Vacancy: Input Supply/Farm Services Specialist

Job Description

A reputable local NGO operating in northern Ghana is seeking dynamic professionals to be recruited for the under-listed job vacancies within the USAID-funded Ghana Market Systems Resilience (MSR) Project in northern Ghana.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Ghana Market Systems and Resilience Activity (MSR) is a five-year USAID-funded follow-on project to USAID/Ghana ADVANCE II. MSR will leverage over a decade of experience linking smallholders to markets, inputs, and services in Ghana. The project will strengthen commercial relationships between market actors, improve the rural entrepreneurship ecosystem to enable greater market participation, particularly for women and youth, expand the availability of agribusiness services, and link targeted policy initiatives to improved local economic governance. These activities will result in competitive, stronger, and more resilient markets, thus increasing inclusive agriculture-led economic growth in northern Ghana.

• Job Title: Input Supply/Farm Services Specialist 


• Reports to: Market Systems Team Lead


• Location: Tamale, Ghana

Summary of Responsibilities

The Inputs Supply and Farms Services Specialist (ISFSS) is responsible for bringing innovations to, and expanding and strengthening the input and service provider business models and supply chains to ensure efficient and sustainable access by smallholder farmers (SHF’s), ensuring last-mile delivery of inputs and BDS services, access to inputs, mechanization, and agricultural services that measurably improve productivity, profits, and competitiveness for all actors in the business model/supply chain. She/he will be responsible for coordinating and planning with inputs importers, local manufacturers, wholesalers, agro-dealers and retailers to plan and deliver inputs and farm services, including mechanical services, to commercial and smallholder farmers, women, and youth while addressing access to finance issues that may currently create barriers to those inputs and services. Consult with institutions, both public and private, to conduct SHF-driven research, provide SHF-informed and co-created extension services, and with MSR’s policy team address the legal and regulatory framework to support an enabling environment for business development and growth. Collaborate with other MSR teams to strengthen the operations of service providers.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Employs the appropriate technical strategies and methodologies to achieve maximum benefits toward short and long-term MSR Activity goals.

This includes, but are not limited to: 

1. With collegial MSR activity staff and sub-contractors, review, map and document a viable and sustainable input and services supply chain involving importers, local manufacturers, wholesalers, agro-dealers and retailers, community-based input agents, safe spray agent services, and others, indicating roles, functions, and relationships. 


2. Coordinate with Outgrower Businesses (OB) networks and their smallholder farmer clients to establish annual/seasonal demand for agricultural inputs and services, using MSR’s newly developed ICT4Ag digital platforms, among other established platforms that serve the agricultural sector in northern Ghana that increases real-time and projected information streams to the market value chain actors.


3. Together with the Agribusiness/Supply Chain Management Specialist, provide support to OB networks to negotiate with importers, local manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers for sustainable payment arrangements favorable to all parties and capture of economy-of-scale purchases.


4. Collaborate with other MSR Teams to design a sustainable demand and private sector-led platform for provision of technical assistance and support to value chain actors, especially OBs, OB Networks, community inputs and equipment dealers to provide to outgrowers effective services such as (but not limited to) training in GAPS, PHH, marketing avenues, land preparation (ripping, ploughing, harrowing), input credit, post-harvest processing, improved post-harvest storage and warehousing, etc.


5. Produce and ensure timely reporting of results in accordance with USAID/Ghana and MSR’s MEL/CLA requirements. 


6. Fully integrate MSR’s Gender and Youth Strategy for Inclusion (GYSI) into all aspects of the Input Supply and Farm Services programming to insure it is inclusive of and appropriate to, women and youth participation.

Required Skills or Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required in agricultural science, agribusiness, agriculture economics, or another relevant field. A Master’s degree in any of the above fields will be an advantage.


• Minimum of five years’ experience in agricultural market systems development including input supply chain development and support. 


• Experience in collaborating with commercial farmers, inputs importers, wholesalers, retailers, OB’s and outreach to SHF’s that effectively increases SHF’s access to improved inputs and services.


• Experience in the design and delivery of training programs for input supply chain actors and smallholder farmers.


• Familiarity with and relevant experience in crop production systems in northern Ghana a plus. 


• Knowledge and experience in digitization platforms.


• Proficient in Microsoft office applications, particularly MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint.