Senior Research Associate (Agronomist) at International Potato Center

The Agronomist will provide expertise in the design and direct implementation of a cost effective and sustainable sweetpotato seed system for DDBIO in Kenya. He/she will contribute to efforts to ensure and assure affordable, accessible and quality sweetpotato planting material needed to scale up the orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) in Kenya. The successful candidate will work closely with the DDBIO Kenya Team Leader, project implementing partners, and with the CIP country and global teams.

Key responsibilities:

• Contribute to the design and direct the implementation of a sustainable sweetpotato seed systems strategy for DDBIO – Kenya that will assure quality and accessibility of sweetpotato planting material for production and commercialization of the sweetpotato value chain.
• Design and implement a working, cost-effective and timely planting material dissemination approaches and root production plans with partners to enhance OFSP production among households both for food and nutrition security as well as commercialization.
• Work and collaborate with national government partners (KALRO/KEPHIS) and other stakeholders to initiate, coordinate and manage the National Performance Evaluation (NPTs) and varietal release process for developing commercially viable OFSP varieties.
• Participate in the development and, where possible, delivery of appropriate training modules in priority topics such as production, agronomy, post-harvesting management etc. The training will target sweetpotato value chain actors including farmers, extension agents, aggregators, processors etc.
• Provide the technical expertise for private commercial partners and support their agronomist and extension staff to achieve the desired quality and quantity of raw materials for the successful puree processing business.
• Work with other stakeholders and colleagues to develop linkages and contribute to online platforms for exchange of information about OFSP for widespread adoption.
• Support and contribute to the OFSP awareness campaigns by providing required technical input for example through county forums trade fairs and field days.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of relevant field research on sweetpotato seed system and crop management practices to answer existing project research questions.
• Provide support to the DDBIO M&E processes by facilitating timely, accurate and routine data collection required for project reports.
• Any other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Requirements

• MSc in agronomy, breeding, crop science or a related field.
• Minimum of 6 years of experience working with public and/or private organizations in seed systems or agronomy.
• Experience working with sweet potato and/or other vegetative propagated crops.
• Experience in designing and conducting and analysis of on-farm agronomic experiments.
• Experience with participatory evaluation of new technologies, innovations with farmers.
• Experimental design, Implementation, data collection, analysis and writing of scientific papers.
• Advanced level of MS Office.
• Fluent in Kiswahili.
• Advanced oral communication and technical writing skills in English.