Onion Harvesting Foreman at Twiga Foods

Key Reponsibilities

• Execute the harvest of ready onions.
• Monitor the delivery of the freshly harvested onions.
• Field supervision of onion harvest operations to ensure product is harvested with timeliness, efficiency, productivity and safely within Twiga Foods specification.
• Coordination of the field harvest team to achieve output harvesting targets and maintain cost per kg targets.
• Planning and coordination of harvest crop movement from field and farm to store including liaison with Twiga logistics personnel when required to ensure downtime of harvest operations is eliminated.   
• Planning and coordination of harvest equipment required to ensure downtime of harvest operations is eliminated. Working closely with the Onion Crop Manager on crop establishment planning and weekly labour requirements. 
• Monitors onion harvest operations to ensure the onion crop harvest completed weekly with high quality work, timeliness, efficiency, productivity and safely. 
• Verify that the settings and maintained on the harvest equipment to produce a crop stand as specified by the Onion Crop Manager. Set up and operate harvest equipment to harvest onions.  
• Detect potential equipment/machinery problems/ malfunctions/ risks early on and escalate to the respective team member as required.
• Maintain operational records for onion harvested and crop traceability to ensure accuracy of records of machine work and farm yield per field and per ha.  
• Training and development of other harvest teams to maintain and continually improve operational efficiency.

Compliance 

• Adherence to plans and optimizing resource allocation within agreed standards. 
• Comply with all organization policies, procedures, and statutory guidelines.  Minimize and mitigate risks to the organization and enforce zero-tolerance to non-compliance. 
• Close gaps/lapses identified as an outcome of audits; risk and/or any other compliance review; investigations; or other assessment mechanisms and take corrective/preventive actions within the agreed timelines. 

Self-management 

• Model Twiga’s culture and way of working and inculcating this within the team. 
• Deliver the performance objectives set.  Adhere to monthly 1-on-1 performance reviews with own line manager, and institute corrective action where performance falls below expectation. 
• Proactively manage own learning and development.
• Adhere to the annual leave plan agreed with the line manager. 
• Adhere to people management polices.

Minimum Qualifications and Requirements

• Be a certified tractor operator.
• Have a  post high school qualification education in Agriculture, Food Science, Crop Science or Agri-Business or a related field from an accredited institution of higher learning.
• Have 3 Years’ experience in a onion cultivation or horticultural operation, fresh/processed vegetable production.
• Be able to withstand the smell of onions and fresh temperatures. Knowledge of basic safety rules and precautionary measures.
• Be a self-motivated individual with good attention to detail, keen on working with others, able to motivate people to perform with a practical understanding of mechanised farming operations. Awareness of industry trends, technology, and developments. 
• Bephysically fit and Proficiency with computers, especially MS Office and diagnostic scientific software. 
• Be exceptional active listening and verbal and written communication skills. 
• Have strong research, decision making, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.