Agrovitor
About the employer
An agribusiness aggregating maize and beans from smallholder outgrowers around Wakiso, trading for about a decade and now buying from roughly four hundred households across a catchment it has grown parish by parish rather than by signing everybody at once.
Yields in that catchment sit well below what the varieties can carry, which is the whole commercial problem: the business cannot buy what was never grown. So this post exists to close the gap rather than to police contracts, and it is measured accordingly.
The season-end bonus is tied to catchment yield rather than to volumes bought, which is the clearest statement the company makes about what it wants. A motorcycle, fuel and a field allowance come with the round, and training in the varieties and protocols comes before you advise anybody on them.
Job Description
- Run demonstration plots through the season, from land preparation to harvest, and hold field days at each stage
- Advise on variety choice, spacing, fertiliser rates and spray programmes against the crop calendar
- Scout for pests and diseases, identify them correctly and recommend a control that the farmer can afford
- Advise on post-harvest handling: drying to moisture, shelling, sorting and storage against aflatoxin risk
- Keep planting, input and yield records for every registered outgrower in the catchment
- Flag pest and disease outbreaks early to the technical manager with location and severity
- Work with the buying team so advice and offtake stay aligned rather than contradicting each other
Ascendradoes not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, refugee status, marital status, or based on an individual’s status in any group or class protected by applicable law. Ascendra encourages applications from minorities, women, the disabled, refugees and all other qualified applicants.
The Successful Applicant
- Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Crop Science, Agronomy or Agricultural and Rural Innovation
- Field exposure to smallholder farming, a student placement included
- Able to identify the common pests and diseases of maize and beans in the field
- Understanding of safe pesticide handling, dose calculation and pre-harvest intervals
- Comfortable keeping farmer records on a phone or tablet and in a spreadsheet
- A riding licence, or willingness to obtain one
- Luganda an advantage, and English essential
What is on offer
- A motorcycle, fuel and a field allowance
- A season-end bonus tied to catchment yield rather than to volumes bought
- Training in the varieties and spray protocols you will be advising on
- Medical cover, NSSF and protective equipment for spray work
- A technical manager who works the catchment with you in the first season
To apply for this job please visit ascendra.work.