Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, December 19 2024, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Production Manager Reporting to: Operations Director Compensation: Competitive Location: Lusaka or Chipata (frequent travel required)
Contract Duration: 24 months
Start Date: Immediate
About Good Nature Agro:
Good Nature Agro is a legume seed company founded to profitably move farmers out of poverty and into the middle class. We believe that the future of agriculture in Africa is disaggregated, with smallholders as the most powerful producers for local, regional, and global markets. We have designed our systems to be personal yet scalable. We have overseen consistent annual growth in our supply chain with a network of over 20,000 smallholder farmers, as well as a reliable network of commercial growers.

In recent years we have expanded beyond Zambia, added new product lines and revenue streams and have continued to strengthen our services to both growers and customers with investments in technology and integrated market access for customers of Good Nature Seed. Position Purpose: The Production Manager is ultimately responsible for the management and sustainable of GNA’s Smallholder Seed and Commodity production across Zambia.

The job holder will be tasked with growing GNA’s smallholder farmer base to 100,000 by 2027 while simultaneously supporting farmers to grow their incomes through improved yields, crop diversification and adoption of best practices. This role is the main engine for GNA and requires a confident and dynamic leader with a proven track record delivering results at scale in the agricultural sector.

Minimum Qualifications:
• 15 years’ experience in the agricultural sector in a senior management role
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in agricultural science or related field
• Certified seed inspector (SCCI or equivalent certification)
• Extensive experience managing smallholder crop production across multiple crops and geographies
• Deep understanding of the legumes value chain in Zambia; expertise in groundnuts an asset
• Proven ability to remotely supervise managerial staff and associated field teams
• Highly developed project management skills
• Ability to achieve results and work cross-functionally in dynamic, high-pressure environments

Responsibilities
• Steward the development of GNA’s annual and multi-year smallholder production strategies.
• Responsible for the collection and interpretation of production data to make business decisions and support the needs and requirements of Sales and Processing Departments.
• Create, implement and manage the annual budget for the Smallholder Production Department.

10% Field Operations
• Lead and manage a highly qualified and experienced team of Regional Managers across seed multiplication and commodity production regions throughout Zambia.
• Plan and coordinate the timely execution of key agricultural activities such as farmer registration, sales, inputs procurement and distribution, as well as buyback.
• Guide two-way dialogue between HQ and the field to ensure penetration of communication and messaging at farmer-level.
• Drive adoption and utilization of GNA’s Farmer Engagement Application across the field team through close collaboration with the Digital Transformation Team.
• Ensure compliance with all Seed and Commodity regulations.

45% Agronomic Support + Training
• Support the continuous improvement of GNA training content and agronomic guidance provided to GNA growers.
• Build capacity of Regional Managers and Field Supervisors to understand and drive adoption of best practices in the field.
• Ensure timely implementation of training calendar such that farmers are prepared in advance to execute on agricultural activities at the right time.
• Work with the communications team to drive the digitization of all training materials.
• Work with the Tech Team to ensure training materials and messaging to growers are accessible through online + SMS platforms 45%

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 180

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

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