Position: Regional Agronomist, West Africa
Country/Regional Name: West Africa based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Reporting to: Regional Director, Inputs and Agrochemicals
POSITION SUMMARY:
Our client, a leading global commodities merchant and sustainable supply chain management company, is seeking a technically strong and highly commercial agronomist with a strategic approach and entrepreneurial mindset to build up its agronomy division across West Africa.
We are looking for an expert in agronomy who will be a focus point internally for agrochemicals and sustainability programmes to manage our clients crop’s itinerary (products and good agricultural practices). S/he will also be responsible for business development / managing relationships with key external stakeholders e.g. clients, ministries, technical institutions. The postholder must be fluent in both French and English.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Regional Agronomist will be an individual with extensive practical agronomy experience. This could be experience either agronomically manage plantations for tree crops or dealing with small holder farmers on the agronomy side. S/he will have to demonstrate commercial knowledge to be able to improve agronomic interventions and also provide commercial support to such interventions.
The Regional Agronomist role is a cross- business and functional role and is responsible for a wide variety of interventions:
- Responsible of crop’s itineraries in terms of:
o Products portfolio
o Good agricultural practices
This includes:
o Protocols for demo, development research trials, etc
o Product’s registration (national and with private standards)
o Responsible of the regulatory and development budget
o Signing off any technical information released internally and externally
- Create and manage demo plot to demonstrate impact of our agrochemical Crop Doctor Products. Also create and manage demo plots for other businesses
- Support and develop technical content to be used in products and services distribution to farmers;
- Technical lead for Farm management services business that is being developed in West Africa region;
- Create a top quality agronomy team that provides best in class support to our client's businesses in West Africa and ensure it alignment with the company’s business strategy;
- Partner with SMS Advisory Services, SMS Farm management Services and Crop Doctor business
- Manage the continuous innovation processes incl. monitoring for new technologies, particularly with rural practices
- Effectively report on new experiments and findings to build a consistent knowledge base across the WAF region;
- Build and own relationships with external agronomy research institutions;
- Build and develop relations with large plantation owners and with other businesses to create a shared knowledge bank.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
● Post graduate degree in agriculture/ agronomy
● Minimum of 10 years’ experience in the agribusiness sector
● Work experience in the agrochemicals sector, farmer training and support and/ or innovation of new products in the West African environment, highly advantageous
● Excellent technical agronomic and commercial skills
● Equally strategic whilst willing and able to be hands on in the field
● Ability to travel extensively within West Africa
● Fluent in French and English
Are you interested in becoming a Regional Agronomist West Africa? Apply now at the top or bottom of our page.
