We are hiring – Agronomist

Job title:                     Agronomist

Reports to:                 Regional Manager – Western

Duty Station:             Mbarara – Western Uganda

About Us:

Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA) is an Umbrella organization of all registered cooperatives in Uganda established in 1961 with a mandate to: carry out capacity building, Lobby and advocate for cooperatives, Consider and make recommendations to the Government of Uganda on matters of policy relating to the Cooperative movement in Uganda, to carry out arbitration/dispute settlement as and when they occur in Cooperatives, mobilize resources for Cooperative development and to do any other cooperative development work. Since 1961, UCA has grown into a strong organization/hub providing Cooperative Business Development Services and products that include but not limited to: Guiding and supporting communities to form cooperatives, conducting different trainings in cooperatives, supporting cooperatives to design and comply with operational policies, supporting cooperatives to design business and strategic plans, building strong and sustainable business linkages for cooperatives, conducting Internal audit and supervision to ensure compliance by cooperatives and ensuring that cooperatives are well governed and managed for effective and efficient services delivery to their members.

UCA Vision: A strong and vibrant umbrella organization of prosperous cooperatives with empowered members.

UCA Mission: To provide high quality support services to cooperatives and their members on a sustainable basis.

Job brief

Uganda Co-operative Alliance’s five-year strategic direction prioritizes AgriInput and Output Market Development. In line with this development strategy, we are looking for highly competent personnel to manage this kind of business on a daily basis, provide technical guidance to our farmers and perform a variety of administrative tasks. Therefore, Uganda Co-operative Alliance invites applications from qualified individuals to take up this offer, to manage the agro input and output business of UCA.

Responsibilities: The successful candidate will be responsible to carry out the following duties.

1. Organizing and conducting farmer trainings.
2. Profiling the farmers through their farmer groups and establishes their needs in form of
3. Establish strong and sustainable business linkages along different value chains.
4. To carry out Agricultural extension services and addresses farmers’
5. Together with UCA Regional Team, organize Farmer Field Days and exhibition.
6. Carries out research on crops and gives informed technical advice based on his/her findings.
7. Negotiates the price of inputs on behalf of the farmers and agrees on terms of delivery.
8. Guide farmers on recommended agronomic practices from planting to post harvest handling.
9. Monitors UCA’s Demonstration Plot and ensures it is well maintained and demonstrates the recommended agronomic practices.
10. Encourage farmers to aggregate their outputs and link them to produce buyers.
11. Establish financial linkages for farmers to access affordable financial services.
12. Develop training manuals on crops for farmers.
13. Compile monthly reports about the agro input center and reports to the Regional Manager.
14. Carry out any other UCA assignment delegated to him or her by General Secretary or Regional Manager

 

Requirements

• Comprehensive understanding of agricultural development involving public and private sectors.
• Multitasking and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks.
• Ability to be resourceful and proactive when issues arise.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Customer service attitude.
• Professional attitude and appearance.
• Proficiency in computer use.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

 

Qualifications and working experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture majoring in Crop Science
• Minimum of two (2) years working experience from a reputable organization and relevant experience in rural development activities such as agribusiness development, market research, capacity building, organizational development and Cooperatives development.
• Proven track record of achieving results in related activities in rural setting.

 

Application procedure:

Applications should be addressed to the General Secretary – Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA) Ltd.

Address: P.O. Box 2215, Kampala

Send your CV and valid academic documents in a single PDF file with a Cover Letter to ucainfocen@uca.co.ug and copy to asiimwe.robert@yahoo.com  with specific Subject “Application for Agronomist”.

Deadline for submission: Friday 7^th May 2021 5:00pm