National Agribusiness Specialist

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022-31 by supporting the transformation to More efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri- food systems, for Better production, Better nutrition, a Better environment and a Better life, leaving no one behind. 

The FAO Representation in Ghana is the body in charge of ensuring liaison between FAO and the Government of Ghana and is the first port of call for analysing and appraising government assistance requests; identifying, formulating, implementing and monitoring all FAO programmes and projects; managing all phases of the project cycle for national projects for which operational and budget holder responsibilities have been assigned by the Technical Cooperation Department; identifying opportunities for collaboration, and mobilizing technical and operational support from the Regional Office, Headquarters and other funding sources as appropriate.

Global challenges to ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition remain, and have been worsened by climate change while the combined effects of the COVID 19-pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and other factors are deepening the plights of households in many countries, including West Africa and Ghana. In Ghana, from the November 2022 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an approximately 19% of the analyzed population were found to either be under pressure, in crises or in emergency food insecurity situation. Overall, 6.2% of the population were identified to be vulnerable (food insecure) with smallholder farm households having been the hardest hit given their economic vulnerability. 

Climate change could cause yield losses to most rainfed cereals, especially maize, up to 16 to 21 percent in 2050, compared to a baseline without climate change. Yields decrease due to climate change are also expected other crops like sorgum, millet, groundnut and vegetables while increase in the share of livestock affected by droughts is expected from 13 to 39 percent. Weak resilience to climate impacts lack of resources to acquire productive inputs are some of the causes of low productivity, and therefore low income and low availability of nutrient dense diverse foods at the household level.

As a response to the current situation and foreseeable future food security crisis, The Government of Ghana and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations with funding support of the European Union (EU) is implementing EU Food Security Response in Northern Ghana (GCP/GHA/040/EC) project (2023-2026) targeting at least 10000 households. The project is being implemented over three agricultural seasons to increase crop and livestock production, including 6 000 maize farmers who will be supported to produce 18 000 Mt of maize over three years in targeted districts; 2 400 millet farmers who will be supported to produce 5,184 Mt of millet; and 4 200 sorghum farmers to produce 8 517 Mt of sorghum over the three years in the targeted districts. In addition, farmers, especially women and youth, and value chain actors will be supported with capacity and access to post-harvest technologies along the groundnut, soybean and vegetable (tomato) value chains with farmers’ capacity on climate change adaptation among others enhanced. 

An integrated approach to sustainable food production and the resilience of food systems has become all-time important than ever. The project will promote crop-specific, agro-ecological systems and approaches and support the sustainable development of maize, millet, sorghum, soyabean, groundnut, vegetables (tomato), poultry, piggery value chains. In selected project locations, direct agricultural inputs provision, accompanied by support to climate-adapted agricultural practices, provision of improved  grain storage technologies, training on post-harvest practices, promotion of organic fertilizer use, provision of solar powered irrigation solutions and application of other climate sensitive and sustainable agri-techniques, promotion of integrated pests and diseases management approaches and facilitation of access to market as well as value addition for crops produced will help in resolving some of the production and post-harvest bottlenecks and contribute to achieving food security, and enhanced resilience to future shocks and disasters.

Reporting Lines

The incumbent will be working under the overall supervision and guidance of the FAO Representative to Ghana, the technical supervision of the Technical Adviser, the direct supervision of the Assistant FAOR (Head of Programmes) and in close collaboration with the National Project Coordinator and Technical Committee.

Technical Focus

Design, implementation support and evaluation of agricultural investment operations, as well as strategic and policy work, with a focus on agribusiness development and the creation of an enabling environment for efficient and inclusive agricultural and food systems, including functioning agricultural support services as well as rural market and finance institutions.

Tasks and responsibilities

•    Be primarily responsible for income generation, marketability and profitability of farmers and beneficiaries of the EUD project.
•    Implement a dedicated strategy and activities to promote access to market and market information of value chain actors. 
•    Design and implement revolving fund schemes and/or village/community savings and loan schemes under the project.
•    Study, propose and explore to facilitate establishment of District-wide Cooperative Unions including implementing actions to strengthen existing Unions.
•    Link and assist farmers and value chain actors’ participation in bigger markets and marketplaces such as the Ghana-EU Agribusiness Platform and the AfCFTA.
•    Design and support to implement a special business package for People/Farmers with Special Needs under the project.
•    Assist in the preparation of periodic reports, assessments, and technical documents, including but not limited to; project progress and monitoring reports, Project Terminal Report implementation reports, letters of agreement, terms of references, and speeches.
•    Plan and execute workshops and other meetings.
•    Perform any other duties as may be required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements
   
•    Advance university degree in agriculture, agro-industry, business administration, economics, agricultural economics or a closely related field
•    7 years of experience in agribusiness, agricultural value chain promotion s and market development, processing, including experience in the formulation and/or implementation of agricultural investment operations in developing countries
•    Experience working with community, NGOs and farmer groups is a plus.
•    Working knowledge of English (proficient – level C).
•    National of Ghana.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills 

•    Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions.
•    Knowledge of the context as well as partners and institutions of the specific subregion would be an asset. 
•    Extent and relevance of experience in technical fields related to agribusiness development, value-chain development and analysis, business planning, and agriculture marketing.
•    Extent and relevance of the experience in the area of the functioning of markets, agri-logistics and food distribution systems, such as the development of agribusiness logistics centres, market infrastructure and the corresponding management systems would be an asset.
•    Extent and relevance of experience in participating in (and possibly leading) multidisciplinary teams for the preparation of strategies and sector studies as well as formulation, implementation support or evaluation of agricultural investment and finance support solutions, provision of technical assistance with focus on value chain development and agribusiness, and experience in working directly with the private sector. 
•    Extent and relevance of experience in investment design, implementation support and evaluation procedures of FAO's main development partners, in particular the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and other partner international financial institutions (IFIs).
•    Relevance and experience in analysing food safety and quality related issues. 
•    Demonstrated experience in dealing with government officials, the private sector, development partners and other country stakeholders.
•    Demonstrated capacity to write technical reports in English.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION