Good Olive production and processing Practices Expert/Trainer

1. MISSION CONTEXT

Based on a SIF study on “Resilient Livelihoods for Farmers in Shouf Following the Syrian Refugee Crisis”, SIF designed a Food Security and Agricultural Livelihood project that aims at:

• Offering technical and financial assistance to farmers and rural women cooperatives in the aim to increase the added value of their products.
• Develop and support a marketing strategy for farmers and cooperatives
• Capacity empowerment for farmers and for rural women for a better quantitative and qualitative production.

The Project is part of a longer term strategy aiming at supporting and reinforcing capacities of local stakeholders, mainly farmers, local rural women cooperatives, and related governmental entities (MoA and MoPW).

1. MAIN RESPONSABILITIES 

Design and deliver training for farmers on Good Olive Production and Processing Practices in the village of Gharifeh in the Shouf region

1. OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANT MISSION

General Objective

The general objective of the consultancy is to train around 30 people on the Good Olive production and Processing Practices in order to ameliorate their incomes while preserving their environment.  

Specific objectives

• Develop an appropriate curriculum delivery for the training
• Deliver the training in an interactive manner on field site and indoors

Expected Outcomes:

• The Project expects the consultant to deliver the training to the olive farmers of Gharifeh
• The training has theoretical and practical part with field trips to olive farms and to olive oil presses as needed.
• Main components of the training:

Day 1 Current practices

• Meeting with the olive farmers
• Evaluate the status of the olive trees on site (sicknesses: peacock eye, olive bacteria, etc)
• Olive varieties
• Analysis of the observations with the farmers
• Inputs (irrigation, fertilization)
• Production, price of the harvest, type of harvest (machines, traditional etc)
• Date of harvest
• Post-harvest activities
• Q & A

Day 2 Olive Processing and olive Oil

• Meeting with olive press owner/manager
• Evaluate the local olive presses (location, equipment, labour, press functioning, storage)
• Analysis of the observation
• Pressing methods
• Production
• Storage of byproducts
• Electric generator (pollution, fumes and tatses)
• Q & A

Day 3 Ameliorating the income

• The history of the olive tree
• Nomenclature of virgin olive oil
• Why and how to produce extra virgin olive oil in the field and in the olive press
• Decrease the costs of inputs
• Increase productivity
• Good agricultural practices
• Q & A

Day 4 Good Agricultural Practices and cooperation in the Olive Sector

• Good practices in olive farmers’ cooperative
• Managing the cooperative
• Achieving the objectives of better quality in cooperative work
• Composting, composting unit, fertilization, biological pest management
• Q & A

Logistic

• The expert will take care of her/his transportation to the training locations

Reporting

Reports directly to SIF’s Beirut Office, to the Food Security and Livelihood Manager. S/he will submit the following reports at the end of the training sessions:

• The Narrative Report which includes: the number of beneficiaries, SWOT analysis of the trainees in general.
• Recommendations

Person qualifications

• Reference in the sector as a connoisseurs of olive and olive oil
• Active in the sector at the local and regional level
• More than 5 years of experience in farming olive
• More than 7 years of experience in managing olive oil pressing
• Extensive knowledge related to the Organization and management of cooperatives in the sector.
• Experience in pre-harvest and post-harvest in olive 
• Previous experience in training on similar subjects
• Strong interpersonal skills and a supportive technical and communication style
• Strong command of Arabic (the training language)
• Track record of experience in setting strategies for the development of the olive sector at the national level in Lebanon
• Report writing skills
• Publications in the domain are an asset

Ethic and professional practice

• Always respect of beneficiaries’ confidentiality
• Respect SIF’s Policies
• Address needs and requests in a professional way.
• Report any incident or act that causes any harm to beneficiary or to others.
• Help in ideas to support the team of the FS and Agricultural Livelihood

Work relationships

Line manager: Food Security and Agricultural Livelihood Manager

Job conditions

•     LOE 7 days (2 day preparation of training material in Arabic, 4 days delivery and 1 day reporting).