The Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) was established by federal regulation in 2010 to catalyze the transformation of Ethiopia’s agriculture sector. It does so by helping to identify and address systemic bottlenecks to agricultural development and proposing appropriate interventions.

The ATA is governed by the Transformation Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, and works closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources as well as a host of other governmental and non-governmental actors. Its supports the execution of a prioritized set of interventions known collectively as the Transformation Agenda, and implements the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters Initiative targeting high-potential geographies and crops.

Its mission is to catalyze the transformation of the agriculture sector by addressing systemic constraints and developing sustainable value chains. The ATA envisions that, by 2025, smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience and sustainability, contributing to Ethiopia’s achievement of middle-income country status.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great team work to achieve excellent results.

At ATA, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Agriculture oriented enterprises that are essential to make value chains competitive are largely missing in Ethiopia, in particular across the downstream end of the value chain. A number of challenges have contributed to the absence of sufficient number of agriculture enterprises, chief among them an under-developed business ecosystem “building blocks” such as access to appropriate and timely financial services, management and sector expertise, support businesses, and under-developed downstream processing/manufacturing capabilities. There is thus a need for targeted support to spur the growth of agriculture oriented enterprises that can address this gap.

In many other countries, well-designed and well-financed Agribusiness Accelerators have shown the ability to fill such gaps through comprehensive business development services and funding for start-ups and growth of agro-enterprises. The Ethiopian Agribusiness Acceleration Platform (EAAP) project will test and validate the accelerator concept for Ethiopia. The EAAP, in its initial years, will have both value chain focus as well as product and service offerings to demonstrate its impact. It will anchor its activities around identification and operational capacity building of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for investment readiness and scale up, and provision of matching seed grants to the most promising SMEs. The value chain focus for testing the accelerator model will be on Honey given its agro-ecological strengths, strong existing demand sinks, high degree of investment attractiveness, strong government support, and other parallel investments that create opportunities for significant leverage.

The EAAP has admitted a local honey and beeswax processing company as one of the participants in the Platform. The Platform plans to support the company in diversifying and strengthening its supply chain through the hiring of an Apiculture Expert that will be responsible for overseeing a sustainable and scalable contract farming scheme. A well designed and mutually beneficial contract farming arrangement between the company, on one hand, and small holder beekeepers and aggregators, on the other hand, will be beneficial to all parties. The company will access a sustainable supply of required volumes and quality of honey and beeswax, while small holder beekeepers and aggregators will have access to a reliable market, modern beekeeping inputs and extension services.

The Apiculture Expert position is a secondment position to the local honey and beeswax processing company. The Apiculture Expert will be responsible for the coordination and provision of beekeeping training in selected geographies in the Oromia and SNNP Regions. Specifically, the Apiculture Expert will be providing technical support and guidance based on best practices to the company’s experts at woreda and kebele levels. The Apiculture Expertwill closely work with the company’s experts, beekeepers and aggregators and other key stakeholders to ensure an increasing and consistent production of high quality honey and beeswax.

The Apiculture Expert will work closely with different departments within the company and the EAAP project team serving as the focal person for matters related to the technical part of the project. The Apiculture Expert will also work with the Federal and Regional Agricultural Commercialization Clusters Initiative within ATA and with different stakeholders such as Regional Bureaus of Livestock and Fisheries, Zonal, Woreda and Kebele level government bodies, relevant associations, development partners and other private sector market actors to enhance and ensure a mutually beneficial contract farming scheme.

This position will officially report to the Sourcing Manager of the local company.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

• Assist the Sourcing Manager in the design and implementation of a contract farming scheme in selected geographies
• Lead the development of market oriented and seasonal based beekeeping management and quality control curriculums
• Provide technical assistance to the company’s experts in the woredas and kebelesto effectively train and follow up beekeepers and aggregators
• Lead the screening and selection of beekeepers and aggregators in designated geographical areas
• Coordinate and provide training to beekeepers and aggregators including, but not limited to, apiary site selection and preparation, hive construction and inspection, colony multiplication and transferring, bee forage development, disease and pest control, harvest and post-harvest handling, quality control and traceability, etc. in consultation with the Sourcing Manager and the EAAP project team
• Coordinate the timely delivery of inputs to selected beekeepers and aggregators based on their needs
• Coordinate, direct and control the performance of company’s experts in the woredas and kebeles
• Coordinate the monitoring and evaluation of the company’s apiculture experts at the woreda and kebele level of the technology adoption, production and income increase of  beekeepers
• Facilitate the quality testing, collection and storage of honey and beeswax in collaboration with the Sourcing Manager
• Monitor organic certified production and traceability systems
• Facilitate the establishment and supervise the operationalization of demonstration sites and collection centers
• Keep up-to-date with new beekeeping practices, select those relevant to company’s suppliers and coordinate their testing in the demonstration sites
• Prepare data-base of beekeepers and aggregators which are working with the company in the designated areas and tracks their performance regularly
• Ensure suppliers of honey at the demonstration and other sites are issued with appropriate documents acknowledging receipts of quantity and quality supplied
• Integrates and aligns objectives and activities with the company’s team, EAAP team and with other ATA programs and projects to achieve synergies and generate the intended outcomes that impact the broader agricultural system
• Document lessons and experiences from the project
• Engage and closely work with zonal, woreda and kebele level administration offices and livestock experts to foster effective linkages and align with national and regional policies, strategies and programs focused on the Honey and beeswax value chain
• Regularly reports to the Sourcing Manager of the company and the Senior Apiculture Expert of the EAAP project on progress, lessons drawn, risks, challenges and constraints of the work

• Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree in Apiculture or Animal Science

• At least 6 years (Bachelors) or 4 years (Masters) experience in apiculture and/or honey production, value chain development, and program/project coordination

• Specific hands-on experience in training beekeepers, hive construction, hive inspection and management, colony transfer, establishing and managing demonstration sites, pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest handling of honey and beeswax

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Strong knowledge in honey and beeswax quality standards, food and quality control, beekeeping input specifications, trace-ability system, and organic certifications

• Proven experience in supporting, coaching and inspiring small holder farmers

• Excellent stakeholder management skills including thorough extensive experience with beekeepers, cooperatives, government institutions, development partners, and private sector stakeholders

• Strong knowledge of how the entire sector operates and how public, private and informal actors interact

• Proven experience in directing and managing employees

• A proven ability to keep up-to-date with relevant beekeeping technologies and practices through maintaining networks of collaboration with technical specialists

• Demonstrated team player with good people management skills

• Demonstrated track record of success with program design, performance management, learning systems, and monitoring and evaluation

• Must possess a valid driver license for motor bikes

• Practical experience in piloting, implementing, scaling up ideas/solutions

• Strong capabilities in problem solving, project and stakeholder management

• Exceptional ability to communicate consistently, clearly and effectively with a range of stakeholders in a cross-cultural environment

• Ability to work and perform under pressure and in a dynamic, fast-paced environment

• Strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty and desire to be of service

• Experience in working with a private enterprise engaged in honey and wax processing and exporting
• Fluency in English, Amharic and Oromiffa, written and spoken, is essential