CARE International in Zimbabwe is recruiting for livelihoods, food aid and resilience project targeting Buhera and Mutare Districts (Manicaland Province) and Chivi and Zaka Districts (Masvingo Province). Takunda, which means “we have overcome” in Shona, is a 5 year USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance program led by CARE in a consortium. Its aim is to increase on-farm and off-farm incomes, improve nutrition, and work with women, men, girls and boys to build resilience to shocks and stressors. The organisation seeks to recruit outstanding candidates who are known for their excellence, professionalism, integrity and who are committed to providing support to vulnerable communities in remote locations of the targeted provinces. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply for the positions posted below, which will be filled in January 2021. 

The Agriculture Officer will ensure the effective planning and implementation, monitoring and reporting of the agriculture related (on-farm) and market support activities. S/he will provide technical backstopping and support to producer associations to promote and expand capacity in agro-marketing. 

Key duties and Responsibilities
•    Mobilise producer farmers to contribute resources for production, post-harvest reduction and marketing selected commodities including maize, beans, sorghum
•    Prepare and conduct producer organization and association profiling and capacity assessment to identify needs including training and input needs
•    Develop and or improve comprehensive training materials for effective delivery of training to the producer groups and associations.
•    Implement timely participatory and pragmatic training in farming as a business, postharvest handling, and value addition and in accordance with the training curriculum agreed and validated with the producer groups and associations
•    Support producer groups to establish strong formal legal, governance and operational committees to improve their performance and institutional capacity
•    Support and/or facilitate producer groups to develop and implement comprehensive farmer field business schools to improve their business operations.
•    Link farmers to strategic stakeholders including input providers including post-harvest equipment, financial institutions, market information providers, and produce markets
•    Support and strengthen bulking and collective marketing, including training on bulking and collective marketing. 
•    Monitor, follow up and mentor  group performance with support from the Agriculture Purpose Manager 
•    Support and train producer groups and networks in market information systems, market data  collection,  analysis  and  dissemination,  price  determination  and  setting,  and accessing and utilising market information through different channels. Ensure the provision of weekly commodity market price information.
•    Contribute to the planning and carrying out exchange visits, conferences and farmer exhibitions on produce marketing.
•    Conduct regular crop performance monitoring and provide technical production advice to producer groups.
•    Contribute to the development of monthly, quarterly and yearly workplans and reports
 

•    A Degree in agriculture or agribusiness. Other qualification will be considered if complemented by extensive practical experience.
•    At least 3-4 years of experience in the field of agribusiness/agricultural production, agricultural produce marketing, market information and linkages.
•    Detailed knowledge of the specific context, issues and challenges related to agricultural production and marketing in Zimbabwe.
•    Experience in community mobilisation and sensitisation/training in the fields of agriculture and marketing and strong technical knowledge in agricultural production with an emphasis on enhancing produce quality.
•    Proven knowledge of and experience in support and training of small-scale farmers in enhancement of produce quality, post-harvest handling, and produce bulking, collective marketing and market information.
•    Proficiency in computer skills including experience of MS Word, Excel, MS Office Project,
•    Understanding and demonstrated commitment to the importance of gender and youth issues in food security programming. 
•    Demonstrated commitment to principles of Gender Equity and Diversity, as evidenced in previous positions / programming.