Regenerative Agriculture Advisor at TechnoServe

Job Summary:

The Regenerative Agriculture Advisor (RAA) will work under the supervision of the Program Manager (PM) in Kaduna, and Nasarawa States to upskill maize, sorghum, rice, and soybean farmers through extension agents on regenerative agriculture. S/he will also provide technical support to facilitate change of behavior of farmers from conventional agriculture to regenerative and climate-smart agriculture. In addition, s/he will gather market intelligence, monitor performance and provide guidance to clusters of aggregators and manage partners to achieve project objectives. The tasks outlined below are the key responsibilities of the employee, however, s/he will be expected to perform other tasks that are necessary within the context of the evolving needs of the project.

Program Overview:

Strengthening Farmers’ and SMEs’ Resilience through Climate Smart Grain Production and Accessing the Structured Markets (StreFaS)  aims to develop an inclusive, sustainable, scalable, and adaptable regenerative agriculture solution to make smallholder farmers (SHFs) and local SMEs (aggregators) more resilient and produce low-carbon grains in Nigeria. The three-year project will provide a guaranteed structured market for farmers to produce high quality grains yearly, with a significant quantity of grains produced from environmentally sustainable practices. The project aims to impact up to 30,000 SHFs directly as beneficiaries of the program. Importantly, StreFaS will sustain and scale up the successful elements of the regenerative agriculture pilot of the recently concluded Developing Inclusive Grain Value Chains in Nigeria (DIGVCN) project.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

Project Implementation Phase

• Oversee the Extension agents (EAs) and Community Based Advisors (CBAs) and ensure that their capacity is deepened through train-the-trainer sessions and technical handholding.
• Take ownership of the upskilling process and behavioral change campaign activities via the learning center.
• Support the project manager in developing training materials.
• Support the EAs during step-down training and monitor attendance according to the program guidelines.
• Take ownership of the learning centers and track farmer engagement activities.
• Work with the PM in identifying other partners that will provide complimentary services in programs.
• Assist the PM in identifying organizations that would like to offtake produce from the farmers.
• Facilitate all monitoring and evaluation activities, surveys and reporting as well as develop success stories and lessons learnt.
• Understand, respect and promote TechnoServe’s values, vision, and strategy in the implementation of assigned duties.
• Perform other duties in line with the evolving needs of the program.

Basic Qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Agriculture, Agronomy, Human Nutrition, Food Science and Technology with a minimum of 2 years’ experience working with and supporting smallholder rice, maize, soybean and sorghum farmers. Alternatively, 4 years’ experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Must have strong interpersonal skills.
• Proven skills with Microsoft Office software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint). Knowledge of the use of Comcare, and KoBoCollect will be an advantage.

Required Languages: Fluency in English and Hausa or Fulani  (written and spoken)

Travel: Local Travels

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent communication skills.
• Demonstrated understanding in rice, maize, soybean, and sorghum value chains in Nigeria. A thorough understanding of maize and another value chain (maize, soybean, and/or sorghum) will be preferred.
• Ability to engage and advise a broad range of stakeholders, especially community leaders.
• Demonstrated experience in data collection and analyses, especially in the areas of agriculture and project key performance indicators.
• Demonstrated experience with digital and in-person training delivery mechanisms.
• Demonstrated experience in report writing in English.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and train in the Hausa or Fulani language besides English.