Background

Nepal’s agriculture shows weak growth rates with low productivity, coupled with a food trade deficit and high malnutrition. This is associated with low marketed volumes and farmers’ limited access to agriculture technology. Postharvest losses are high, with careless crop handling and a lack of storage facilities contributing to postharvest losses.

Against this backdrop, the project on value chain development of fruits and vegetables focuses on increasing production, reducing postharvest losses and promoting market linkages. Led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MoAL), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the 5-year project aims to increase incomes for small holder farmers growing fruits and vegetables. It will target two road corridors (the B.P. and Arniko highway and the Kathmandu-Pokhara highway) in provinces 3 and 4. About 10,000 farmers and 20 cooperatives will be beneficiaries.

 Management arrangements:

The Horticulture Specialist will work under the guidance and supervision of the National Project Manager. S/he will work in close collaboration with UNDP Nepal office, government partners, the donor and other stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of the National Project Director and National Project Manager, the Horticulture Specialist is responsible for activities under project outcome 1 (improve agricultural productivity through increased capacity of government agencies and better access to production technology by farmers). Specifically, the incumbent will carry out the following activities:

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Support identification of pocket areas, municipalities, cooperatives, farmers, extension officers and information extension providers;
• Assist the completion of the baseline survey and necessary research (i.e. gross margin analysis);
• Assist Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) to prepare post-harvest research activities   in consultation with the Nepal Agriculture Research Council;
• Assist NARC to implementation postharvest research activities;
• Support the improvement of the physical facility at the postharvest laboratory at the Horticulture Research Division, the Nepal Agriculture Research Council;
• In collaboration with the Nepal Agriculture Research Council, extension officers at municipality, informal extension officers, and other potential partners, plan and implement the provision of extension of existing postharvest technology at cooperatives and farmers’ levels;
• Prepare the development of new postharvest technology (including varietal screening, management practices, harvesting, picking methods and timing, cleaning, grading, sorting, packaging, and transportation) in collaboration with the Nepal Agriculture Research Council;
• Support NARC for on-farm testing of newly developed post-harvest technologies;
• Support for preparation of training materials and manuals for technology transfer for newly developed technologies;
• Support analysing financial incentives for farmers’ adoption of postharvest technology (both existing and new);
• Support the development and distribution of manuals on postharvest management;
• Prepare detailed roll-out strategy for technology dissemination;
• Support provision of training programmes on postharvest technology and management to extension officers;
• Assist provision of extension on postharvest technology to cooperatives and farmers;
• Support design and implementation of the revolving fund for input support to enable adoption of postharvest technology;
• Establish contacts with potential partners and identify synergies;
• Document best practices and lessons learnt on an ongoing basis;
• Provide information and data in time for the development of reports as required by the donor agency and the implementing partner;
• Attend events and conferences on postharvest management and provide feedback and information;
• Identify opportunities for campaigns, services, and distribution channels that will lead to reduced postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables.

Impact of Function:

Successful management of the value chain development of fruits and vegetables project in compliance with the Government of Nepal’s and UNDP’s rules and procedures

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Serves and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Good inter-personal skills;
• Clear and upfront communication skills;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
• Collaborates effectively in a team environment;
• Organized and good with following-up on pending issues; meets deadlines;
• Promote learning and knowledge management/sharing;
• Focuses on delivering results by taking calculated-risks and problem-solving approach;
• Fair and transparent decision making; regularly shares information with team members.

 Functional Competencies:

• Promotes sharing of knowledge and experience, and actively works towards continued learning and development on personal level as well as for supervisees;
• Good practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues;
• Ability to go beyond established procedures and models, propose new approaches which expand the range of projects;
• Demonstrates strong numerical and analytical skills;
• Has experience working with Monitoring and Evaluation tools;
• Experience in developing business plans for financial institutions including energy enterprises;
  Experience in coordination, technical assistance and advisory support top government and private institutions;
• Experienced in delivering training and other needed capacity/ institutional building support to a wide range of stakeholders including financial institutions;
• Demonstrates excellent organizational and administrative skills;
• Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences for advocating UNDP’s mandate;
• Analyses and selects materials for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders;
• Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical specialty relating to the position;
• Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda;
• Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work;
• Monitors specific stages of projects/programme implementation;
• Researches linkages across programme activities to identify critical points of integration;
• Oversees and documents the process of strategy formulation for programmes at Project level.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in Agriculture or equivalent with special preference for Horticulture.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience in the field of agriculture value chain, postharvest technology for fruits and vegetables, and extension provision;
• Sound understanding of agriculture policies and agriculture research and extension systems of Nepal;
• Ability to manage and supervise a team of multidisciplinary professionals;
• Good understanding of UNDP rules and procedures (an experience of completing UN assignments would be an asset.

Language Requirement:

• Fluency in spoken and written English and Nepali.

Other:

• Good knowledge of computer applications such as word, excel, power point and statistical applications.