Field Research Technician at International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

Specific duties:

• Planning, Packing and Distribution of trials.
  • Estimate demand for trial seed production and work with AVISA Nursery and Seed Production (NSP) technician at Kiboko to coordinate production
  • Maintain seed inventory and supervise short term trial seed storage at Kiboko
  • Design and pack trials under the direction of crop breeding leads
  • Coordinate shipment of trials to regional collaborators (Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda and other west African countries) for timely planting (obtain import permits, phyto permits, shipment quotes, SMTAs)
• Establishment Data Collection and Management of trials
  • Ensure trials are established on time (timely land prep, planting, fertilizer application) at partner locations and planted according to the trial design.
  • Ensure trials are well managed (irrigated, weed control, pest and disease control) and that there is frequent communication and backstopping support to trialing partners
  • Manage accurate and timely data collection at different stage of the trials in the field and the nurseries
  • Ensure accuracy of data entry and consolidation for analysis be the Scientist
  • Learn and operate the Breeding Management System (BMS) or the Enterprise Breeding System (EBS) in order to manage routine operations, data upload, data curation, cleaning and preliminary analysis
  • Implement timely digital data capture using the relevant tools and software as identified by AVISA management
  • Take responsibility for increasing the accuracy and consistency of trial data across the AVISA network in ESA (Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda) and other west African countries)
• Supervise casual labor
  • Manage a team of casual labour at Kiboko to manage seed inventory, trial packaging, trial distribution
  • Ensure team receive the necessary training to conduct their tasks
  • Maintaining of safety and hygiene standards
  • Preparing muster roll and submit to supervisor and accounts for payment processing.
• Other Responsibilities
  • Assist / train regional trialing partners based on their needs (data collection, standardized nomenclature, use of digitization tools) and in coordination with the supervisor
  • Manage printing of packets, labels, tags and seed inventory
  • Establish and maintain contacts with collaborating organizations and partners
  • Participate in exhibitions, demonstrations, and field days

Required academic qualifications, skills and attitudes:

• BSc or MSc in Plant Breeding, Agricultural Sciences or biotechnology
• Minimum two (2) years’ experience in managing agricultural field activities or research projects
• Good report writing skills
• Familiarity with legumes and/or cereal crops and related research operations (pollination, data collection from trials and nurseries, running breeding and operational software, experience with genotyping sampling etc.) will be an advantage
• Ability to drive (manual gear) and travel independently in the region to monitor the trialing network
• Ability to manage labor, estimate labor demand, provide supervision and training to field staff to manage breeding research activities
• Ability to work independently with minimal day to day supervision and proactively solve problems
• Reporting skills to line manager and colleagues on station
• The selected candidate must exhibit the following competencies: Communication, Critical Thinking, Teamwork and Client Orientation.