Agricultural Officer (AO) at Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

Details of the Contract: Two-year contract, renewable based on satisfactory perfomance acceptable to FGN and IFAD

Background

• The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) is implementing a three-year IFAD assisted Value Chain Development Programme Additional Financing (VCDP AF1), as a follow-up to the successful six (6) - year Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), in nine (9) participating states (Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kogi, Nasarawa, Taraba, Niger and Ogun).
• The Programme's goal is: "Rural Poverty reduced, food security increased and accelerated economic growth achieved." The VCDP, which was approved for an IFAD loan of USD74.4 million in 2012, aimed to directly improve the livelihood of approximately 17,480 households (15,000 smallholder farmers, 1,680 processors and 800 traders) and to benefit indirectly approximately 22,000 households.
• In 2018, IFAD approved an Additional Financing (AF1) of USD 89.1 million to:
  • Expand VCDP activities to three (3) new states-Enugu, Kogi and Nasarawa - and to a total of 57 Local Goverment Areas (LGAs) from 30 LGAs at the Mid-term Review (MTR) of VCDP, in the entire nine states; and
  • Support the mainstreaming of issues that were not considered at the design of VCDP, consistent with national and IFAD policies; climate-smart agricultural practices; conflict mitigation as the conflict increases between farmers and herdsmen for land resources: nutrition and financial inclusion.
• The VCDP-AF1 focuses on enhancing the productivities and profitability of smallholder farmers (who cultivate not more than 5ha of land under rice/cassava) and mall/medium-scale agro-processors (with processing capacity of an average of 2MT/day for cassava and 4MT/day for rice) by improving their access to markets, and capacity to increase yield as well as add value to locally produced raw materials through improved processing and packaging.
• The programme is being implemented through three mutually reinforcing components; Agricultural Market Development, Smallholder Productivity Enhancement and Programme Management and Coordination.

Job Summary

• The Agricultural Officer (AO) will work under the direct supervision of the Agricultural Production Advisor (APA).

Main Responsibility

• The Agriculture Officer will be assisting the Agricultural Production Advisor in the overall management of the activities related to productivity improvement of smallholder farmers, in close collaboration with the State Agricultural Production Officer.

Specific Duties

• Work directly under the Agricultural Production Advisor (APA) with the Extension Service providers in training farmers in various aspects of crop varieties, agronomic practices, climate resilience, post-harvest and market orientation technologies.
• Assist in promoting and disseminating sustainable Agricultural practices through the Farmer Field Business School (FFBS) approach and on-the-spot extension visits under the guidance and Coordination of the APA.
• Assist the Programme's Community seed producers to establish seed multiplication systems comprising farms and seed cleaning and conditioning centres (Seedlaboratories).
• Assist in setting up the overall distribution scheme of certified seeds/stems of improved varieties, fertilizers and herbicides as well as of equipment at State and LGA Levels.
• Assist in the collation of State progress reports and contribute to the drafting of periodic project progress reports with the Agricultural Production Advisor (APA).
• Provide guidance to NGO/Service providers hired to implement the activities.
• Oversee the overall process of selection of target Farmers Organizations and beneficiaries in dose collaboration with the Rural Institutions and Gender Mainstreaming Officer
• Carry out any other functions assigned him/her by the Agricultural Production Advisor (APA).

Reporting and Location:

• The position will be based in the NPMU office located in Abuja.
• The Agricultural Officer will report directly to the Agricultural Production Advisor

Qualifications and Work Experience

• First Degree in Agricultural Science, Agricultural Production, Agronomy, Crop Science, Horticulture.
• A minimum of 5 years post-qualification experience in addition to at least 5 years in the implementation of productivity enhancement projects using participatory approaches in Extension services and gender mainstreaming.
• Proven experience and record in the field of project implementation of productivity projects.
• Excellent writing and communication skills in English Language.
• Must be computer literate and conversant with the use simple computer packages.
• Good knowledge/experience of rural development challenges and dynamics.