Smart farms

: 29 October 2022; Hits: 1319

Weekly roundup of agriculture jobs-- 28th Oct 2022

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By George Munene

From parastatals to international research institutions and multinational companies, here’s a roundup of agriculture jobs for the final week of October 2022:

Position: Animal Inseminator

Location: Mbaga Siaya County

Recruiter / Employer: Avepo Smart Farm

Responsibilities:

Ability to carry out field extension services
Good communication skills
Licensed motorbike rider
Ability to mobilize and train a community

Education/ Work Experience Requirements:

Certificate or Diploma in Animal Health or Animal Insemination (AI) from a recognized institution
3 years of hands-on experience

How to apply: BrighterMonday

Position: Household Economic Strengthening Advisor

Location: Turkana

Recruiter / Employer: Save the Children International Kenya

Contract: 12 Months

Responsibilities:

The post holder will provide technical implementation and support of all livelihoods or household economic strengthening work at field level.
Develop, lead, provide inputs for research and learning, monitor and evaluate the livelihoods aspects of the NAWIRI project.
Coordinate and network with NAWIRI consortium partners led by Mercy Corps, County departments responsible for agriculture, livestock, nutrition, trade, and other NGOs.
Lead on all household economic strengthening elements of the project and reports, providing capacity building for the county staff.
Promote best practices in the livelihoods programmes and contribute to the overall success of the NAWIRI programme.
Oversee the implementation of livelihoods or household economic strengthening activities in Turkana and /Samburu County.

Education/ Work Experience Requirements:

Bachelor degree in Agriculture, Social Sciences, Community Development, or other disciplines relevant to rural livelihoods.
At least 5 years of demonstrated experience designing and implementing livelihoods programmes.
Excellent understanding of Household Economy Approach (HEA).
Excellent technical knowledge of policy and practice in the field of livelihoods, crop and livestock production as well as other cross-cutting issues.
Understanding and experience in implementing nutrition security food security and livelihoods programmes.
Excellent understanding of system approach to ending persistent acute malnutrition.
Clear understanding of and proactive approach to nutrition resilience, hunger, and food security issues in Kenya, particularly in the context of Turkana and Samburu counties.
Understanding and experience in child rights programming.
Proven representation and advocacy skills.
Experience with livelihoods programming in arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) settings preferred.
Experience writing donor reports, especially USAID.
Strong writing skills, including experience writing capacity statements and position papers.

How to apply: Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations.

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to protecting children from abuse. All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy. A copy of the full role profile can be found at https://kenya.savethechildren.net/careers

Deadline: 5 Nov 2022 – 02:59 EAT

Position: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Research Officer 1– Gender

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Recruiter / Employer: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)

Contract: 3-year contract, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funding.

About the Role: Coordinate the design and implementation of the gender components of various projects and provide research support to the Gender Team at ILRI.

Tasks:

Contribute to the designing of studies on gender and livestock, especially qualitative work
Plan and lead organization of fieldwork logistics in ILRI target countries,
Carry out field research by utilising a variety of qualitative tools and methods
Support survey implementation, data collection, data cleaning, and analysis on topics involving gender issues in livestock value chains
Contribute to the development of approaches and tools for integrating gender within ILRI
Conduct literature review focused on gender and agriculture/livestock
Contribute to the reporting and communication (using a variety of channels) of research on gender and livestock
Contribute to the preparation of draft peer-reviewed articles, research reports, briefs, blog posts, and other communication outputs/products
Contribute to Capacity Development activities
Supervise temporary staff

Education/ Work Experience Requirements:

Master’s degree in development studies, economics, research methods, social sciences, or related field preferably in agriculture or rural development.
At least three years of experience including experience working in Research and Development projects with a focus on gender, possibly within livestock systems.
Experience in leading fieldwork activities
Experience with analysis packages such as Nvivo. Excellent data management and analysis skills.
Experience in producing project reports, training manuals, and peer-reviewed publications
Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office Suite packages, as well as the ability to develop databases and prepare required documentation from them.
Willingness to travel frequently often to rural areas and spend time in the field
Ability to write clear and concise scientific documents (publication record is an added advantage)
Light vehicle driving permit is an added advantage
Publication record is preferred
Strong analytical and report-writing skills

How to apply: Send a cover letter and CV expressing what you can bring to the job, an example of recent (co-)authored research output with specification of the candidate’s contributions, and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to the Director, People and Organizational Development through ILRI’s recruitment portal by clicking on http://ilri.simplicant.com/ on or before 7 November 2022. The position title and reference number REF: PIL/ 675/2022 should be clearly marked on the subject line of the cover letter.

Due to the volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Position: Kenya Production Coordinator-- One Acre Fund

Location: Sagana, Kenya

Recruiter / Employer: One Acre Fund

About the Role: Reporting to the Quality Assurance Specialist, the Production Coordinator will make sure that the production procedures of Food Safety Management System (across the entire production line) are followed and all quality standards controls are implemented and running.

Responsibilities:

To ensure good manufacturing practices during production.
Implement the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual production plans and schedules.
Ensure hygienic conditions of both the factory & workers are maintained.
Manage routine implementation of all company procedures in the factory.
Coordinate with the quality assurance department on processing material movements, sampling, personnel and equipment swabs analysis.
Implement all Safety, Health, Environment, and Quality (SHEQ) requirements in the shift.
Ensure proper segregation of material on process based on Lots, grades, and styles in all steps as required. Ensure all sorted kernels are within the international standard for grading, packing, and finalized within 24 hours after cracking.
Collaborate with the engineering team on repairs and attendance of machines and equipment.
Manage factory production employees.
Train operators and sorters in macadamia processing.
Handle any employee grievances before communicating the grievances to HR.
Periodically appraise and develop all production employees on macadamia processing.
Implement Food Safety Management System during the processing
Make periodical management reports on all macadamia production operations of the factory.

