Job Title: Agriculture Technical Officer – Regenerative Agriculture & Permaculture
Duty Station: Okhaldhunga District, Nepal – primarily Taluwa, Thulachhap, Bhadaure, and surrounding communities, with periodic travel to Kathmandu for coordination, learning, and reporting.
Contract Type & Duration: Full-time national staff position, minimum 2-year contract (early 2026–end 2027), with possibility of extension subject to performance and funding.
Reports to: District Program Coordinator– Sustainable Livelihood & Food Production (Okhaldhunga)
Technical supervision from: Program Manager – Environment, Livelihoods & DRR, Volunteers Initiative Nepal (ViN)
Works Closely With
- Community mobilisers, farmer group leaders, and CRPs
- Child & family case workers (TFCF-supported families)
- Ward offices, agriculture centres, cooperatives, and schools
- National and international volunteers working on permaculture and WASH
Position Purpose:
The Agriculture Technical Officer (Agri Tech Officer) is a field-based, full-time position responsible for leading ViN’s regenerative agriculture and permaculture support to vulnerable families linked to ViN–TFCF projects in Okhaldhunga.
The officer will:
- Turn ViN’s 106+ water tanks (growing to 130+) and home gardens into living, climate-smart learning spaces
- Provide continuous, seasonally relevant mentoring so farmers can design, manage, and sustain permaculture home gardens, improve soil and water management, and reduce dependence on hazardous agro-chemicals.
- Link food production directly to nutrition and child wellbeing through nutrition sensitive home gardening and behaviour change support.
The overall objective is that each participating household has a productive, diverse, and organic home garden for at least 8 months of the year, and that this contributes to better diets, resilience, and income for children and caregivers.
Key Responsibilities:
Farmer Case Management & Inclusive Targeting
- Lead the agricultural component of Family Action Plans for all participating households, in close collaboration with ViN social workers and case managers.
- Maintain an updated farmer registry (by household, d), including land size and slope, water source, current cropping patterns, livestock, labour availability, and special vulnerabilities (e.g., disability, single female-headed households).
- Ensure transparent inclusion of new families using agreed criteria and participatory methods (household visits, community meetings, endorsement from ward and cooperatives).
- Provide one primary “go-to” contact for each farmer for all agriculture-related questions and follow-up.
Seasonal Planning & Individual Cropping Calendars
- Co-create simple seasonal cropping calendars with each farmer (including monsoon, winter, and off-season/low-rain periods), reflecting:
- Family food needs and dietary diversity
- Local water availability and tank capacity
- Labour availability, gender roles, and school schedules - Integrate nutrition-sensitive choices (e.g., dark green leafy vegetables, orange-fleshed root crops, pulses, herbs, and fruits) into each calendar to support child and maternal nutrition.
- Review and adjust calendars at least twice per year based on experience, pest and disease pressures, climate shocks, and market signals.
Permaculture Design & Regenerative Farm Systems
- Support households in designing or redesigning permaculture home gardens using the core principles: observe and interact, capture and store water and nutrients, diversity, stacking, mulching, soil cover, and integration of trees, shrubs, and annuals.
- Provide hands-on coaching on:
- Garden zoning (kitchen-near beds, compost area, nursery, shade house, etc.)
- Raised and contour beds suited to steep slopes in Okhaldhunga to reduce erosion and improve water retention.
- Plant guilds, crop rotation, intercropping, and cover cropping for soil health and pest resilience. - Establish and maintain a small number of model/demonstration gardens (including at least one on ViN land and several with lead farmers) used for Farmer Field Schools and visiting delegations.
Soil Health, Composting & Organic Inputs
- Train and mentor farmers in regenerative soil practices, including:
- Composting with locally available materials (animal manure, crop residues, kitchen waste).
Vermicompost, where feasible.
- Mulching, minimum tillage, and permanent soil cover. - Guide households in low-cost on-farm input production, such as:
- Jhol-mol and botanical liquid manures
- Ash, biochar (where appropriate), compost teas
- Nutrient-rich bed preparation using locally available biomass - Monitor visible indicators of soil health (soil structure, organic matter, earthworms, water infiltration) and integrate these into annual progress reviews.
Water Tanks, Micro-Irrigation & Greywater Use
- Ensure that all household water tanks are utilised effectively for domestic use and productive gardening (not left underused).
- Promote and demonstrate water-efficient technologies appropriate for low-income hill farmers, such as:
- Drip lines or low-cost bottle-drip systems
- Clay pot/olla irrigation
- Mulching and shade for water conservation - Support practical greywater management for gardens, including safe filtration pits and channels.
- Coordinate with local government technicians on any structural repairs or additional water harvesting measures.
Agroecological Pest & Disease Management
- Train farmers in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and agroecological approaches, focusing on:
- Pest and beneficial insect identification
- Thresholds for action
- Cultural, mechanical, and biological measures (e.g., crop rotation, trap crops, manual removal, botanical extracts). - Support farmers in significantly reducing or eliminating hazardous pesticides by explaining documented health and environmental risks and presenting practical alternatives.
- Facilitate farmer-led trials comparing different organic pest management options and documenting results in simple formats that farmers can understand and share.
Seed Systems, Varieties & Local Biodiversity
- Map and document local crop varieties and farmer preferences (taste, storage, cooking, selling).
- Support households in seed saving, basic seed selection and storage techniques, and the introduction of appropriate, resilient varieties (drought-tolerant, nutrient-dense, disease-resistant).
- Facilitate small seed banks or seed exchange systems within farmer groups, ensuring women, poorer households, and caregivers of malnourished children are included.
