Fruit Processing and Marketing Specialist
| Date Posted: | Jan 11, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Reference: | mail-ta-96 |
| Closing Date: | Jan 30, 2020 |
| Work Type: | Full Time |
| Number of Vacancies: | 1 |
| Gender: | Any |
| Functional Area: | General |
| Nationality: | Afghan |
| Salary Range: | As per NTA salary scale policyAF |
| Years of Experience: | 5 Years |
| Contract Duration: | Not specified |
| Extension Possibility: | Yes |
| Contract Type: | Service Contract |
| Probation Period: | 3 months |
| Required Languages: | Dari,Pashto,English |
About Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and livestock (MAIL):
The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) is one of the ministries of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Currently, Engineer Nasir Ahmad Durrani is head of the ministry.
The ministry is working on the development and modernization of agriculture, livestock and horticulture.
Agriculture accounts for the source of livelihood of 80 percent of the country's population, and hence the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture is an institution that is continually trying to improve agriculture, increase yields, and crop farming.
The ministry launches programs in the fields of agriculture, livestock and horticulture to support the farmers, manage natural resources, and strengthen agricultural economics. Ministry of Agriculture's programs include promotion and introduction of higher-value economic crops, strengthening traditional products, identifying and publishing farm-tailored land technologies, boosting cooperative programs, agricultural economics, and export with marketing.
The ministry has a large structure in the provincial centers and in each province, an agricultural directorate and in each district, there is an agricultural affairs department. These institutions work to improve and modernize cultivation practices, increase crops, improve gardening, educate farmers, gardeners and livestock, and artificial insemination of animals and increase dairy products.
History
Afghanistan is a mountainous country with vast deserts and brilliant history of several millennia. Its geographic location and topography is comparable only with a limited number of Asian countries.
The geographic shape of the Afghanistan begins from low levels and rise to high altitudes, finally reaching the “Roof of the World”; this shows that this geography has different ecosystems, changing of the ecosystems causes beauty and attractiveness in our land.
Proper weather is one of the important characteristic which has given Afghanistan a specific feature.
Our country is now under construction; these efforts is going on with the cooperation of hard-working people, agriculture forms one of the important areas of it.
The first agricultural management was created during reign of King Amanullah Khan in 1919; during the reign of king Habibullah Khan and after that a series of measures was adopted for agricultural development.
The measures taken by the Ministry of Commerce from 1918-1937 in the field of agriculture, reforestation, construction of rivers, planting of trees, formation of experimental agricultural farms, nurseries and others are as follow:
1. Construction of dams and excavation of canals from 1918- 1931.
2. Creation of first independent directorate of agriculture in 1937.
3. Creation of Ministry of Agriculture in 1948.
4. Renaming of Ministry of Agriculture to Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in 1960.
Job Summary:
The Fruit Processing and Marketing Specialist will be responsible for all horticulture related activities of the horticulture projects under the direct supervision of horticultural project coordinator. He/she will lead fruit processing and marketing of the horticultural projects unit and provide support to central and provincial unit in term of implementing of the horticulture projects.
Duties & Responsibilities:
Fruit Processing and Marketing Specialist will work under the direct supervision of Head of Horticultural Projects Implementation Unit of the Horticulture Development Department.
1. Work with entrepreneurs to collect the required information for the market studies.
2. Collect information about Cargo, Cold storage and Logistical companies and collect secondary value chain studies and manage the available studies in proper manner.
3. Assist marketing Head of Horticultural Projects Implementation Unit in designing market research, which is critical for horticultural projects.
4. Assist Head of Horticultural Projects Implementation Unit to analyze current target market trends in terms of market demand and supply, clear windows of opportunity for each target crop, price-setting mechanisms, market determinant factors, supply chains and government regulatory and control aspects.
5. Work with Packaging and Transport and Shipment companies to identify their problems and advice on solutions.
6.Writing short reports, including those concerning requirements for export packaging, quality of program targeted fruits.
7.Work with other organization to coordinate activities to increase the impact of horticulture development department activities.
8. Develop work progress reports on weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually basis and submit directly to the Head of Horticultural Projects Implementation Unit;
9. And some other activities when recommend from Head of Horticultural Projects Implementation Unit and Horticulture Development Department side.
Job Requirement:
Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture,
At least 5 years of experience in processing and marketing research, with a focus on export facilitation, promotion, and/or development of trade policies is required. This includes a proven track record of establishing and operating databases used for processing and marketing research purposes. Post-harvest and value chain knowledge is strongly preferred.
· Able to enter data into computer (proficient in Word and Excel is must);
· Fluency in the National Languages as well as English;
· Capacity to interact with policy planners, senior officials of government
· Outstanding analytical skills.
· Ability to present coherent and convincing positions both in writing and orally;
· Strong report-writing skills in English, Dari and Pashto