Postharvest 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 Postharvest Specialist 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

Provide needful support for programme and project operations as envisioned in the Terms of Reference (TOR), by Undertake trainings to enhance the capacities of project partners under the GCP/GHA/040/EC) project.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Lead the capacity development trainings in postharvest handling of produce.
• Coordinate dissemination of postharvest technologies under the project among project partners.
• Undertake trainings to enhance the capacities of project partners in postharvest handling of produce.
• Lead capacity development of small producers in proper storage of food products.
• Perform other duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in Agricultural Engineering, Postharvest or other relevant areas.
• A minimum of 5 years consultancy experience in development projects with at least 2 years’ experience in working with grains and stored products
• 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

• Ability to communicate clearly and to share knowledge and information;
• Ability to work effectively under pressure;
• Capacity to build effective relationships and partnerships with team members and service providers;
• Ability to take initiative and accomplish tasks in due time;
• Ability to be flexible in changing circumstances and to adapt the work approach in response to changes;
• Extent and relevance of experience in management of computer programs such as Excel, Word, Power Point and statistical software;
• The candidate must demonstrate high communication skills, both verbal and written, negotiation, leadership, vision, strategy, coordination and teamwork.

Selection Criteria

• Experience working with community, NGOs and farmer groups is a plus.
• Excellent communication, writing and presentation skills in English.
• Extent of relevant experience in the areas related to the programme and project implementation.
• Ability to work with multidisciplinary and multicultural team.
• Prior working experience with development partners and government.
• High degree of team ethics, well-organized, result focused and dynamic personality.
• Previous experience of working with UN agencies and Government services will be an asset.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION