Project Background: ‘Growing Women in Coffee’ project is set to impact women farmers connected to Kipkelion Union (KU), a collection of 32 cooperative societies in Western Kenya with just 11% of members being female.
Activities will target 450 women farmers connected to the member cooperatives of Kabng’etuny and Kapkiyai Coffee cooperative societies with objectives of improving livelihoods of women coffee smallholder farmers through:
1) Increased coffee yield and quality; food security and better farm management systems through training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs);
2) Environmental conservation through adoption of Biogas as a sustainable alterative to wood fuel;
3) Increased number of registered female cooperative members through sensitization activities aimed at supporting them into income earning positions
4) Increased income through value addition of coffee and identification of better markets.
Project activities will be delivered in three project sites; Kabng’etuny Cooperative, Kapkiyai Cooperative and at the level of Kipkelion Union itself.
Activities will be implemented by four partners’ – Fairtrade Africa, Solidaridad, FMOEA and KENAFF funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
Outcome 1: Solidaridad will deliver a series of Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) trainings to improve the farming performance and productivity of women farmers in coffee and other crops.
Job Description: Primarily, the job of the field agronomist will involve working with coffee and other food crops grown by the women in the household, livestock husbandry including poultry with the target of overall increase in income through improvement in quality and quantity of produce while taking care of the environment.
Key Activities:
Making regular field visits to offer advisory services and closely monitoring adoption of good husbandry practices in the farms aimed at increasing productivity and quality.
Giving advisory services related to the main agronomic practices such as planting and infilling, weed control, mulching, crop nutrition, disease and pest control, canopy management on coffee and food crops.
Training farmers on good livestock husbandry and better management of poultry.
Recommending safe usage of appropriate chemicals and fertilizers for the farmers.
Collecting soil samples from the field, organizing for analysis and giving feedback to farmers.
Educating the farmers about crop rotation, inter-cropping and growing hybrid varieties.
Translating of coffee classification reports, analyzing of delivery and milling reports and presenting the reports to the management of coops.
Training farmers on record keeping for better financial management.
Reporting to the gender specialist on monthly basis on project progress.
Roles and Responsibilities
Set up women village groups to be trained and form Farmer Field Schools (FFS) clusters.
Profile the agricultural practices and technologies used in food and cash crops as well as livestock production by the groups and identify needs and the training gaps within the groups through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA).
Develop training materials with respect to the training needs identified that can suit the FFS model to meet the project targets in terms of numbers and content.
Conduct the actual training to the FFS clusters as per the curriculum developed and the training needs identified.
Identify at least 2 Promoter Farmers per FFS/women village group who will serve as the group-based technical expert. These promoter farmers will be trained further and integrated into the trainings as assistants or co-trainers and will continue training post project period. Alongside this, qualified Business Service Providers (BSPs) may be linked to the groups to provide sustainable training in their areas of expertise and to guide farmers on the available technologies.
Introduce appropriate agricultural techniques and technologies for improved production through demo plots.
Choosing the best method available for increasing crop productivity and production.
Training the farmers various methods of improving crop yield.
Participate in training women groups on management and development skills to ensure continuity and sustainability as well as self-financial capacity.
Support building of partnerships between producers, buyers & BSPs.
Support peer-to-peer learning between FFS trainees and commercially oriented livestock farmers & conduct study tours.
Follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of the FFSs performance and up-scaling of the appropriate technologies.
Skills
Apart from having sound knowledge in crop production and agricultural background, the agronomist should have excellent analytical skills to identify all the gaps, share with the program manager and come up with new but practical approaches in closing the gaps.
Work tirelessly for better crop quality, productivity and production.
Documenting the fieldwork and delivering training.
Making presentations and communicating with the farmers on progress.
Should have planning and managerial skills.
Enough computer knowledge and skills for processing the data.
Good decision making skills.
Able to work independently.
High level of accuracy and integrity.
Personal Values
Ability to work in a dynamic inter-cultural and multi-stakeholder environment
Self-motivation, meeting deadlines and being able to work without supervision
Team player; ability to work and contribute as a member of a team
Innovative, proactive, able to identify opportunities and translate them into projects
Smallholder focused and motivated to combat structural poverty.
Performance indicators
Project is supervised and successfully implemented.
Project is monitored continuously and reported at pre-determined intervals (weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually).
Project is evaluated at pre-determined intervals (baseline, midterm and end of term).
Project reports are generated and communicated internally and externally as planned.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) data is collected and updated at pre-determined intervals (monthly, quarterly and annually).
Deliverables
Submit weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual progress reports of activities and meetings with farmers relating to projects work.
Complete detailed reports after follow up visits to farmers and farmers’ groups, according to a work-plan.
Maintain an updated list of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and analysis in reference to targets set and agreed on.
Maintain an updated file of meetings minutes, attendance and training proceedings.
Complete training and follow-up and reports after training visits to farmers, farmer groups and other parties.
Keep a regular updated list of training and certification status for producers and contact list for stakeholders.
Complete reports on visits by market and/or partners.
Submit routine reports; monthly, quarterly and annual.
Qualifications and Experience
Interested candidates should have the following qualifications and competencies:
A BSc. degree in Agriculture.
At least 3 years working experience on cash and food crops (mainly coffee, food crops & high value horticultural crops), livestock production and related initiatives.
Experience in conducting Farmer Field Schools.
Demonstrated experience in working with farmer groups.
Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, knowledge of the local language would be an added advantage.
Excellent coordination and organization skills.
A valid motorcycle riding license with at least 3 years’ experience practical riding (Those without this qualification should not apply).
Terms of Offer: The appointment will be on an initial period of 1 year contract subject to renewal on satisfactory performance appraisal.
Solidaridad is an equal opportunity employer.
Salary: Commensurate with experience.
How to Apply: Send cover letter with CV plus salary history to info.SECAEC@solidaridadnetwork.org on or before 20th April 2015.
Please note only short-listed applicants will be contacted.