Farmer Relations Officer job at Kijani Forestry

Main Objective:

The Plantation Growth Officer (PGO) plays a key leadership role in managing and coordinating plantation and woodlot management projects across multiple sites. The PGO supervises Plantation Growth Supervisors (PGSs) and PGCs to ensure efficient plantation operations, promote sustainable forestry practices, and manage accurate survival data collection. The role drives field performance, compliance, and continuous improvements in plantation growth.

Key Responsibilities:

Team Leadership and Supervision:

• Supervise PGSs and ensure they provide effective oversight to coordinator clusters.
• Conduct structured monthly performance reviews and provide coaching plans.
• Lead field mentorship through joint visits, demonstrations, and corrective guidance.
• Ensure staff discipline, ethics, and adherence to workplans.

Strategic Plantation Management:

• Oversee implementation of silvicultural and survival strategies in assigned regions.
• Track regional plantation quality performance and prioritize high-risk gardens.
• Resolve operational constraints affecting growth.
• Ensure seasonal field calendars are aligned to planting, maintenance and survival cycles.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E):

• Ensure survival check schedules are implemented and data quality verified.
• Review mortality causes and approve corrective actions at garden and cluster levels.
• Work with M&E on sampling design and integrity checks.
• Validate survival/growth dashboards for management reporting.

Farmer Engagement and Community Coordination (Technical Lens):

• Ensure farmers receive technical training linked to observed gaps.
• Support community sensitization on fire prevention and plantation protection.
• Ensure garden and farmer information is updated for carbon payments.
• Maintain relationships with local leaders to support compliance and security.

Reporting and Documentation:

• Review and validate weekly reports from PGSs and coordinators.
• Prepare regional summaries on plantation quality, risks and survival trends.
• Ensure documentation is complete for audits and carbon verification.
• Track and communicate action-item closure from review meetings.

Expansion Program Participation:

• Conduct due diligence on new parishes with field evidence (soil, climate, access).
• Assess community readiness and farmer pipeline potential.
• Provide expansion recommendations including risks and resource needs.
• Support onboarding of new areas into plantation systems.

Resource Management:

• Monitor allocation and use of tools, PPE and transport under assigned teams.
• Approve and track seasonal resource requests and utilization reports.
• Enforce accountability for losses or misuse.
• Optimize deployment to reduce cost per garden served.

Support to NH Operations During Peak Seasons:

• Coordinate technical support to NH planting teams during seasonal peaks.
• Assist with mobilisation, seedling distribution monitoring and PSR quality.
• Provide rapid troubleshooting for field planting issues.
• Ensure planting feedback is documented for nursery improvement.

Internship and Field Refresher Training:

• Deliver field training sessions for interns on silviculture and survival monitoring.
• Organize refresher training for coordinators based on performance gaps.
• Support training material revision using field learnings.
• Evaluate training impact on survival and compliance trends.

Compliance and Environmental Protection:

• Enforce environmental, safety and forestry regulations at site level.
• Ensure firelines and risk-mitigation SOPs are implemented timely.
• Investigate major compliance breaches or incidents.
• Promote safe harvesting and regeneration practices where relevant.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• Team performance against workplans.
• Survival improvements across gardens.
• Timely completion and quality of survival checks.
• Reduced infections/fire incidents and escalations.
• Quality and timeliness of reporting.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Bachelor's degree in Forestry, Environmental Science, Agriculture or related field; Master’s advantage.
• Strong silviculture and team leadership experience.
• Proficiency in data collection, analysis and reporting.
• Motorcycle riding.

• Supervise PGSs and ensure they provide effective oversight to coordinator clusters.
• Conduct structured monthly performance reviews and provide coaching plans.
• Lead field mentorship through joint visits, demonstrations, and corrective guidance.
• Ensure staff discipline, ethics, and adherence to workplans.
• Oversee implementation of silvicultural and survival strategies in assigned regions.
• Track regional plantation quality performance and prioritize high-risk gardens.
• Resolve operational constraints affecting growth.
• Ensure seasonal field calendars are aligned to planting, maintenance and survival cycles.
• Ensure survival check schedules are implemented and data quality verified.
• Review mortality causes and approve corrective actions at garden and cluster levels.
• Work with M&E on sampling design and integrity checks.
• Validate survival/growth dashboards for management reporting.
• Ensure farmers receive technical training linked to observed gaps.
• Support community sensitization on fire prevention and plantation protection.
• Ensure garden and farmer information is updated for carbon payments.
• Maintain relationships with local leaders to support compliance and security.
• Review and validate weekly reports from PGSs and coordinators.
• Prepare regional summaries on plantation quality, risks and survival trends.
• Ensure documentation is complete for audits and carbon verification.
• Track and communicate action-item closure from review meetings.
• Conduct due diligence on new parishes with field evidence (soil, climate, access).
• Assess community readiness and farmer pipeline potential.
• Provide expansion recommendations including risks and resource needs.
• Support onboarding of new areas into plantation systems.
• Monitor allocation and use of tools, PPE and transport under assigned teams.
• Approve and track seasonal resource requests and utilization reports.
• Enforce accountability for losses or misuse.
• Optimize deployment to reduce cost per garden served.
• Coordinate technical support to NH planting teams during seasonal peaks.
• Assist with mobilisation, seedling distribution monitoring and PSR quality.
• Provide rapid troubleshooting for field planting issues.
• Ensure planting feedback is documented for nursery improvement.
• Deliver field training sessions for interns on silviculture and survival monitoring.
• Organize refresher training for coordinators based on performance gaps.
• Support training material revision using field learnings.
• Evaluate training impact on survival and compliance trends.
• Enforce environmental, safety and forestry regulations at site level.
• Ensure firelines and risk-mitigation SOPs are implemented timely.
• Investigate major compliance breaches or incidents.
• Promote safe harvesting and regeneration practices where relevant.

• Strong silviculture and team leadership experience.
• Proficiency in data collection, analysis and reporting.
• Motorcycle riding.

• Bachelor's degree in Forestry, Environmental Science, Agriculture or related field; Master’s advantage.