March 02, 2023, Janakpur, Nepal – The KOICA-GGGI Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Project held its 3rd Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting at the Meeting Hall of the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture, and Cooperatives (MoLMAC). The meeting was chaired by Dr. Namrata Singh, Secretary, MoLMAC and was attended by other members from TAC and GGGI.
During the meeting, Mr. Purusottam Prasad Gupta, Senior Officer – Project Coordination, GGGI, shared about the project’s progress, ongoing activities and plan for the next quarter. So far, the project team has conducted baseline assessment, disaster risk management capacity assessments, vulnerability and risk assessments in the project municipalities. Now the team looks forward to the implementation of the Terai Agribusiness and Enterprise Challenge Fund (TAECF), establishment of Local Emergency Operation Center (LEOC) and CSA plan development. Mr. Mahesh Chettri, Agri-Business Associate, GGGI, presented the draft TAECF Guideline, which was discussed in a Q&A session. He also presented the objectives and agenda of the Pre-Information Workshop, which will be held to disseminate information about the TAECF and encourage potential applicants to participate.
The TAC members had various questions regarding the TAECF’s modality and processes. Mr. Gupta, while addressing those queries, highlighted that the TAECF is not limited to farmers and includes service providers throughout the agriculture value chain (input, processing, output). Micro and small enterprises operating in these sectors can apply for the TAECF and the first step is to submit the Project Concept Note (PCN) which can be submitted to the GGGI Project Implementation Office in either hard or soft copy.
Mr. Gupta also clarified that the applicants are first screened by the Challenge Fund Screening Committee (SC) which is different than the Challenge Fund Implementation Team (CFIT). In that regard, TAC members suggested in having two experts who can provide their expertise in evaluating concept notes. TAC members would also form sub-advisory committees based on their expertise or recommend representatives for the screening. One member from the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) should be a compulsory member of the sub-advisory committee.
Dr. Singh, as she commended the procedure of TAECF, said that providing subsidy is normal but providing it through a performance-based competition is quite encouraging and interesting for each entrepreneur.
The third TAC meeting of the KOICA-GGGI CSA Project, at last, finalized the project’s work plan for next quarter, TAECF guidelines, and the Pre-Information Workshop agenda.
The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) guides the implementation of KOICA-GGGI CSA project, which aims to support widespread adoption of climate-smart agriculture to reduce vulnerability and improve food and job security, especially for women, youth and returned migrant workers in the Terai Flood Plain region. The TAC meeting is the regular meeting planned on a quarterly basis with the TAC members to share the project’s process so far and plans for the next quarter.