Crops Development Officer II

ABOUT THE COMPANY Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) is a State Corporation in the ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Corporatives established by the Agriculture and Food Authority Act No 13 of 2013 to operationalize the Crops Act No 16 of 2013. The Act consolidates the laws on regulation and promotion of agriculture and makes provision for the respective roles of national and county governments according to the provisions of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of Kenya. The role of the Authority is to Regulate, Develop and Promote Scheduled Crops value chains for increased economic growth in Kenya.

AFA is a product of Agriculture Sector Reforms which commenced in 2003 with the formulation of the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERS) and the Strategy for the Revitalization of Agriculture (SRA).The reforms focused on improving efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery through the review of the legal and regulatory framework in the agriculture Sector. JOB SUMMARY Person SpecificationsFor appointment to this grade, a candidate/ Officer must have: - Bachelor’s Degree in any of the following disciplines Agricultural Economics, Agriculture, Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Engineering, Biosystems Engineering, Horticulture, Agronomy, Crop Protection, Agribusiness Management, Food Science and Technology, or an equivalent qualification from a recognized institution; andProficiency in Computer applications. RESPONSIBILITIES Documenting and custody of collected and collated needs from stakeholders to be used for the development and promotion of scheduled crops;Documenting and generating reports on the identified potential enterprises for promoting scheduled crops;Documenting and custody of the compiled identified investment opportunities in reference to investment guides;Collecting information required on production trends for advisory and informed decision making;Maintaining and custody of the collected and collated data on emerging issues related to scheduled crops including suitability of agro-climatic conditions, climate change, pests and diseases, youth in agriculture and mechanization;Maintaining and custody of database on the compiled research needs on emerging issues affecting crops value chains;Maintaining the compiled information on sources of clean planting materials;Maintaining and custody of data base of stakeholders for collaboration in establishing centers for accessing quality farm inputs;Maintaining and custody of data base for the divisionIn Capacity Building, duties and responsibilities will entail:Compiling data on capacity needs for the stakeholders;Custody of the training materials;Undertaking invitation, identifying the venues for capacity building and awareness creation;Documenting and keeping data base on the identified Technologies, Innovations and Management Practices (TIMPs) on scheduled cropsEstablishing the experimental stations and model farms for knowledge and te