Deadline: 16 October, 2020

Location: Abidjan, ivory Coast

African Development Bank (AfDB) is seeking to fill the role of Principal Agricultural Economist.

AfDB’s mission is to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries (RMCs).

Responsibilities

• Develop coherent programmatic approaches in line with the bank’s agenda, based on identified needs, priorities and requests of regional member countries
• Formulate public and private investment proposals in agriculture value chain development and promote an enabling environment by the public sector for private sector investment and involvement in agriculture (Agro-industrial parks)
• Carry out technical, economic and sector analysis that will guide and support both public and private sector investments in agriculture (agricultural policy)
• Design technical pathways, estimate funding requirements and propose governance models that will strengthen the performance of agricultural value chains from input supply, agricultural production, harvesting, transportation, storage, marketing and distribution (including export) for greater value addition, improved quality, reduced post-harvest losses and reliability of product supply to consumers (Agro-industry/value addition)
• Design and recommend technical services to increase the quality and sustainability of agricultural infrastructure projects intended to scale up production, processing and post-harvest handling of agricultural commodities (Agro-industrial parks and corridors development)
• Assess the requirements for hard infrastructure (energy, water, transport, logistics, information, communication technology (ICT) and soft infrastructure (knowledge basis, quality management systems, organisational systems) in projects within the overall AfDB infrastructure pipeline as well as with outside partners
• Carry out technical and economic feasibility studies on initiatives proposed for the strengthening and expansion of agricultural value chains, including market centres, warehouses, cold and dry storage facilities, feeder roads, etc
• Contribute to the establishment of an Africa-wide policy matrix detailing the five groups of key policy changes required to enable the transformation sought by the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA)
• Participate in initiatives and programmes to increase women and youth employment and enhance skills in agribusiness and ‘agripreneurship’ by providing appropriate technical content
• Provide technical expertise in agriculture and agro-industrial development programmes in the area of vocational/agricultural training and farmer extension activities, including institutional capacity building for farmer organisations such as cooperatives (with rural development programme)
• Assist the agro industry flagship coordinator in the development of off-grid rural energy investments for increased agricultural processing opportunities (rural development)
• Assess financing needs and a technical assistance requirement of producers and retailers, and design post-harvest loss prevention programmes for agricultural cooperatives and SMEs (with agro-industry clusters)
• Prepare and review reports and papers in agribusiness subject matter as requested by senior management

Requirements

• Master’s degree, minimum, in Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness/Agriculture, Agro Industry or a related field
• Six years, minimum, of relevant and broad professional experience in agro-industry development, post-harvest losses reduction, linkage with the private sector, project formulation, preparation, appraisal and management, with broad interest in agriculture and water management issues (experience in the bank/multi-lateral development institutions would be an advantage)
• Good knowledge of industrial good manufacturing practices (GMP) and key quality issues in an industrial setup
• Demonstrable experience of working well in teams within professional and organisational matters
• Broad knowledge of agricultural commodity value chains especially in target commodities/operations promoted in the feed Africa strategy
• Hands-on experience in transforming commodities from ‘farm to fork’
• Operational experience in most regional member countries across Africa, including states in transition
• Proficiency in the use of COSTABLE in financial analysis
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and/or French
• Competence in the use of standard MS Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project)
• Knowledge of SAP would be an advantage

To apply and for more information, click here.

Photo source: Amref Health Africa