Forage Development and Animal Feed Specialist

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is the specialized agency of the United Nations for food, nutrition, agriculture, and forestry. FAO’s global vision is for a world free from hunger and malnutrition where food and agriculture contribute to improving the living standards of all, especially the poorest, in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO's efforts – to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active and healthy lives.

The mission of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is to work to eradicate hunger and promote global food security together with balanced and complete nutrition. Our mandate is to raise levels of nutrition, improve agricultural productivity, better the lives of rural populations and contribute to the growth of the world economy.

Our three main goals are: the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition; the elimination of poverty and the driving forward of economic and social progress for all; and, the sustainable management and utilization of natural resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

With support from MasterCard Foundation, FAO Ethiopia has developed a project to support agro-pastoral and pastoral communities in Oromia, SNNP, and Somali regions that are most affected by the prolonged drought of almost two years in developing sustainable animal feed supply chains. The suitable operational areas are identified in consultation with the Regional Bureaus of Agriculture/Livestock and based on the most recent data, including ongoing programmes to avoid overlapping. The implementation of the project will follow a three-phase strategy following the three seasons that occur in a year in the low lands. These phases are: i) rainy period and immediately thereafter, when green forage is available, ii) pre-drought period when grazing biomass is available but its quality is decreasing with time, and iii) during extreme drought when there are no grazing grasses, but the browses (bushes and trees) are green. The corresponding strategies are forage production and conservation of excess forage in Phase 1, provision of nitrogen and energy to the animal for example in the form of multi-nutrient blocks and forage production in irrigation schemes in Phase 2, and provision of browse enhancers for example of polyethylene glycol in Phase 3.

Reporting Lines

The Forage Development and Animal Feed Specialist will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative (FAOR) in Ethiopia, and under the direct supervision of the MasterCard project Manager.

Technical Focus

The work of FAO in Ethiopia is guided by its Country Programming Framework (CPF) which sets out three government priority areas to guide our partnership with and support to the Government of Ethiopia, namely crop production and productivity, livestock and fisheries production and sustainable natural resources management. These activities are intended to improve livestock farming productivity and provide forage and feed business development services (1) Seed Multiplication, (2) Feed Production and (3) Feed processing /modernization among Mastercard-funded project beneficiaries in the three regions.

Tasks and responsibilities

The Forage Development and Feed Specialist’s main focus will be on developing the domestic livestock feed industry through market analysis, technical assistance, and support to community group producers. The incumbent will specifically:
• Assist in the identification, review and development of program interventions for the establishment of viable forage and livestock feed production value chains with emphasis on identifying forage crops that are most adapted to climate change, including crops/varieties that are rain-fed or require minimal irrigation suitable for planting under Ethiopian agricultural patterns and climate conditions and adapted to the climate;
• Conduct an assessment on the specific needs and interests of the forage producing farmers in relation to forage production specifically in Somali, SNNP and Oromia regions;
• In collaboration with regional bureaus of agriculture and Livestock and pasture development in target regions, organize stakeholders’ workshops to disseminate the findings and recommendations of the aforementioned assessments on sustainable production of forage crops;
• Draft the terms of reference and assist in the identification and pre-screening of implementing partners supporting the multiplication of forage seeds of selected forage crops/feed varieties, and monitoring their progress in the implementation of LOAs programs; to ensure the production of sufficient certified seeds for sale to interested farmers through youth groups and cooperative “seed sales programme”, particularly those supported by the Project;
• Facilitate the establishment of youth farmer groups among community beneficiaries working on the promotion of forage seed and forage production and utilization including development of the action plans outlining areas of responsibility for the group’s members and the most effective means of organizing them;
• In collaboration with the forage groups, project staff and woreda technical staff prepare forage production action plan/business plan for selected forage producing groups;
• Develop and monitor work plans with project implementing partners and youth/women groups to ensure optimum participation, in demonstration activities, technical training, and establishment and rehabilitation of key productive infrastructure for forage seed and forage production stimulating ownership, and timely delivery of project outputs;
• Map the forage production areas jointly with government stakeholders and target community;
• Select appropriate technologies and forage species for target communities and supervise the implementation of the forage seed multiplication, forage, and feed production component of the FAO Mastercard-funded project in Ethiopia in consultation with the project manager including; forage storage infrastructure designing and rehabilitation, establishing and managing forage and integrated forage/livestock experiments, collection, analysis, and reporting of technical results from project research and demonstration trials;
• Support the feed processing and feed production initiative to achieve feed modernization in the country;
• Technically support the specific youth groups to be established under the Mastercard-funded project to enable them convert available forage or locally produced feed to produce supplementary animal feed (Multi Nutrient Blocks) in the project areas;
• Develop manuals for the production and management of the recommended forage and forage varieties;
• Develop effective institutional set up for forage producing group to sustain production and market linkage including assisting in the development of markets utilizing improved technical systems and equipment for forage and feed producers and processors;
• Organize project workshops, meetings, monitoring tours, and capacity building;
• Assist with up-scaling and out-scaling of project outputs;
• Write quarterly and annual reports;
• Perform other related duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Candidate should be a national of Ethiopia
• B.Sc. or graduate academic degrees in agriculture – specialization in pasture/forage production.
• At least 5 years of work experience in pasture/forage production and/or grazing management, specifically in pastoral context.
• Working knowledge (level C) of spoken and written English

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Extent and relevance of experience on project management and implementation using result-based management; including directing the formulation of detailed work plan, setting objectives and priorities;
• Extent and relevance of experience in supporting and facilitating multi-stakeholders processes including interacting with policy- and decision makers at various levels;
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills within team and with external stakeholders;
• Demonstrated ability to communicate in English, concisely in writing and verbally
• Excellent project management, team-working, planning, facilitation and communication skills;
• Familiarity and good knowledge of Livestock and agricultural livelihoods support systems, concept and approach, agricultural innovation system actors and issues in Ethiopia.

Selection Criteria

• Knowledge of policies related to forage and livestock production and marketing in Ethiopia.
• Demonstrated ability to summarize data and write technical and non-technical reports in English.
• Good inter-personal skills and ability to work with multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural staff.
• Excellent command of MS Office applications and proficiency in Power Point.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION