BACKGROUND

Artifacts will develop, in Ethiopia, an oilseeds clusters program to source from contracted out-growers (cluster of farmers, commercial farmers) and oilseeds grains integrators (traders/coops/…) large quantities of various oilseeds (sesame, soybeans, sunflower, rapeseeds, groundnuts) to supply its Solvent Extraction Plants (SEP to be operational end of March 2024)

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Ensuring and coordinating, year-on-year, the identification, forming of and support to the farmers' clusters, commercial farms unions/cooperatives as harvest objectives,

2. Designing the SOP for out-growers contracting – Signature procedure, supporting documents to be attached etc.

3. Designing the R&D program – in-situ trials-, planning its execution and coordinating the agronomical data collection and reporting,

4. Designing the demonstration fields program – number of demonstrations, types, methodology etc.-, planning its execution and coordinating the data collection – type of agronomical data to be collected, frequency etc.- and reporting – report schedule,

5. Planning and coordinating the varieties registration process in collaboration with local and international breeders,

6. Proposing a critical analysis and reports on the contracted fields' agronomical conditions - Input usage, crop status & conditions, the package of good agricultural practices, yield estimation, harvest quantity and quality etc.-

7. Ensuring in each region the elaboration of technical and economic references - Gross Margin Calculation, Profit analysis etc.-  for adequate commercial development and relevant crops -sesame, maize, wheat, malt barley, oilseeds etc.-

8. Designing recommended package of practices based on the R&D program and collected data from agro-follow-up for each major agroecology,

9. Developing advisory service strategy design for the agronomical training content and coordinating the execution of the training and demonstrations,

10. Developing the inputs requirement, specific fertilizer blends (if any) and organizing the order for local and international purchases,

11. Executing the recruitment plan for subordinates at headquarters and oilseed storage centres,

12. Supporting the compilation of agronomical data and generation of all necessary figures, tables, charts etc. for the periodical agronomy report,

13. Supporting the execution of the contracted fields' crop agronomical data collection,

14. Leading, motivating and training the collaborators, subordinates and partners.

Expected results 

1. The employee will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

2. Timely sharing of relevant yearly out-growers sourcing target plan per geographical area, implementation strategy and expansion plan,

3. All subordinates have met the year-on-year target of hectarage to be contracted from out-growers per oilseeds as per the schedule defined (number of contracts/month/oilseeds/subordinates over the defined contracting period),

4. All subordinates have met the year-on-year target of oilseeds production and delivery from out-growers per oilseeds - in quality and quantity- as per the schedule defined (quantity and quality of grains delivered to collection centre/month/oilseeds/subordinates over the defined procurement period),

5. Relevance of trial methodology and quality of its execution / 100% of trials planted / 75% of trials results are statistically relevant

6. 85% of demonstration fields can be used for capacity building (training, coaching etc.) and promotional purposes (field days, visits by investors, management or local/international authorities etc.)

7. Excluding due to significant agronomical reasons, all varieties submitted for registration are registered,

8. Timely submission, quality and accuracy of the reports (Crop status, Yield assessment, qualitative analysis of weather and practices),

9. Timely submission, quality and accuracy of yearly technical and economic reference reports,

10. Agronomical pertinence of the training content, quality of the developed materials

11. Improvement of oilseed crop performance (Yield, quality of the crop) and Gross Margin for contracted clusters year after year,

12. Timely organization of oilseeds supply team recruitment and their  good management,

13. Number of training delivered and number of contractees trained as per yearly plan

14. Timely definition of inputs specifications, agronomical pertinence of proposed inputs and blends

15. Technical improvement of subordinates, technical focal persons and partners

Job Requirements

RELEVANT QUALIFICATIONS

Academic qualification: BSC/MSc degree in Plant Science/Agronomy/Agribusiness and/or related fields

Working experience: Employee will have 10 years of experience of which at least 5 in the sector relevant to the JD.

Language: English, Amharic and Oromifa

How to Apply

Application instruction

Please title your application with subject line: -"Deputy Head of Agronomy"

Candidates meeting the above-required qualifications are invited to send their CV through   “careers@samanu.com”

Only those applicants who meet the above criteria will be contacted for an interview.

Application deadline: 20 November,2024