Farmer Field Schools & Experiential Learning
- Design and facilitate regular Farmer Field School (FFS) cycles or similar group-learning processes at demonstration sites and selected home gardens, using participatory, visual, and hands-on methods.
- Use “learning by doing” approaches (observation plots, mini-experiments, participatory scoring) to help farmers understand cause–and–effect relationships between practices and yields, soil health, pest incidence, and nutrition.
- Give particular attention to women farmers, caregivers, and youth, adapting timing, language, and facilitation style to ensure meaningful participation.
Market Orientation & Household Economics (Light-Touch)
- For households achieving surplus production, provide basic advisory support on:
- Which crops have local market demand (haat bazaars, school canteens, nearby towns)?
- Simple grading, bundling, and presentation for organic produce.
- Coordinating with cooperatives for collective marketing where feasible. - Work with ViN’s livelihoods and cooperative teams to ensure that organic production is linked to savings, small income generation, and resilience, without compromising household food and nutrition security.
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL)
- Lead the agriculture component of baseline, midline, and endline surveys, including:
- Garden size and diversity
- Number of harvest months per year
- Use of regenerative practices and organic inputs
- Self-reported changes in diet diversity and food security. - Develop and routinely use simple monitoring tools (farmer visit checklists, seasonal scorecards, photo documentation, case stories).
- Contribute to the project’s annual progress reports, donor reports, and case studies, ensuring high-quality, evidence-based documentation.
- Facilitate periodic reflection sessions with farmers, ViN staff, and local authorities to review data, discuss lessons, and adjust approaches.
Coordination, Representation & Safeguarding
- Coordinate closely with:
- Ward offices and agriculture service centres
- Local schools (for kitchen gardens and the potential buying of organic produce)
- Cooperatives and women’s groups engaged in savings and maintenance. - Represent ViN’s regenerative agriculture work in local forums, NGO coordination meetings, and technical platforms when requested.
- Uphold and promote ViN’s safeguarding, child protection, gender equality, inclusion, and safe workplace policies, ensuring that all trainings and interactions are respectful, non-discriminatory, and protective of children and vulnerable adults.
Expected Outputs & Key Performance Indicators (Indicative)
By the end of each project year, the Agri Tech Officer is expected to have:
- 38+ households (and later additional families as ViN scales) with:
- Functional home gardens use at least 5–7 vegetable/fruit species per season.
- Operational, well-maintained water tanks are used for both domestic and productive purposes. - 100% of participating farmers with updated seasonal cropping calendars and at least three regenerative practices adopted (e.g., composting, mulching, crop rotation, organic pest control).
- At least 2–3 active demonstration/learning sites and two FFS cycles completed per year.
- Documented annual comparison reports showing progress against baseline on:
- Months of vegetable harvest
- Diet diversity scores
- Use of chemicals vs organic inputs
- Farmer satisfaction and perceived resilience. - At least 30 households were supported in selling small surpluses of organic produce in local markets, where feasible, without undermining household consumption. (Exact numeric targets can be finalised in the project logframe.)
Required Qualifications:
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Science (BSc Ag or equivalent) from a recognised university.
- Mandatory: Formal training in permaculture, regenerative agriculture, and/or agroecology (e.g., Permaculture Design Course, regenerative agriculture certificate, or equivalent recognised training).
Professional Experience
- Minimum 5 years of progressively responsible experience in:
- Smallholder agriculture and home gardening in hilly or mid-hill areas of Nepal;
- Organic or low-chemical farming, agroecology, permaculture, or regenerative agriculture;
- Working directly with farmers through extension, Farmer Field Schools, or community-based projects. - Proven experience in designing and facilitating practical field trainings and mentoring farmers with low literacy levels.
- Demonstrated experience in data collection, simple analysis, and reporting (baseline, monitoring, or action research).
- Prior work with INGOs/NGOs, cooperatives, or government agriculture services in Nepal is a strong asset.
Skills & Competencies:
Technical Competencies
- Strong knowledge of regenerative and climate-smart practices: soil health, composting, organic inputs, water-efficient irrigation, agroforestry, cover crops, crop diversification.
- Practical skills in permaculture garden design, especially in sloping, water-scarce hill environments.
- Solid understanding of nutrition-sensitive agriculture and home gardens and their links to child and maternal nutrition.
- Familiarity with participatory extension methods, Farmer Field Schools, demonstration plots, and farmer-to-farmer learning.
- Ability to develop simple, context-appropriate tools (checklists, calendars, visual aids) in Nepali and local languages.
Behavioural Competencies
- Deep respect for rural farmers’ knowledge and realities, with patience and humility.
- Strong facilitation and communication skills, able to make complex ideas simple and practical.
- Commitment to gender equality, child protection, and social inclusion, with experience working with women, youth, and marginalised groups.
- Ability to work independently in remote areas, with strong planning, time management, and self-organisation.
- Team player who can coordinate smoothly with multi-sector staff (education, WASH, child protection, livelihoods).
Languages
- Fluency in Nepali (spoken and written).
- Local languages of Okhaldhunga (e.g. Sherpa, Rai, Tamang) are a strong asset.
- Basic English reading and writing ability is sufficient for technical materials and simple reporting.
Values & Commitment
- Strong alignment with ViN’s mission and four-pillar holistic model, and genuine motivation to work with vulnerable families over the long term.
- Willingness to live and work in Okhaldhunga full-time, with frequent field visits on foot to remote settlements.
- High standards of integrity, accountability, environmental responsibility, and non-discrimination in all interactions.
Salary and other benefits: 50-70k inclusive of Facilities (food and accommodation, Transportation, Social Security)
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so early applications are strongly encouraged!
Note: The candidate must own a motorcycle and have an active driving license.
