I. INTRODUCTION

Enterprises in agricultural and rural sector have played important role in the process of economic development of the country and in rural areas in particular. Agricultural and rural enterprises is not only a place to create stable jobs for rural workers but also contribute to sustainable poverty alleviation, increase rural living standard, reduce income disparities between urban and rural areas, and ensure social security.

Although the potential for development of rural enterprises in Vietnam is very large, the development of enterprises in agriculture and rural sector is still limited, fragmented and not commensurate with the existing potential. For agriculture and rural development and improving farmer income, there is an urgent need of effective solutions to overcome existed difficulties, obstacles and promote rapidly enterprises investment and development in agriculture and rural sector.

In the context of the project “Study for policy recommendations to support for development of small and medium enterprises in agricultural sector – phase 2 and 3” funded by Spanish government, the Information Center of Agriculture Rural Development (Agroinfo) has conducted a research activity on “Study on linkage models in agro – products production and consumption” in order to provide lesson learned and policy proposal for develop linkage in production and consumption agro – product.

Objectives of this activity are (i) to generalise documentation on linkage models in agricultural product production and consumption; (ii) to evaluate operation of some market-linked models in agricultural product consumption such as studying organisational form of cooperative models in production and consumption, studying mechanism of operation, coordination in production and consumption, assessing economic efficiency of stakeholders involved in linkage model; and (iii) to propose policy recommendations to support market linkage.

To support effectively for the research activity, Agroinfo needs to recruit experts for supporting the study as below.

II. WORKING PURPOSE
Being in charge of processing, analysing data and assisting in report writing

III. EXPECTED RESPONSIBILITY
• Design database for enter data and information from the survey questionnaire including households, collectors, processors , trade, retailers…
• Enter data and information from available database
• Clarify data.
• Process data by statistic softwares CS Pro, Stata, SPSS …as required
• Write report.

IV. EXPERT’S REQUIREMENT
• Master degree or higher in economics, agricultural economics, public policy management, rural development, econometrics.
• An expert should have at least 8 years of working experience in statistic analysis on agriculture and rural sector, agriculture and rural investment, or relevant field of study.
• Strong computer skills and using statistics software SPSS, Stata, CS Pro
• Fluency in English or Spanish.
• Ability for independent and group working.
• Able to produce results within tight deadlines.

V. WORKING MECHANISM
Working time:
Experts are recruited to work within 48 days from March 2011 to May 2011.
Salary:
The experts’ fees are generally defined by experience and capability of the expert according to current UN-EU guideline for financing of local costs in cooperation development with Vietnam.