Farm Manager at Olam Nigeria Limited

Function: Not Applicable
Sub-Function: Not Applicable

Description
Farm Manager: Large Scale Rice Farming Operation:

• Innovation in rice farming is essential. We have introduced a fully mechanised large-scale rice farm in Nigeria. The Project cultivates two crops of 4,400 ha per year, under flooded conditions, which are delivered to an onsite company-owned Rice Mill.
• Our farm has an integrated rice mill with a processing capacity of 70,000 tonnes. This farm acts as a centre for improving productivity, and also as a vocational training hub for thousands of smallholders from nearby communities. Through our rice mill, farmers can process their crop, and gain access to market, improving local livelihoods.

 Job Description

• As the leading farm to shelf organization Olam values its plantations as the starting point and source of all prosperity.
• The Estate Manager is a leader dedicated to the development and betterment of the plantation estate.
• The role is multidimensional starting from managing people to land development and working with vendors.
• The incumbent would be responsible for managing the palm and rubber plantation from all phases of estate works including land development, replanting, maintenance of optimum crop production, cost management and overall estate operations.

Strategic Effectiveness:

• New land development for rubber estates, nursery establishments, land clearing, planting, maintenance and upkeep.
• Responsible for the overall estate operations and budget/cost estimation within cost maturity target
• Planning and management of fertilizers stores, chemicals, and machinery

Operational Effectiveness:

• Build the required talent for the estate. Guide the team on the entire plantation procedures
• Implementation of all the requirement for planting TLC and LC
• Land identification, purchasing, and evaluation for high yield plantations
• Conduct periodical reviews of the plantation operations at different locations.

Organizational Effectiveness:

• Great networking with government agencies and environmental departments for regulatory approvals.  
• Understand the environmental and social impact assessment, conduct assessments periodically.  
• Obtain primary yield production and identify cases where there is variance with last year yield. Plan remedial action in case of negative variance.

Key Deliverables:

• Directs, motivates & coordinates with Asst. Managers and supervisors on the farm activities such as planting, irrigation, chemical application, harvesting and evaluate it together with the Head of Farming Operations and take corrective decisions.
• Should be able to organize himself and the team and execute the farm operations within the planting to harvesting time frames of the farm with excellent labour-management skills.
• Budget preparation for the area assigned and strive to be within the allocated budget
• Ability to analyze the budget vs actuals and forecast any overruns.
• Ability to forecast on the harvest dates by estimating the physiological maturity to save time and prevent harvest losses.
• Coordinate with workshop, agronomy, mill & aerial operations team for the efficient functioning of operations from land preparation to harvesting.
• Should be able to evaluate the team members & understand the knowledge gap and address it with the required training from the concerned department.
• Should Keep himself updated on the knowledge on the machineries, nutrients, herbicides, pests & diseases.
• Preferably have farmed in Africa at some stage in his career.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10-15 years of working experience, preferably in plantation and estate management roles with a large organization.
• Language - English & French is a must for this role
• Diploma, advanced / higher / graduate diploma, Bachelor's degree, Postgraduate diploma or professional degree in Agricultural, Plantation Management, Aquaculture/Forestry or equivalent
• Possess excellent people skills, leadership qualities and ability to work independently. Motivating staff for process orientation and being a go-to problem solver.
• Experiences in land clearing, P&D, replanting, new planting, and development of areas.
• Conversant with the use of a personal computer is highly desirable.

Skills & Qualifications

• Should have good communication skills in English.
• A degree in agriculture would be preferred. Master’s in agriculture or management would be an advantage. A degree in science may be considered.
• A previous large-scale rice farming experience with a minimum of 5 years is preferred, or candidate has worked under any plantation set up for 10-15 years may be considered.
• Should have good knowledge of using basic MS office packages.
• Experience of MIS or ERP systems would be an advantage.