Value Chain Development and Farmer Aggregation Officer job at StartHub Africa

About the Role

StartHub Africa is looking for an experienced Value Chain Development and Aggregation Officer to work with smallholder farmer groups or cooperatives on production, quality, and aggregation for off take.

In the first year, Honey is the priority value chain, but the goal is to build up a working aggregation model that will extend to additional value chains.

Key Responsibilities

1. Farmer Group Engagement and Extension

2. Off-taking & Quality Assurance

3. Additional Value Chain

4. Stakeholder Coordination

5. Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation

6. Business Development

7. Safeguarding

Key Skills and Experience required:

Essential

Added Advantage

• Identify farmer groups or cooperatives to work with (priority for year 1: 5 groups /cooperatives dealing in Apiary in West-Nile)
• Build strong relationships with groups / cooperatives
• Oversee distribution of hives, equipment and relevant inputs
• Contribute to the development of training materials
• Train farmers in modern beekeeping practices to ensure quality produce and any other topic that seems relevant for the success of the project
• Visit farmer groups on a regular basis to monitor and support
• Provide technical support such as agronomic and bee advisory standards, post harvest handling, produce grading etc.
• Farmer group / cooperative governance and institutional strengthening (e.g. group formalization, record management, leadership etc.)
• Ensure all farmer groups / cooperatives have off-taker agreements with fixed prices with StartHub in place
• Organize collection and bulking at harvest, verify weights and volumes, Inspect produce against agreed quality standards
• Coordinate basic processing, storage and finally logistics of honey to Kampala.
• Conduct research on potential of additional value chains
• Once confirmed by StartHub, mobilize and onboard farmer groups and oversee the value chain development (quality production, sourcing, aggregation, off-taking)
• Build good relationships and coordinate with local government, development projects and relevant partners
• Support in identification of relevant opportunities for StartHub Africa.
• Maintain an up-to-date database of farmer groups, suppliers, and aggregation points.
• Support the M&E Officer with data collection (KoboCollect) and maintain accurate records of groups, volumes, prices and transactions.
• Provide weekly written updates
• Monitor prices, supply, demand and seasonality and flag any opportunities or risks to the project manager
• Support the business development by identifying potential buyers and additional off-takers.
• Comply with StartHub Africa’s safeguarding policy, communicate reporting channels to farmer groups, and escalate concerns promptly.

• Strong negotiation and relationship-management skills, with a high level of integrity.
• Fluency in at least one local language of the target communities (e.g. Lugbara, Alur, Madi, or Kakwa)
• Basic digital literacy for smartphone-based data collection.
• Willingness and flexibility to travel extensively across West Nile and other program sites as needs arise, and periodically to Kampala.

• Diploma or higher in Agriculture or Agribusiness or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• At least 2 years’ relevant experience working with farmer groups, cooperatives, agricultural value chains, ideally including in Arua or the wider West Nile region.
• Experience or strong familiarity with the honey/apiary value chain, and openness to working across other value chains as the program expands.
• Formal training or certification in beekeeping/apiculture.
• Experience with honey processors, food businesses, or food safety/quality standards.
• Existing relationships with farmer groups, cooperatives, aggregators, processors, or buyers in West Nile.
• Experience working with development programs or agribusinesses.