Senior Extension Officer at McCain Foods

The Senior Extension Officer is responsible for;

• The planning of crops in the responsible area to meet the business required volume and quality at the correct time.
• Draft and update master plan per crop. Supervising the sampling team (when in his/her designated area) to ensure that regular crop sampling takes place to monitor anticipated quality and quantity contracted to crops and determine harvesting date & schedule. Ensure that all seed is booked/invoiced to relevant farmers and documented (follow Standard Operating Procedure).
• Effective communication with Factory, Agric and Mechanization to minimize impact of deviation. Ensuring vegetables are contracted, planted and harvested in accordance with timelines and agreed pricing so to deliver the required volumes and quality to the production team. He/she is responsible for expanding grower bases, ensure compliance with company guidelines and provide technical support to growers. Monitor fields on weekly basis and highlight red flags to McCain and Farmer.
• Insuring farmers are Global or McCain GAP compliant.

KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS:

• Foster a culture that promotes a safe work environment through the development and implementation of safety plans and training.
• Maintain environmental and regulatory compliance standards.
• Build strong relationship with current growers and develop grower base.
• Contract the required crop volumes timeously
• Monitor crop/field to advise the farmer on corrective action.
• Minimize expensive buy out by ensuring contracted crop materializes.
• Ensure continuous yield improvements on the six major crops in line with targets set & agreed upon with the Veg Procurement Manager.
• Monitor crop/fields regularly in order to advise and give technical support to the farmer.
• Educate farmers through grower information days.
• Plan planting and harvesting schedule according to production capacity and requirement.
• Develop relationship with local crop protection companies to collaborate and ensure corrective action
• Keep current grower base (crop specific) updated on current challenges and possible solution.
• Inform farmers off the GAP compliant requirement.
• Assist farmer with required information and procedure to prepare for Audit.
• Obtain GAP certificates and monitor the grower base compliance.
• Assist Agronomy in developing improved varieties.
• Implementation and upkeep of McCain agricultural technologies (irrigation probes, NDVI maps, Drones & precision farming).
• Educate farmers through grower information days.

EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum is Diploma in Agriculture, Agronomy/Crop Science (Degree in similar fields will be an added advantage).
• Minimum of 5 years’ agricultural advisory experience.
• Certification in BASOS & AVCASA.
• Valid Driver’s License (Code E)
• Exceptional knowledge and understanding of agricultural production systems and variables, e.g. crops, climate, disease, fertilization, irrigation, soils, etc.
• Knowledge of current and emerging agricultural technologies.
• An understanding of raw material supply chain activities and the relationship between the grower and the factory.
• Negotiation and conflict management skills.
• Demonstrated strong interpersonal, problem solving and relationship building skills.
• Ability to prioritize and multi-task in a flexible, fast paced and challenging operational environment.
• Strong orientation for people
• Computer literacy essential
• Good written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Must be competent in crop planning, scheduling and execution.