Soya Crop Promotion Lead

About the role

SOFDI is hiring a full-time Soya Crop Promotion Lead for its Sustainable Farmers Duty Station programme in Vihiga County and Khwisero Sub-County. The role provides technical and operational leadership in planning, implementing and monitoring the soya promotion component, which strengthens smallholder farmers' capacity to produce soya sustainably, builds seed production and multiplication systems, improves post-harvest management and creates market and supply linkages. A key aim is coordinating farmer-led soya production and supply to support the ECD School Feeding Program.

Key responsibilities

• Plan and coordinate annual and seasonal soya production, including grower allocation, seed needs, supply forecasts and timelines, and prepare budgets and activity schedules.
• Mobilise farmers, track their participation and acreage, and run training on sustainable, agroecological soya production.
• Support community-based seed production and multiplication, and forecast and distribute seed.
• Coordinate grain production, post-harvest handling, drying and storage, and link farmers to schools and buyers, including contingency supply arrangements.
• Promote soya as a viable enterprise and work with the Collective Marketing Department and cooperatives to match supply with market demand.
• Maintain a production and supply database, monitor yields and germination, run watch farms and report progress to management.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Agronomy, Crop Science, Agricultural Extension, Agribusiness or a related field with at least 3 years of relevant experience; or a Higher Diploma with at least 6 years.
• Practical experience in smallholder crop production, farmer training, technical extension and field monitoring.
• Knowledge of seed production, post-harvest management and agricultural market linkages.

Required skills

• Crop performance monitoring, yield forecasting and data analysis.
• Understanding of agricultural value chains and farmer enterprise development.
• Strong leadership, organisational, problem-solving and communication skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and digital data collection and reporting tools.