Description :

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE – AGRONOMIST The International Potato Center (CIP) is seeking a dynamic, innovative and diligent Research Associate – Agronomist to coordinate seed system activities in Uganda under Development and Delivery of Biofortified crops at scale (DDBIO) Project. He/she will support planning, design and implementation of agricultural field activities that will contribute to improved production of orange fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP), maintenance and distribution of OFSP clean planting materials.

The Position :

The Research Associate – Agronomist will be based in Kampala, Uganda and report to Senior Research Associate, CIP-Uganda.

Specific role :

Support, planning and execution of field activities related to scaling up of orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) seed system and root production technologies :

• Contribute to planning, design and implementing agricultural field activities that will contribute to improved production of OFSP ;
• Assist in planning and design of participatory approaches for maintenance, production and distribution of OFSP clean planting materials ;
• Appraise farm-level sweetpotato production constraints and design and implement simple, farmer-participatory trials with extension officers to address these constraints  ;
• Collect, process and analyze data from scientific and farmer participatory research experiments and write pertinent technical reports ;
• Maintain a local data base for agricultural field research studies from designated project intervention areas ;
• Participate in diagnostic and other relevant socio-economic studies as member of a multi- disciplinary project team ;
• Assist in identifying and organizing farmers, farmer groups and private enterprises for production and maintenance of sweetpotato vines ;
• Organize root producers into contract root suppliers and link them to puree factories ;
• Work with partner NGOs to ensure that clean sweetpotato vines are multiplied and distributed to farmers when needed ;
• Contribute to training of extension officers, staff from participatory NGO partners and farmers in the project intervention districts in pertinent skills in sweetpotato vine and root production value chains ;
• Participate in identification and promotion of improved technologies for handling and storage of sweetpotato roots ;
• Establish and maintain good working relationships with government extension service, research stations, NGO partners, and farmer groups ;
• Carry out any other duties as assigned by the Country Team Leader or Project Leader .

Qualifications and Experience Required :

• Master’s degree in Crop science, Agronomy or related field  ;
• Experience in the field of sweetpotato Agronomy ;
• At least 6 years of experience required in similar position ;
• Proven record of scientific publications in Peer reviewed Journals ;
• Skills in analysis of agricultural production constraints ;
• Knowledge and skills in farmer participatory experimental learning ;
• Excellent writing, communication and interpersonal skills ;
• Ability to work independently, implementing work agenda with minimum oversight supervision ;
• Advanced level of MS Office. Advanced knowledge of database work ;
• Experimental design, planning and managing field experiments .

What are the conditions :

The position is Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) position limited to Ugandan nationals and permanent residents only. The employment contract will be for a one-year term (with a 3-month probation period) and the possibility of renewal subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funds.

How to apply :

Visit the following link: http://cipotato.org/open-vacancies/ and submit your cover letter and a full C.V. with your references. Screening of applications will begin on August 12, 2019 and will continue until the post is filled. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Learn more about CIP by accessing our web site at http://www.cipotato.org CIP is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified women are particularly encouraged to apply

CIP does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing or training). CIP also does not concern itself with information on applicants’ bank accounts.

We do our best to provide you the most accurate info, but closing dates may be wrong on our site. Please check on the recruiting organization’s page for the exact info. Candidates are responsible for complying with deadlines and are encouraged to submit applications well ahead.