Crop Production Specialist

 Organizational Setting

 The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. FAO helps developing countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture including livestock, forestry, and fisheries practices, ensuring good nutrition and food security for all. Upon request from the Government of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the FAO has agreed to provide technical assistance for the execution of the Food and nutrition Security Enhancement Project (FANSEP), UTF/NEP/077/NEP from July 2019 to June, 2023. The project is implemented by Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.  

Objectives

FAO Technical Assistance to FANSEP will contribute to achieve the project development objective: improved agricultural productivity and nutrition practices of targeted smallholder farming communities in selected areas of Nepal

Reporting Lines 

Under the overall operational supervision of FAOR and the direct supervision of the Team Leader and technical supervision of the FAO designated technical officer in the FAO Regional Office in Bangkok or FAO HQ, close consultation and coordination with AFAOR (Programme), and in coordination with the Government of Nepal’s designated technical officer for crop at the PMU and FAO Technical Assistance (TA) team, the Project Crop Production Specialist will have the overall responsibility of supporting and supervising the planning, implementation and management of activities related to crop production interventions, contributing to the outputs of all project components. He/she will supervise and provide guidance to the FAO TA Cluster Officers and field teams.

Technical Focus

Crop production specialist will assist the project team in accomplishing a participatory process in implementing the project activities with emphasis on the adoption of the Systems Learning Approach. In addition, He/she will supervise the activities of and provide guidance to the Cluster Officers and field teams. He/she will spend considerable time in the field and providing support to field teams, crop production groups, and other famers’ groups.

Tasks and responsibilities 

The Consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Assist and guide the cluster and rural municipality agriculture teams to ensure that annual activity plans are prepared based on target beneficiary needs, and compiled and submitted to the PMU in a timely manner
• Identify needs, design the curriculum, lesson plans, guidelines and procedures for different kinds of training related to crop development (ToT, refresher courses and Farmer Field School (FFS)) and provide backstopping support in their implementation, in consultation with the Capacity Development Specialist
• Assist in ensuring the quality of the training materials/guidelines/manuals and other reference documents to be developed for training facilitators and targeted beneficiaries related to crop development and technology dissemination
• Identify and suggest innovative approaches for promoting appropriate climate smart and nutrition sensitive technologies through improved extension and research services and efficient dissemination to producer groups
• Support PMU in ensuring inclusion of women and youth, and other vulnerable segments of the rural population, in addition to strengthening the decentralized government structures to ensure effective service delivery at the local level
• Support PMU, in consultation with Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC), to identify appropriate Climate Smart Agriculture and nutrition sensitive agriculture technologies, improved inputs (foundation seeds, and improved varieties) and improved agronomic, husbandry and post-harvest practices, considering nutrition value and food safety considerations, including responsible use of antibiotics to reduce resistance risks and crop storage and management practices to reduce aflatoxin risk
• Guide, monitor and facilitate the activities of the cluster and rural municipality teams and ensure that agriculture activities are implemented effectively against performance targets
• Provide technical backstopping and coaching, facilitate problem-solving and experience-sharing in agriculture/crop-related activities within the PMU, and with Province, Cluster based Agriculture Officers and rural municipalities
• Provide oversight to activities, scheduling and facilitating PMU-level agriculture/crop component related procurement, including the hiring of NGOs, supplies and equipment, as needed
• Consult with NARC on technical issues related to achieving targets of the agriculture/crops component
• Coordinate with various national and international agencies aimed at strengthening the capacity of agriculture staff, including degree courses, training including FFS facilitation training
• Ensure the production and dissemination of agriculture/crop production and processing, and training related manuals and videos for extension and training of farmers, entrepreneurs and project staff
• Participate in annual or other periodic meetings with beneficiaries and other project stakeholders at Province, district project-area and national levels in collaboration with the PMU Manager and other PMU staff
• Guide cluster and rural municipality staff to enable farmers to master the management skills (Good Agricultural Practices-GAPs) required for sustainable production diversification and intensification of agriculture practices and post-harvest processing
• Coordinate with the project partners at the national/international level and with stakeholders on matters related to activities under the agriculture/crops component
• Submit a work plan and monthly progress report as per the format developed by the project
• Any other agriculture/crops related tasks assigned by the Team Leader or PMU 

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING 

Minimum Requirements 

• National of Nepal
• Advanced University (Master) Degree in Agronomy, Plant Protection or horticulture
• Experience of working in designing and implementing Farmer Field School
• At least seven Years of experience in areas related
• Working knowledge of English and Nepali and limited knowledge of local language
• Candidate should have knowledge of computer skills (MS Office package: word, excel and power point)

FAO Core Competencies 

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement 

Technical/Functional Skills 

• Proven experience and in depth knowledge of Farmer Field School Approach, field trials and studies
• Working experience in Food and nutrition security programs with knowledge of climate smart technologies and nutrition sensitive agriculture
• Working experience and sound knowledge on crop value chain development

Selection Criteria 

• Extent of relevant technical experience in the areas mentioned above
• Having experience of working with multi-disciplinary team
• Experience in designing and implementation of FFS, studies.
• Good working knowledge of English, especially on written  
• Experience with similar internationally funded development projects will be an added advantage