Background

The International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC) is a non-profit, public international soil fertility and agricultural development center. As a center of excellence with expertise in fertilizers, IFDC serves the needs of developing countries by helping them solve their food-deficit problems by focusing on the development of fertilizers and nutrient management practices to meet the special needs of their tropical and subtropical crops, soils, and climates. IFDC is presently implementing several projects within the East and Southern Africa Division with strong agronomic components. The projects aim at improving rural livelihoods and food security across several African countries. IFDC is a legally registered international NGO in Ethiopia

IFDC will implement a project on Targeting Fertilizer Sources and Rates in Ethiopia funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with its main objective to better target fertilizers rate and source to specific crops and areas of Ethiopia, resulting in increased yield and more economic fertilizer use. To improve yields and return on fertilizer investments, these fertilizers must be targeted to farmers according to crop, agroecology, soil, and topography, and applied at the optimal rate. The initial phase of the project is for one year (June 2020 to May 2021).

Position summary

The Agronomist will work under the supervision of the Deputy Director for Field Research and will assist in training, soil sampling and processing, fertilizer blends mixing, field implementation, evaluation of field trials, literature reviews, and data monitoring in Ethiopia.

The position is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This is a one-year position, with the possibility of extension, contingent on good performance and continued funding.

Main tasks

Specific task will include but not be limited to:

• Provide leadership and stewardship to fertilizer trial initiatives for IFDC Ethiopia projects.
• Provide day-to-day management in the implementation of soil fertility initiatives by supervising and supporting field staff.
• Training Ethiopian staff in soil sampling and fertilizer blends mixing
• Monitoring of agronomic trials in Ethiopia
• Assistance in data collection; keeping accurate field trial records.
• Collaborating with Ethiopian-based partners, both national and international
• Training agronomists in field operations as required
• Preparing PowerPoint presentations
• Representing IFDC at meeting with partners and stakeholders
• Any other duties falling within the professional purview of a soil fertility expert as may be requested by the Deputy Director of Field Research

Supervision and team collaboration

The soil fertility specialist will be part of the team led and coordinated by Deputy Director of Field Research.  S/he will be technically supervised by and report to the project leader based in Nairobi Kenya and s/he will administratively report to the IFDC country Representative in Ethiopia.

The M&E specialist / Action researcher is expected to implement fieldwork activities independently and to manage the organizational and financial aspects when in the field. S/he works in close collaboration with the entire team of IFDC in Ethiopia and the region, and the other colleagues of from ICRISAT and the National research center. 

Position and duty station

The Soil Fertility specialist is a national position with a duty station at IFDC office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The position requires intensive travels (up to 70% of the time) in target regions in Ethiopia.

Contract duration

Qualifications

We are looking for an enthusiastic team player, with a scientific interest in soil fertility management, research on agronomic practices, control trials with a strong project management experience.

The successful candidate must have the following qualifications:

• Ethiopian national, familiar with cropping systems of Ethiopia
• Minimum MSc in Soil Science or a related soil and plant sciences
• Experience in soil and plant analysis is a plus
• Experience in fertilizers and basic agronomy related to wheat, teff, and sorghum
• At least 3 years’ experience in field trial design, implementation, and analysis
• Good writing skills and ability to do literature reviews and synthesize essential information from the same.
• Good communication and presentation skills
• Computer literate in Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point.
• Competency in basic statistical analyses, with familiarity with statistical analysis software
• Demonstrated training skills