One Acre Fund, a mission-driven organization founded in 2006, continues to reshape agricultural development across Sub-Saharan Africa by empowering smallholder farmers. The organization currently supports more than 5.5 million farmers across nine African countries, offering critical agricultural services including access to high-quality inputs, tree seedlings, credit solutions, and modern agronomic training. These interventions have consistently enabled farmers to increase their income and assets by over 35% on supported land while enhancing long-term resilience.
As part of its ongoing commitment to rural development and sustainable market access, One Acre Fund is seeking to hire an Extension and Aggregation Specialist to support the growth and productivity of farmers engaged in the Tupande program. The position, based in Sagana, Kenya, will focus on field-based execution and programmatic integration across the avocado, macadamia, and dried fruits value chains. This is a fixed-term role of two years and is open to Kenyan citizens or permanent residents only.
About the Role
The Extension and Aggregation Specialist will play a critical role in enabling smallholder farmers to maximize their productivity and market engagement. Working under the supervision of the value chain associate, the specialist will be instrumental in the implementation of strategies designed to boost farmer output, retention, and income generation across key perennial crop value chains.
This role is field-intensive, with approximately 60–70% of the work expected to be conducted at rural sites across the program areas. The specialist will work closely with field teams, farmer groups, and internal stakeholders to align productivity improvements with the organization’s sourcing targets.
The successful candidate will possess strong field operations experience, project management capabilities, and a demonstrated passion for agricultural development in a smallholder context. A solid understanding of the dynamics of tree crop production, planting calendars, and supply readiness will be essential in ensuring that agronomic interventions translate into sustainable farmer success and improved supply chain outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
1. Drive Farmer Education on Agronomic Best Practices
- Lead and facilitate the delivery of tailored agronomic training sessions to farmer groups engaged in the Tupande value chains.
- Promote evidence-based practices focused on improving productivity in avocado, macadamia, and dried fruit farming.
- Ensure training modules are data-informed and aligned with One Acre Fund’s seasonal agronomy calendars and sourcing goals.
- Support the development and adaptation of training content to address local agroecological variations and farmer knowledge gaps.
2. Design and Test Farmer Incentive Models
- Conceptualize, pilot, and refine farmer retention and productivity incentive models designed to stimulate continuous engagement and improved performance.
- Work with internal data and strategy teams to evaluate incentive model outcomes using performance metrics such as yield per tree, produce quality, and consistency in supply.
- Engage directly with farmers to gather feedback on incentive schemes and adapt models to better meet farmer needs and organizational objectives.
3. Track Plantation Establishment, Farmer Performance, and Supply Readiness
- Monitor new and existing plantation developments to assess performance against productivity benchmarks.
- Establish and maintain performance tracking systems that record key indicators including tree survival rates, growth performance, and fruiting timelines.
- Identify supply readiness indicators in coordination with sourcing teams to ensure seamless aggregation planning and forecasting.
4. Align Productivity Interventions with Market Sourcing Goals
- Collaborate with value chain teams to ensure that field-level productivity interventions are strategically aligned with the seasonal sourcing calendar and volume targets.
- Analyze sourcing bottlenecks and identify underperforming segments or locations.
- Recommend agronomic or logistical interventions to address identified productivity constraints and optimize supply chain outcomes.
5. Lead Seasonal Planting and Coordinate Seedling Distribution
- Oversee the end-to-end planning and execution of seedling distribution for targeted perennial crops.
- Coordinate logistics with field officers to ensure timely delivery and quality control of seedlings to farmer groups.
- Track planting completion rates and ensure that all distributed seedlings are mapped and integrated into the plantation performance tracking framework.
6. Identify and Support Underperforming Farmer Segments
- Utilize field data to detect farmer groups or individuals who are not meeting productivity expectations.
- Design tailored support strategies for these segments, including refresher training, peer mentorship, or targeted agronomic visits.
- Monitor the impact of these interventions and adjust approaches based on feedback and measurable improvements.
Field Coordination and Reporting
- Conduct regular field visits and spot checks to assess farmer engagement and implementation of recommended agronomic practices.
- Prepare weekly and monthly progress reports for internal tracking and management decision-making.
- Contribute to the development of internal dashboards and monitoring tools to enable real-time performance analysis.
- Support cross-departmental information flow between the field operations, value chain, and data teams.
Key Working Relationships
- Reports directly to the respective Value Chain Associate overseeing avocado, macadamia, or dried fruit programming.
- Collaborates daily with field extension officers, farmer group leaders, agronomy advisors, and logistics coordinators.
- Coordinates with internal data teams to ensure the continuous improvement of tracking tools and program dashboards.
- Engages periodically with procurement and sourcing departments to align on seedling sourcing and aggregation timelines.
Professional Development and Growth Opportunities
One Acre Fund maintains a strong commitment to employee development and learning. The successful candidate will benefit from:
- Weekly one-on-one meetings with a direct manager to provide mentorship and address ongoing challenges.
- Access to structured learning and capacity-building programs in agronomy, project management, and monitoring and evaluation.
- Biannual performance reviews and long-term career planning sessions.
- Opportunities to contribute to organizational growth by taking part in strategic initiatives across the Tupande program and beyond.
Contract and Work Conditions
- This position is offered on a fixed-term contract of two years.
- The job is based in Sagana, Kenya, with 60–70% travel to rural field sites.
- The role includes health insurance coverage, paid time off, and other organizational benefits as applicable.
- Start date is as soon as possible following the successful conclusion of the recruitment process.
Candidate Profile
Ideal candidates will bring a mix of operational experience, field engagement, and strategic insight into smallholder agricultural systems. Required attributes include:
- Minimum of 3 years of experience in operations, field execution, or agri-business development.
- Demonstrated project management and problem-solving skills, including the ability to manage multiple seasonal activities across dispersed locations.
- Passion for smallholder agriculture and commitment to rural livelihoods.
- Analytical approach to decision-making with the ability to leverage data for program improvement.
- Understanding of tree crop agronomy, planting calendars, value chain certifications, and sourcing readiness indicators.
- Experience working in market access programs or tree crop production will be considered a strong asset.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to work with farmers, field officers, and internal stakeholders.
- High levels of adaptability and comfort with field-based work in varied and often remote rural settings.
- Must be a Kenyan citizen or permanent resident.
Recruitment Process
Applications will be reviewed and processed on a rolling basis until a hire is made. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply early, as the position may be filled before the final deadline of 04 November 2025.
Please note the following:
- One Acre Fund does not charge any application, testing, or recruitment fees at any stage.
- All official communications will originate from an @oneacrefund.org email address.
- Any suspicious emails or communication should be reported to [email protected].
- Do not send job applications to the above email. Follow the application instructions provided via the official portal.
Equal Opportunity Statement
One Acre Fund is committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and anti-racist workplace. The organization encourages applicants from all backgrounds to apply, regardless of race, gender, religion, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or national origin. Creating a culture where all staff feel valued and represented is integral to the organization’s mission of achieving exceptional impact for smallholder farmers.
Application Deadline: 04 November 2025
