Background information:
Solidaridad West Africa is a Ghana-based, not-for-profit organization that supports the sustainable development of farmers and production systems in West Africa, through the enhancement of value chains of fresh and processed agricultural commodities.

Our activities are focused on the fresh fruit, oil palm, cotton and cocoa sectors. As the West African representative within Solidaridad’s international network, we are part of a growing global movement advocating and supporting sustainable and responsible production and trade.

Description Of Job

Vacancy Announcement: Field Agronomist for SWAPP (Sustainable West Africa Palm oil Programme)

Background information:
SWAPP is a new programme funded by the Dutch Government to improve income and livelihoods from palm-oil through increasing farm productivity and the efficiency of processing mills.

The first phase will run from March 2012 - December 2015 and Ghana is the pilot country, though SWAPP has a regional remit. An important part of SWAPP’s activities is to improve farm productivity through best management practices (BMP) using the best management practice concept developed by the International Plant Nutrient Institute (IPNI). BMP demonstrations will be hosted by a number of medium scale farms and farms of small farmers in out grower or smallholder schemes of oil palm estates.

Reports to: Oil Palm Programme Manager

Role Description:
The Agronomist will implement and monitor agronomic aspects of SWAPP’s Component A (support for innovation and demonstration of best practices). The key task will be setting up, maintaining, monitoring and reporting on a series of BMP field demonstrations with participating farms and businesses. Specific duties include:

Main Responsibilities:

•  Responsible for maintaining relationships with farmers and institutions participating in the BMP pilots.
•  Responsible for coordinating all BMP activities (field visits, farmer sensitization, training, data collection and collation, reporting, etc.) at the BMP demonstration sites.
•  Making sure data collected is sufficiently accurate and is properly transcribed and managed.
•  Supervising at least one junior agronomist in the Western Region who will also be involved in implementing BMP demonstrations.
•  Training farmers and plantation staff in good agronomic practices
•  Working with other SWAPP staff to help transfer lessons learned from BMP trials from Ghana to Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon.
•  SWAPP will also work with small and medium scale milling operations and the agronomist may also be required to work with other project staff to monitor progress of interventions for improved milling

Qualification Required & Experience

•  The ideal candidate must have a Master’s Degree in Agriculture from a recognized university.
•  S/he must have at least 3 years working experience in the oil palm sector.
•  Ideally should have experience working with smallholder farmers, in the oil palm sector.
•  Must have the ability to organize, direct and coordinate field activities aimed at yield improvement
•  Must be prepared to work in the field with up to 60% of the time being on the road or on farms
•  Must have good interpersonal skills
•  Must be able to use spreadsheets for MIS reporting
•  Must be fluent in Twi
•  Must be a competent driver with a driving license

How To Apply For The Job

If you are interested in this position and meet the above criteria, please submit a letter of motivation and your Curriculum Vitae of not more than 3 pages to the WAFF Administrator:

admin@waffco.org

Closing Date: 7th August, 2012

ONLY SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES WILL BE CONTACTED.

*PLEASE INDICATE CLEARLY IN THE SUBJECT LINE THAT YOU ARE APPLYING FOR THE FIELD AGRONOMIST POSITION.