Survey firm - Quick Baseline Survey of Farmers in Eastern Uttar Pradesh to Understand the Impact of De-layed Monsoon Onset on the Timing of Rice Transnew

TERMS OF REFERENCE

A Quick Baseline Survey of Farmers in Eastern Uttar Pradesh to Understand the Impact of Delayed Monsoon Onset on the Timing of Rice Transplantation

We are inviting applications from established survey firms with demonstrated experience conducting farmer/agricultural household surveys in Uttar Pradesh, ideally in eastern UP. Applicants should be able to demonstrate.

Background

Delays in rice transplantation are common in eastern Uttar Pradesh and adjoining areas of Bihar. These delays worsen when monsoon onset is late, as is the case this season. The delay cascades to the subsequent wheat crop, resulting in late sowing and lower yields.

As in much of India, monsoon onset is late this year in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Most research on farmers' response to droughts and dry spells relies on secondary data and recall surveys, with very little data collected as the season unfolds. This survey is a first step toward filling that gap, aiming to develop a better understanding of farmers' heterogeneous responses to drought, their coping mechanisms, and the effects on rice-wheat system productivity.

Objective

This survey will cover 40 villages in drought-affected Azamgarh and Ghazipur districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh where CSISA has worked on the rice-wheat cropping system for years. In this phase, we will use a lean survey instrument to collect quick data on the timing of rice transplantation from 3,000 farmers across the 40 villages. The survey will also seek farmers' consent to be contacted later in the season for brief phone calls.

The aim is to understand farmers' responses to the drought, and also to test whether sufficient data can be collected through very lean surveys that do not overburden respondents or enumerators — with a view to eventually developing AI-enabled phone surveys.

Scope of Work

The survey firm will administer a short in-person survey (fewer than 10 questions) to 3,000 rice farmers across 40 villages in Azamgarh and Ghazipur using CAPI, sharing the data with IFPRI within 14 days of the start of the survey. Villages will be selected by IFPRI.

Following the baseline survey, IFPRI plans to conduct four rounds of brief phone follow-up calls with consenting farmers over the course of the Kharif season, to track subsequent developments in transplantation, crop progress, and farmers' coping responses.

These follow-up rounds fall outside the scope of this ToR and may be contracted separately.

Deliverables

Clean, digitized baseline data from 3,000 farmers across 40 villages in Azamgarh and Ghazipur, delivered within 14 days of survey start, accompanied by a codebook and a short field note summarizing refusal rates and any deviations from the sampling plan.

Quality Control

1. A minimum of 10% of in-person interviews will be backchecked (in person or by phone) by the survey firm's supervisory staff to verify enumerator accuracy and respondent authenticity.

2. The firm will share backcheck results alongside data delivery, flagging any discrepancy rate above 5% for review before final sign-off.

3. Final payment is contingent on IFPRI's review and acceptance of the delivered data and backcheck report.

4. Relevant experience: A track record of conducting large-sample farmer surveys in Uttar Pradesh.

5. Enumeration capacity: The ability to field a sufficient number of trained enumerators to complete 3,000 interviews across 40 villages in Azamgarh and Ghazipur within the 14-day data collection window.

6. CAPI experience: Demonstrated prior use of CAPI-based data collection and the ability to share data with IFPRI concurrently as collection proceeds, rather than only at the end of the survey.

7. Supervisory and QC capacity: Field supervisory staff capable of carrying out the backcheck requirements specified above (minimum 10% of interviews).

8. Local familiarity: Survey experience in Azamgarh and/or Ghazipur districts is preferred, given the compressed timeline.

Interested firms are invited to apply for this advertisement, submitting complete company details as per the eligibility criteria, along with a detailed budget proposal and the CV of the lead consultant.