Market Access Specialist - Farmerline Ghana

Since 2013, Farmerline has directly helped farmers to improve their productivity and profit in Ghana and also provided technical support to other organizations to do the same. Farmerline started its operations serving 800 farmers in the Ashanti Region of Ghana with information via mobile telephony. The company has since grown to reach 341k farmers (directly & through partners).

Farmerline currently offers a complete bundle of services to farmers through direct sales and on credit. We deliver quality farm inputs to remote areas where farmers live and work. We also support farmers by providing financing for farm inputs, education in planting techniques to minimize post-harvest losses and maximize market prices. For the past 7 years, Farmerline has worked closely in partnerships with over 70 agribusinesses, government agencies, development organizations and input manufacturers that are aligned with the vision and strategic goal of creating lasting profit for farmers everywhere. Farmerline works with over 250 young people in a variety of fields, from finance to engineering, to field operations. The team has been the main drivers behind our innovations and growth in the industry.

Market Access Specialist Role Overview

Connecting farmers to reliable and fair markets is now Farmerline's final intervention(in addition to farmer training and agro-input financing) in creating lasting profit for the farmers we serve while creating jobs for micro-entrepreneurs in the value chains we work in. For this, we are recruiting experienced agricultural/business professionals to support market access programs for farmers across the cereals, plantain, vegetable and cocoa value chains in Ghana. The specialist will work to strengthen existing partnerships while building new models to ensure farmers get the most revenue from their produce.

• Develops impactful, cost effective and scalable market access models for the cereals,plantain, vegetable and cocoa value chains.
• Identifies and engages crop farmers and micro-entrepreneurs to aggregate farm produce at the right time while ensuring high quality and reducing post harvest losses.
• Collaborates with other units to ensure all farmers receive adequate training, agro-inputs.
• Coordinates the procurement of all off-taking and market-related logistics including storage and transportation
• Deploys the Mergdata platform to predict yield, food quality and track produce sourcing.
• Facilitates fair, timely and transparent payments to all farmers supplying to the micro-entrepreneurs and agribusinesses in Farmerline's network.
• Aggregates and distributes market prices from major markets to farmers in our network.
• Implements proven post harvest practices to enhance the shelf life of farm produce.
• Integrates successful parts of the market access model into Farmerline's operations and partnerships across Africa.

Qualification

• Knowledge of the systemic challenges in agriculture value chains in Ghana, a passion for creating lasting solutions to them and ability to navigate farming communities.
• Project management skills and the ability to create and stick to timelines.
• Bachelor's degree in agricultural science, agribusiness, supply chain management.
• 3- 5 years of working experience in similar roles.
• Strong research and field experience in maize, cocoa, plantain, sorghum is required
• Proven experience in the use of mobile technology to facilitate market access.
• Strong business analysis and financial management skills
• Excellent oral communication, writing and presentation skills.
• Ability to speak Twi and other local languages is an added advantage.
  
  

Benefits & Compensation

• Competitive Salary
• Local Health Insurance
• Free Office Lunch
• Quarterly professional development opportunities
• New laptop for work or periodic personal computer repairs