Local recruitment: Farm survey on better understanding of the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices in four selected provinces of Uzbekistan

1 Background

The international collaborative research project UzFarmBarometer is implemented by WIUT and IAMO. The project aims to better understand the motivations and constraints faced by farmers in Uzbekistan in the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) with the goal of developing strategies and to encourage voluntary. A key component of the project is to collect and analyze up-to-date, high-quality farm-level data.

2  Objectives of the assignment

The aim of this survey is to classify farmers regarding their adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, identify bottlenecks to the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, and factors affecting the decisions over sustainable agricultural practices. The quantitative survey will be addressing key decision makers of individual farms.

The Contractor will undertake the farm survey with the provision of outcomes which will be used for scientific investigations:

• To evaluate the results of farm development in terms of crop production structure, input application, use of sustainable agricultural practices;
• To identify the drivers and barriers of adoption of sustainable agricultural practices;
• To identify farm typology with regard to the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.

The selected firm will be responsible for coordinating and conducting a face-to-face quantitative survey of farm managers/directors in selected provinces of Uzbekistan. The survey will last approximately 90-120 minutes and will be conducted via computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and needs to be completed by February 2025.

3 Methods to be employed

A quantitative farm survey addressing key informants of individual farms shall be carried out. A face-to-face survey of farm managers/directors should be conducted to collect information on individual and socio-demographic characteristics, land cultivation methods and agricultural practices, crop production and marketing, inputs and technology use, access to information, investment and finances, and income/profit outcomes of farm business.

The data shall be collected in 12 districts of four selected provinces (three districts in Andijan, Kashkadarya, Samarkand and Khorezm provinces) in Uzbekistan over 1200 farm managers (or 100 farm managers per district).

4 Activities expected from Contractor

The activities of the survey implementer are detailed as follows:

• The Contractor shall develop work plan consistent with these Terms of Reference that includes the different milestones for undertaking the fieldwork and data analysis and propose a detailed budget.
• The Contractor shall obtain local ethics clearance, research permits, and/or other required local approvals for conducting the farm survey in four selected provinces
• The Contractor shall compose and manage the survey team. The Contractor should specify responsibilities of different individuals participating in implementing this assignment and prepare Terms of Reference for each position.
• The Contractor shall organize the selection, hiring, and payment of enumerators to conduct the required data collection work. This will include hiring interviewers with the necessary Uzbek language skills and knowledge about agriculture.
• The contractor shall advise on instruments and undertake pre-test of the farm survey questionnaire. Draft questionnaires in English language will be provided by the UzFarmBarometer project staff. The Contractor should comment on the instruments and make suggestions to adapt them to the particularities in the selected provinces. It is expected that there will be a 5-day training, followed by a 2-day pre-test and debrief, for the farm survey. The Contractor will provide the results to and discuss them with the UzFarmBarometer project staff to identify gaps and make suggestions for improving the survey instruments.
• Together with UzFarmBarometer project researchers at IAMO and WIUT, the Contractor shall prepare the field implementation manual prior to enumerator training. The field manual will be the basis for quality assurance of the data collection process.
• The Contractor shall translate the survey instrument and the field implementation manual into Uzbek language.
• The Contractor shall facilitate and ensure the smooth operation of the enumerator training and survey pre-test in collaboration with UzFarmBarometer project researchers at IAMO and WIUT.
• The Contractor shall program the final questionnaire in Uzbek and English languages into CAPI system. The Contractor shall provide tablets for CAPI data collection. The Contractor will program the final questionnaire into CAPI system and arrange well-functioning tables with installed questionnaire. The Contractor shall ensure that the online system is accessible to the contact person at IAMO along the progress of data collection.
• The Contractor shall organize and conduct the farm survey. Prior to the survey start, the Contractor will obtain the necessary information, including the farm lists, for sampling and share them with the UzFarmBarometer project researchers. The final list of farmers for the interview will be randomly selected from the farm list.
• The Contractor shall identify and recruit enumerators to conduct the farm survey, and train them for the specific task. The training will include pre-tests with participation of the enumerators with real farmers. Only interviewers performing well during the trainings and pre-tests shall be selected for conducting the farm survey. The Contractor shall provide all necessary materials and organize the logistics of transportation and accommodation for the field staff.
• Prior to the survey start, the Contractor shall prepare and submit the inception report that describes methodology and work plan for carrying out the assignment, including the proposed implementation schedule, a detailed budget breakdown, assignment of individual team members’ responsibilities, and respective TOR (in English language).
• The Contractor shall participate in weekly meetings with UzFarmBarometer project researchers at IAMO throughout data collection.
• The Contractor shall create the farm survey data in Stata format with variable and value labels stored in English language. Other statistical software such as SPSS can be used as long as the data is transferable to STATA. All data files shall be organized in long format, with unit identifiers in lines and variables in columns.
• The Contractor shall share the farm survey data generated from CAPI (in Stata format) with UzFarmBarometer project researchers immediately after the survey completion for consistency check.
• The Contractor shall organize data cleaning and provide responses to queries from UzFarmBarometer project researchers in relation to data cleaning. This includes the supervision of data cleaning and data entry processes, checking and cleaning all data, developing a data entry program that provides checking of valid data with consistency, range and skip checks.
• Upon the completion of the data cleaning, the Contractor shall submit to IAMO contact person the cleaned dataset in Stata format and the final report that documents the research design, sampling selection, fieldwork, data management and any issues related to data management and cleaning. The final report shall also include a separate file that documents and summarizes the data and its variables.

5 Working arrangements

The Contractor will report to IAMO. The Contractor will designate an English-speaking manager to this assignment who will act as interface between the Research Team and the UzFarmBarometer project. While maintaining an independent analytical and editorial stance, the Contractor will seek the inputs by the project researchers into preparation of the deliverables at the draft document stage before finalization. The project researchers will provide guidance and support as needed at any stage of this assignment.

The Contractor agrees to keep records on this assignment for a period of at least 3 years after submission of the final reports. This comprises hardcopies of farm questionnaires and synthesis reports, and electronic data and program code files.

6 Deliverables

• Translated questionnaires from English into Uzbek language in MS World file; Translation of survey answers (open-ends) in English language.
• Inception report, giving methodology and work plan for carrying out the assignment, including the proposed implementation schedule, a detailed budget breakdown, assignment of individual team members’ responsibilities, and respective TOR (in English language).
• Cleaned data files in Stata format with English variable and value labels.
• Final report describing the research design, sampling selection, field work, data management and any issues related to data management and cleaning in MS World file (in English language). The final report shall also include an separate file that documents and summarizes the data and its variables.

The inception and final reports including annexes shall be submitted in English language to the contact person at IAMO as MS Word files.

If the reports are not acceptable to the UzFarmBarometer project or are not fully satisfactory, the Contractor will perform the necessary work to complete the engagement with no additional cost to the project. The authorized project staff may directly contact the consultants with reasonable requests on additional information related to the analysis.

The assignment shall be carried out over a period of 6 months, starting in September 2024 until the end of February 2025.

7 Application

Please submit via email to djanibekov@iamo.de a financial proposal along with a proposal outlining the approach, human resources, timing, and costs (including details of staff time, training of trainers, field data collection, overhead, etc.), along with CVs including details of previous related experience for the individuals leading the work. We expect that the applicant will be a local survey firm capable of handling a contract with IAMO and sourcing the required human resources to fulfill the scope of work themselves.