survey-related trainings.
Expert knowledge of local context and languages in the study areas.
Experience in building trust and good relations with local administration, village leaders, interviewees and communities.
Strong program management skills: demonstrated experience successfully coordinating large field teams and managing deliverables.
Excellent computer skills and experience using statistical software packages, especially CAPI and STATA.
Application: Please submit your interest with the following details (1) details about the firmโs background and experience, specifically relating to data collection for agricultural production and marketing in Odisha (2) a detailed budget (3) strategies for ensuring data quality, confidentiality and integrity. All applications should be submitted in English. Individuals need not apply.
Deadline: September 20, 2025