Education/ Work Experience Requirements:

Bachelor's Degree in food science and technology or Food Technology from an accredited institution.
At least 3 years of experience in the Food processing industry. (biased to Macadamia production).
Has been in management for at least 1 year.
Knowledge in HACCP & G.M.P.
Commitment to teamwork
Teach, enhance current processes and develop new operations
Passionate about serving smallholder farmers
Language: English, Kiswahili

How to apply: BrighterMonday

Application Deadline: 3rd December 2022

Position: Poultry Farm Officer

Location: Kitinda, Bungoma County

Recruiter / Employer: Kitinda Jacaranda SHG

Contract: Internship opportunity that may lead to employment

Education/ Work Experience Requirements:

DiplomaDiploma in General Agriculture
Skills in poultry farming
Age between 22yrs – 25yrs
Keen eye on details
Excellent communication skills
Knowledge of bookkeeping & inventories filling

How to apply: BrighterMonday

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: 28 October 2022; Hits: 1443

Bee keeping helps safeguard crops from invading elephants

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Farmers living near wildlife conservancies are mixing crop and bee farming to fend off errant elephants destroying their produce.

The farmers are taking advantage of elephants fearing stinging bees; they have strategically placed hives around their farms as security.

Taita-Taveta County's 57-year-old Kieti Nguli had an impressive harvest, after securing his one-acre cassava farm with six beehives.

From his one acre, which had about 3,000 sticks of cassava, Nguli realised about 3,500 kgs, a return he terms a landmark harvest.

Apart from the honey he is harvesting, the bees have saved this Taveta Sub-county farmer lots of days and nights which he spent watching over his field with his sons.

Elephants from Kenya's Tsavo National Park and Tanzania's Serengeti National Park have been trampling over his farm and for years.

He had watched helplessly or ran away with his two sons whenever a large herd of the stray 'beasts' strolled into his plantation. Despite having large tracks of land, he never saw the need of cultivation more land as it would be feed for these elephants.

“We have been lighting fires and beating drums to scare the elephants away. Sometimes they are rude. And with time they get used to these old tactics. But the small bees kept these hungry gigantic away for the whole season,” he said.

Nguli says beehives are better alternatives to poisoning or arrow-shooting; the country needs these animals to earn foreign exchange in tourism.

Human wildlife conflict is common, more-so in the Tsavo East and West where farmers are bordering Kenya's biggest animal sanctuary.

The magic small soldiers

Nguli says a buzz from a swarm of bees drives elephant scampering for safety. Farmers who have adopted the beehives no longer require Kenya Wild-life Service (KWS) rangers, who in many a time arrive late.

“Elephant raids have been fatal. KWS usually respond slowly to distress calls. But the small bee soldiers have kept my cassava farm secure," he said.

Elephants are herbivores, which can smell maturing maize, tomatoes, cassava, among other crops miles away.

Taita-Taveta being semi-arid, Mr Nguli says, the wild animals destroy the little that drought has left whenever vegetation in the parks is dismal.

The farmer connected the beehives on the perimeter with wires. As the animals approach the firm, they push against the wires, which will shake the suspended beehives.

The small soldiers will ooze out and their buzzing sound will drive the elephants away.

A two-year study on 17 farms by scientists from United Kingdom's Oxford University found in 32 cases, only one bull elephant went through the wires.

Elephants have thick skins. But bees sting softer skin parts like near the eyes.

The report, which was published in the African journal of Ecology after the study in the area, says the tactic is 97 per cent effective.

Nguli wants plant to increase land for cultivation and capture honey market in his Taveta town this year.

Nguli has thatched the beehives with grass to maintain low temperatures. Strong sunlight melts the waxy honeycombs; this would drive the bees away.

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: 28 October 2022; Hits: 2198

Greasing beehives helps keep them safe from crawling predators

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Farmers can stop bees from migrating because of invasion of hives by painting stand posts with grease.

Speaking when he visited bee keeping farmers in Nyamira North Sub-county, agricultural officer David Nduko Atuya said the grease controls crawling insect which invade beehive in search of food.

“Sugar-loving ants move up into beehives in search of food. Although destroying the colony of the ants remains the best solution, application of grease on the posts holding the hives also helps. Any crawling ants attempting to move up get stuck,” Atuya said.

Stuck ants eventually suffocate and starve to death while on the posts.

Safari and sugar ants are some of the common crawling enemies that feed on honey, and at times the larvae.

Related News: Domesticating stingless bees

Since the bees cannot sting the invaders back, they move out of the hive, and in worst scenarios abscond. It is a cheap way of dealing with these intruders, but it has to be applied regularly to be effective.

“Grease cannot be washed away by rain. Besides stopping the safari ants, the oil product keeps termites off, therefore, the posts will not be eaten up,” the Nyamira North Sub-county livestock product officer said.

One of the farmers, Nyambane Mangera’s bees swarmed outside the hive in readiness to move away.

Although there was no evidence of safari ants’ invasion, the officer asked the farmer to inspect the hive later in the evening while in safety attires to ascertain the cause.

Other flying enemies like the wax moth can cause the bees to abscond. The moth’s threadlike excretions cover the larvae cells as it feeds on the combs.

Related News: Sex trap tames voracious moth

Mangera was asked to use a catch-box in holding the colony and after getting rid of the parasites, he can return the bees into the hive.

The officer, however, said there is no guarantee that the bees will stay in the hive again because they have been pushed out.

In case they abscond, he can place the hive somewhere else for a new colony before bringing it back to the bee-house.

Mangera is a member of Riambocho Women Group, which has 14 women and three men.

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