Agronomist Officer at Smiling Hearts Initiatives International

Qualification:     BA/BSc/HND
Experience:        3 years
Main Responsibilities and Tasks:

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Agro Officer/Agronomist is required to support the implementation of agriculture activities of the project through livelihood interventions, business management, technical training, and capacity building to improve skills or production in new/pre-existing livelihood assets.

Activities supervision

Specific Objectives:

• Organize farmers into producer associations for collective marketing, input supply, training, and advocacy for a conducive production environment and Government support.
• Facilitate farmer/association participation in multi stakeholder platforms for value chain development
• Help assistant agronomists and farmers, understand and address the climate-related production risks throughout the selected value chains, identifying where emerging market opportunities exist, taking into account community needs, and developing production plans that are integrated throughout the value chain
• Strengthen the ability of the farmers to adapt to climate change within the selected value chains to moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities, or cope with consequences
• Promote climate risk management strategies to avoid unacceptable consequences. In the context of climate change, adaptation and mitigation are the two broad categories of action that might be taken to avoid unacceptable consequences
• Improve crop productivity using locally adapted technologies, heat tolerant and disease tolerant seed varieties, biodiversity, and increase the sinks of greenhouse emissions
• Reduce crop losses through improved post-harvest handling, storage, and processing
• Train the extension workers and community volunteers to expand the agriculture advisory services and explore the use of appropriate communication systems
• Establish farmer field schools and demonstration plots for farmer participatory training, learning, and research.
• Building trust between the production and marketing associations and traders/ buyers (promote information flow between the associations and buyers and input suppliers, help associations make sense of the market information, produce visual aids to promote information flow on product quality)

General Objectives:

• Work with traditional committees to ensure the identification and selection of the most vulnerable beneficiaries for cash/asset for work and organize and supervise the identification and selection registration of beneficiaries for the on-farm Livelihood activities.
• Facilitate community mobilization towards farmers’ field school and smallholder gardening.
• Support in the implementation of capacity-building training including field training and workshops for the target beneficiaries on vegetable production, seed conservation, farm management, and storage.
• Supervise and compile information to ensure that the surveillance of the farming situation in the area of implementation of the program is achieving the expected result when required.
• Implement field activities for targeted communities about agricultural activities and strengthen nutrition-sensitive agriculture with support from relevant State, LGA, and community stakeholders at LGA level.
• Supervise and organize all assessments for the projects or for new projects especially monthly price and market assessments.

Technical Support:

• Support stakeholder mapping of agricultural and resilience stakeholders.
• Support the identification and registration of vulnerable smallholder farmers. Contribute to the development of project community mobilization strategies for targeting and registration of beneficiaries for the agricultural production activities.
• Identify/create farmer and livestock associations/cooperatives for strengthening
• Adapt Resilience Design in Smallholder Farming Systems to the State needs
• Produce user-friendly training manuals/guides on the production and reduction of post-harvest losses for various crops produced in North East Nigeria
• Facilitate training-of-trainer modules for the state ADP extension services
• Provide business support services and facilitate business linkages for improved seed suppliers to increase ease of access and availability of improved seeds for the smallholder farmer.

Knowledge Management, Communication and Reporting:

• Support resilience teams including the SHI’s Program in collection and or publication of good practices, success stories, project outcome documents, etc. in resilience work with Communication, learning to develop knowledge products, communication materials and other IEC materials to promote awareness raising about Resilience for schools, farmers and communities.
• Report to the Project Manager on the progress of activities, challenges encountered, lessons learned and good practices.
• Collect and Compile collected data, and pictures and collect information from the field to present weekly internal reports to the Project Manager.
• Compile collected data and collect information from the team to present regular reports to the Livelihood-DPM on the progress of activities, problems encountered, the quality of relations with beneficiaries and propose actions to improve the project
• Pass on any information or problems to his/her direct and/or indirect supervisor Capacity Building:
• Responsible for coordinating all best management practice activities (field visits, farmer sensitization, training, data collection and collation, reporting, etc.) at all sites.
• Organize and supervise the Best Agronomic practice training (BAPs) and Good Agronomic Practice training (GAPs) assessment and the identification of the main chains in the targeted area.

Monitoring and Reporting:

• Collect information and data on Livelihoods and food security at LGA level through surveys, assessments, and regular post-distribution monitoring of beneficiary households
• Collate information and data on agricultural activities through surveys, assessments, regular post-distribution monitoring, and field supervision visits of beneficiary households.
• Collaboration with other partners including relevant stakeholders.
• Participate in writing situation reports with information on food security, and security information at the community when required.
• Collect, enter, and analyze the information as requested by his supervisor.
• Participate in the development of training curriculum and train beneficiaries according to the defined schedule.
• Support the M&E team in the analysis of beneficiary data collection through the various tools that the department uses.
• Keep monitoring tools and files archived at SHI office, ensuring their availability to his/her Deputy Project Manager and Project Manager.
• Participate in inter-agency coordination forums at LGA and State level as required.

Minimum Requirements:

• Degree/Diploma in Agriculture, Nutrition, Economics, Rural Development, Development Studies, Social Sciences or related academic disciplines, 2-3years previous experience working in developmental and emergency projects.
• Previous experience in food distribution supervisory field is preferable.
• Ability to write reports.
• Able to work outside of regular working hours as required, including evenings and weekends if required.
• Experience with survey methodologies, nutrition assessment and relevant data analysis
• Previous experience working with an INGO or a Development organization.
• Experience designing and leading capacity building and training for national teams.
• Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Office programming (Access, Outlook, Excel, Power Point, and Word).

Preferred:

• Knowledge of the local language (Hausa and Burah/Pabur).
• Willing and able to be based and travel regularly within remote areas, where services are limited.
• Strong level of autonomy to provide independent follow through on processing issues and concerns.
• Excellent planning, organizational and time management skills