Agronomy Advisor at TechnoServe Kenya

Job Summary:

The Agronomy Advisor shall support the implementation of strategies that will enable clients to achieve sustainable increases in coffee quality and yields.

Program/Practice/Department Overview:

TechnoServe’s Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality Program is a partnership with Nespresso SA program to implement the Nespresso AAA program to Africa in Ethiopia, Kenya. The overarching goal is to reduce poverty of 200,000 smallholder coffee farmers in Kenya and Ethiopia through increased coffee incomes as a result of improved yields, quality and market access to Nespresso’s AAA supply chain.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Sensitize cooperative leadership, smallholder coffee farmers and local stakeholders on the TechnoServe coffee project work.
• Implement existing strategies to provide assigned cooperatives with agronomy training and with structured post-training farm visits to improve adoption.
• Train and advise farmers being assisted by the project on coffee agronomy best practices with the objective of helping them to improve coffee yields and quality.
• Train, mentor, coach and support assigned Farmer Trainers on all technical and operational aspects of their work and in relationship with farmers. This includes assisting them to set performance goals, continuous assessment of performance and giving feedback.
• Participate in the implementation of the defined project monitoring, measurement and evaluation activities that ensure accurate and consistent capture of date for project reporting and documenting of the impact of our work.
• Cultivate and manage good relationship with clients both at leadership and farmer levels as well as with key industry stakeholders and community leaders at local levels.
• Any other relevant tasks as assigned by the Senior Agronomy Advisor.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in agriculture, agronomy, horticulture or related agricultural sciences.
• At least three years’ professional experience – ideally in the private sector – in one or more of the following areas: coffee processing or agronomy; business or cooperative management; SME development; agriculture; training; extension services.
• Demonstrated good understanding of the Kenya coffee industry and especially the cooperatives sector.
• Possess an aptitude and skills for training adults in a field set up.
• Strong planning skills and ability to generate innovative solutions in highly dynamic work situations.
• Demonstrated ability to prepare and present well-written, cohesive analyses and reports.
• Strong interpersonal, collaborative and cross-cultural skills.
• Willingness to spend significant time in project implementation sites located in rural areas.
• Valid motorcycle riding licence.