Agricultural Technical expertise

Agriculture, including horticulture is seen as a critical sector for employment creation and poverty reduction in Lebanon; hence has been a focus sector for many programmes. An estimated 20-25 percent of the country’s working population is involved in agricultural-related activities on a full time or part time basis. However, the agriculture sector has been hard-hit by the combined effects of the crises. The economic crisis and the subsequent lira devaluation have taken a drastic toll on food security and agricultural livelihoods in Lebanon.

Beyond grants for the most vulnerable farmers to purchase basic inputs (fertilizers, seeds, etc.) and subsidies to purchase greenhouses, farmers need more sustainable financial support if they are to make investments that would increase their productivity and income. In the past, suppliers of greenhouses and other inputs used to allow farmers to pay in instalments; but since suppliers now also have no credit with banks, they have stopped the practice. Suppliers are still selling the greenhouses, but require that farmers pay cash up front, which most farmers cannot do.

The Lebanon Agriculture and Rural Empowerment (ARE) activity, funded by USAID and implemented by Chemonics International, supports Lebanese rural and peri-urban communities to obtain technical and financial resources to facilitate increased productivity, sales, and exports, improved business income, while also ensuring livelihood sustainability. ARE designed an expansion exclusively supporting at least 100 existing greenhouse vegetable growers to purchase and install multi-span greenhouses on their farms across Lebanon. To support the greenhouse supply intervention, the project is seeking agriculture engineers with technical expertise in multi-span greenhouses.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Agricultural Engineer will implement the following tasks:

1. 2 field visits to the farms who have applied to the project:

• a first visit to assess the eligibility of the farm to benefit from the multi-span project and a confirmation of the specifications in the quotation received from the supplier
• a second visit after the installation of the multi-span greenhouse by the selected supplier to confirm that the agreed upon specifications in the approved quotation have been respected

1. Support in developing the Multi-span first visit assessment template and the verification report filled in at the time of the second visit
2. