Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, January 11 2024, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Reporting to: Operations Director
Location: Lusaka with frequent travel to Chipata

Good Nature 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 (currently at 4,720 small-scale seed producers), production, grower income (now 300% of baseline) and company revenue, as our growers learn and become more efficient.
We are now at a point of inflection: expanding beyond Zambia, adding new product lines and revenue streams, and strengthening our services to both growers and customers with investments in technology and integrated market access for customers of Good Nature Seed. This expansion has included additional investment in property and machinery to cater for processing the additional production.

Position Purpose
Since 2014, Good Nature Agro success has been driven by a deep commitment to small-holder farmers, the highest-quality training and products, and our innovative approach to system change.

In the next 18 months, we will be embarking on a bold growth trajectory including:

• Building further R&D capabilities for breeding seed with IP across SADC
• Expanding further operations into Malawi
• Increasing exports and other new business lines
• Scale our innovative new sales strategy, Good Nature Source
• Growing our leadership team and investing in talent development
• Reaching more than 30,000 farmers with 'Seed + Service offering of training, market access
• Reaching more than 250,000 farmers with quality seed

Role: Ultimately responsible for high-class seed production at GNA and quality control across all production units

Duties:
• Manage the team's responsible for GNA's high class seed production - Breeding and R&D, Foundation Farm and Commercial and Emergent business segments, as well as the Quality Control team.
o Breeding and R8D: Oversee the development of GNAs breeding program and subsequent release of new varieties.
o Foundation Farm: Oversee production to ensure alignment with Seed Cascade.
o Commercial & Emergent: Oversee and develop a grower network for the further multiplication of seed.
• Set quality control standards from field to factory, as well as oversight over quality of finished goods.
• Oversee the development and implementation of GNA's High-Class Production strategy.
• Focal point for coordination between R&D, Production, as well as marketing and sales to ensure development and release of GNA intellectual property.
• Identify and source quality seed and non-seed inputs for trials and eventual integration into
GNA's cropping program.
• Maintain responsibility for data integrity across business units and presentation of results to internal and external stakeholders.
• Primary point of contact for all regulatory, compliance and research partnerships.
• Lend technical support to other production units as required e.g. Smallholder Production and Malawi.
• Create, implement and manage the annual budget for High-Class Seed Production.

Minimum Qualifications:
• 10 years’ experience in the agricultural sector - focus on breeding and seed multiplication.
• Masters or PhD in agricultural sciences or related field
• Certified seed inspector (SCCI or equivalent certification) an added advantage
• Expertise in legume production with specialization in groundnuts required
• Demonstrated understanding of quality production and control practices from field through to seed conditioning.
• Experience working with and managing relationships with compliance and regulatory bodies in Zambia or internationally e.g. SCCI, ZASTA, POPS, etc.


Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 120

Level of Education: Postgraduate Degree

Job application procedure
To apply for this position, send your Cover letter clearly explaining what makes you a Good Candidate for this Position and your CV with a maximum of 3 traceable referees to jobs@goodnatureagro.com and Please include 'High-Class Seed Manager' in the subject of your email application.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Good Nature Agro is an equal opportunity employer and qualified female applicants are encouraged to apply.


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