Agriculture Officer

Program Design and innovation

• Support PEAL team to design and plan activities on Agriculture extension for the East.
• Provide new insights on agricultural program innovations, especially in the context of climate resilience in the East.
• Review project designs and ensure agricultural components are realistic and feasible to the respective communities based on availability, soil, water, etc. and provide feedback where required.

Technical Support

•  Assist to identify new methods of planting, fertilizing, harvesting and storing of crops to achieve optimum land usage and yield;
• Identify micro-organisms and insects, parasites, and weeds harmful to crops and advise on control measures;
• Examine topographical, physical and soil characteristics to determine its most effective crop yield potential;
• Provide technical support regarding emerging issues and points of concern in the areas of agriculture, from planting to the use of organic fertilization and pesticide to post-harvest management;
• Work with RTV staff and government officers to conduct follow-ups on community and household gardens where there are concerns and/or emerging agricultural issues;
• Support the project team to identify the seeds to be passed on to the next beneficiary;
• Provide support on all agricultural pilot initiatives from idea to implementation to evaluation, such as keyhole gardens, backyard gardens, etc.;
• Work with procurement officers to guide on seed specifications and verification.

Facilitation and Training

• Conduct refresher training as needed for RTV staff and local government extension officers in the East including but not limited to:
  o RTV methodology on land preparation (community gardens, nursery beds and household gardens, compost pits, etc.);
  o RTV methodology on post-harvest management and seed pass-on;
  o Application of natural forms of fertilization;
  o Natural forms of pesticide use;
• Conduct practical training and refresher training with selected Community Agricultural Trainees (CATs) in each cluster of operation. Trainings  to focus on but not be limited to:
  o RTV methodology on land preparation (community gardens, nursery beds and household gardens, compost pits, etc.);
  o RTV methodology on post-harvest management and seed pass-on;
  o Application of natural forms of fertilization;
  o Natural forms of pesticide use;
• Develop and update training materials for RTV staff and extension officers;
• Develop and update training materials for CATs in local languages;
• Develop guides and 1-pager for community members use in local languages.

Project Management

• Identify key issues and risks for clusters and provide mitigations and solutions while
  maintaining a risk log;
• Ensure successful planting, germination, and harvests across clusters based on organizational targets;
• Plan, execute and update monthly work plan;
• Conduct data collection on key metrics, including yield, germination and trained community agricultural trainees;
• Support the Planning, Evaluation and Learning team with agricultural reporting and analysis, providing feedback and recommendations;
• Create and introduce new ideas and initiatives/pilot projects taking them from idea to implementation and evaluation;

Administration and Coordination:

• Attend district and staff meetings in person and/or virtually to discuss key agricultural issues, areas of success and areas in need of improvement to brainstorm possible solutions and next steps.
• Complete weekly financial requests, submissions and reconciliations to the District Head;
• Take photographs to share and for data repository;
• Other requirements might be required by their direct supervisor and/or management.

Required Skills and Expertise

• University Degree of Science in Agriculture in both animal and crop husbandry, community development or related fields;
• Minimum 3 years of work experience in the agricultural field;
• Experience in community development programming;
• Understanding of organic pesticide use for treatment and prevention measures;
• Understanding of soil management and crop and pest management;
• Strong facilitation skills with expertise in relaying information from a scientific/technical level to individuals with varying levels of literacy and understanding abilities;
• Organizes workload effectively while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing deadlines;
• Accurately completes multiple tasks to meet deadlines while taking into consideration special assignments, frequent interruptions, available resources and multiple reporting relationships;
• Strong training & facilitation skills;
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written English;
• Fluent in local languages where RTV works in the East; Kaliro and Luuka
• Proficient in Microsoft Suite;
• Energetic and physically able to hike on high terrain, ability to travel 80% of the time;
• Can work independently but is also a strong team player;
• Able to think outside of the box to provide plausible solutions to issues and challenges;