LEAD: GROWER PROGRAMMES PRE AND POST SUPPORT

Secondments; Centurion; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 800,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in South Africa is seeking an experienced professional to develop and manage grower programmes for farmers. The role involves building partnerships, ensuring sustainable farming practices, and overseeing the success of various agricultural initiatives. Ideal candidates should possess a degree in relevant fields and have substantial managerial experience, alongside a deep understanding of agricultural operations and compliance requirements.

Qualifications

• 7 years experience at management level required.
• 3 years experience in developing and implementing grower programmes.
• Knowledge of PFMA and Company Act essential.

Responsibilities

• Develop grower programmes for farmers and establish partnerships.
• Recruit farmers and create market awareness via various media channels.
• Ensure compliance and governance in programme delivery.

Skills

Business development and networking

Farmer development

Stakeholder and client management

Operationalising strategy

Legislative and regulatory context

Education

Degree in Commerce / Science / Agriculture

Job description

Job purpose:

To provide support to farmers beyond financing, through the implementation of grower programmes and the provision of technical support to farmers, within the context of partnership programmes.

Key Performance Areas

Grower Programme Development

• Develops Grower Programmes for farmers, within the ambit of partnership programmes; for specified commodities.
• Partners with Credit Risk and Agricultural Economics and Advisory to determine commodities where the Bank has financing appetite in order to prioritize Grower Programmes
• Establishes relationships with off-takers and leverages their expertise and the market networks to support the growth and success of farmers.
• Identifies and selects supplier aggregators based on set criteria to create market access for and to support the development of low-scale farmers.
• Ensures that grower programmes enable sustainable farming practices, manage stakeholder interests and enable market access.
• Makes data-led decisions regarding resource deployment and continuous improvement of grower programmes

Grower Programme Capacitation

• Recruits farmers to grower programmes by using a development and merit-based process for farmer selection.
• Builds a pipeline of qualifying grower programme participants, to ensure the long-term continuity and viability of programmes.
• Works collaboratively to leverage the Bank's marketing capabilities to create market awareness of grower programmes and success stories via digital, social and traditional media channels.
• Effectively maps stakeholders and formulates comprehensive plans to engage and consult community leaders and relevant authorities where required.
• Develops robust systems for collecting, tracking and analysing data pertaining to grower programs and farmer data.

Farmer Development

• Works collaboratively across functions within the bank to establish and develop programmes and content input for the Company Farmer Academy.
• Ensures that grower programmes provide structured market access to farmers to increase trading volumes while simultaneously achieving significant social impact with regard to development farmers
• Selects and implements organizational models that enable high levels of farmer-partnership interaction to build trust, while transferring knowledge and skills to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of farmers enrolled in grower programmes.
• Facilitates increased private sector investment in developing farmers; promoting sustainable sourcing practices through strategic procurement linkages that are commercially viable for Company.
• Puts structures in place to support farmers in meeting the compliance, governance and contractual obligations applicable to grower programmes and strategic partnership agreements.

Farmer Development Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation

• Develops models for monitoring of development farmers' projects.
• Encourage comprehensive risk management strategies within grower programs, emphasizing the importance of adopting insurance solutions provided by LBI.
• Manages varied projects including status reporting and program management across multiple projects.
• Develops and maintains effective interface across business areas to understand the business transformation agenda, priorities and delivery needs.
• Ensures compliance with governance practices, standards and architectural standards in the delivery of grower programmes and farmer pre and post-support initiatives.

People Management

Performance Management

• Ensure the overall team is meeting their targets as prescribed by the Head.
• Monitor manager's achievements against their development plans.
• Provide inputs to head on performance tracking and monitoring of managers.
• Participate in performance reviews with the head.
• Provide coaching and feedback to subordinates.

Capacity Planning

• Determine the human resource requirements, in accordance with the expected deliverables and current capacity.
• Set out the resourcing and human capital requirements to the head to ensure that deliverables will be met in accordance with the expected targets.
• Minimise staff turnover.
• Lead the subordinates in such a manner as to foster innovation.
• Demonstrate behaviour aligned to the corporate Company values.
• Equitable distribution of responsibilities and accountabilities and plan appropriate human capacity and full utilisation for projects under management.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Degree in Commerce / Science / Agriculture
• A minimum of 7 years experience at management level.
• A minimum of 3 years experience in the development and implementation of grower programmes.

Additional Requirements

• Knowledge of PFMA
• Knowledge of Company Act
• Knowledge Banking Products
• Knowledge of Agricultural Operations

Desired Skills:

• Business development and networking
• Farmer development
• Stakeholder and client management
• Operationalising strategy
• Legislative and regulatory context

Desired Work Experience:

• 5 to 10 years

Desired Qualification Level:

• Degree