Field Research Technician

Job Description

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. known by its Spanish acronym. CIMMYT®, is a not-for-profit agricultural research and training organization with partners in over 100 countries. Please refer to our website for more information: www.cimmyt.org The CIMMYT is seeking an experienced professional to support Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project funded by USAID. The project aim is to increase food productivity of cereal based cropping systems including high value crops via formulating site specific fertilizer recommendations, efficient fertilizer application technology identification and applied, and enhancing capacity of stakeholders in seed and fertilizer value chains. Details of position, location and TOR for the position is below.

1. POSITION: Field Research Technician

Reference No: N16639/01 Report to: Assistant Research Associate

Duty Station: Doti and Surkhet Specialization: Agronomy/Soil Science

Major duties and responsibilities

  • Lead a team of community volunteers and cooperatives for research and development in sustainable agricultural intensification technologies.
  • Conduct a research in integrated soil fertility management applying precision nutrient management principles to formulate site-specific fertilizer recommendations for vegetable and cereal crops.
  • Scaling research outcomes into practice to cover large farming communities of Mid-western and Far-western region of the country.
  • Train and provide technical guidance to community volunteers and coopers fives.
  • Collection of data using mobile based applications and synthesize data.
  • Coordinate with governmental. non-governmental. and private sector organizations, liaising with farming cooperatives and farmer communities ensuring project goals.
  • Frequent travel to adjoining project sites (>50%) to supervise the program.

Educational and experiential requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences with 1 – 2 years of field experience or Junior Technician (IT) in agriculture with more than 5 years of experience in vegetable and grain – based cropping systems.
  • Minimum 1-year commitment is required.
  • Excellent communication skills that include report writing, presentation of results, written and spoken in both Nepali and English.
  • Strong ability to work independently and within a team environment.
  • Motorbike license is compulsory.
  • More priority will be given to local people.

2. POSITION: Field Research Technician

Reference No: N16639/02

Report to: Field Coordinator

Duty station: Nuwakot/Sindhupalchok/Kathmandu

Specialization: Vegetable

Major duties and responsibilities

  • Lead a team of community volunteers and cooperatives for research and development in sustainable agricultural intensification technologies.
  • Conduct a research in integrated soil fertility management applying precision nutrient management principles to formulate site-specific fertilizer recommendations for vegetable and cereal crops.
  • Scaling research outcomes into practice to cover large farming communities of Mid-western and Far-western region of the country.
  • Train and provide technical guidance to community volunteers and cooperatives.
  • Collection of data using mobile based applications and synthesize data.
  • Coordinate with governmental, non-governmental, and private sector organizations, liaising with farming cooperatives and farmer communities ensuring project goals.
  • Frequent travel to project sites (>50%).

Educational and experiential requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences with 1 – 2 years of field experience in vegetable – based cropping systems.
  • Minimum 1-year commitment is required.
  • Excellent communication skills that include report writing, presentation of results. written and spoken in both Nepali and English.
  • Strong ability to work independently and within a team environment.
  • Motorbike license is compulsory.

3. POSITION: Field Research Technician

Reference No:  N16639/03

Report to: Geospatial Analyst

Duty station: Kathmandu, with frequent travel to field areas

Specialization: Digital Solutions

Job description

Over the past several years there has been an explosion in the development of digital tools and services. These include the ride-sharing platform Uber, the social media platforms Facebook and Twitter, and the mapping/naviga-tion platform Open Street Map. While there is high potential for digital tools to transform agriculture, to date there has not yet been a successful digital agriculture platform. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the leading international research institution focusing on global maize and wheat research, is focusing research priorities to develop, evaluate, and field test digital agriculture tools. These tools include, but are not limited to: image recognition of crop health issues, site specific agronomic recommendation platforms, crowd-sourcing of agronomic evaluations and data collection, integration of inexpensive ‘micro’ sensors and hyper spectral
(e.g. NDVI) image acquisition tools into smartphones, and producer-buyer networking solutions. CIMMYT is looking for an innovative and skilled person to assist with the co-development and field-testing of digital agricul-tural tools with agricultural communities in targeted project areas. The ideal candidate will have the following skills, experiences, and competencies.

Major duties and responsibilities

  • Administration and customization of data collection apps like ODK collect or other tools.
  • Experience in the Custom-building of data visualization web applications.
  • Experience in database management system like PostgreSQL or, SQL Server.
  • Knowledge of mobile app development is an advantage.
  • Excellent understanding of system designing process, business analysis, UML, Rational Unified Process, OOP, 00A, Agile methodology.
  • Fluency in written and spoken English.
  • Excellent communication skills.
  • Proven report writing skills.
  • Willingness to spend significant time in the field (>25%) field-testing tools and training staff and other user groups.

Educational and experiential requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in IT, computer science, information systems, information management, or related fields or Extensive experience (> three years) in the development, implementation, and use of digital tools.
  • Interest in agricultural systems.
  • A minimum of 2 years of professional experience in information systems.
  • Demonstrated experience field-testing and co-development of ICT tools with end-users.
  • Professional experience in the field of agriculture or the environmental sectors or related fields is an asset, but not required.

How To Apply

Candidates must send their CV and cover letter to Recruit-Nepal@cgiar.org no later than Thursday, 20th July 2017. Please include position and reference number in the subject of your email. Incomplete applications (without CV and cover letter) will not be taken into consideration. Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Only candidates can apply for this job.
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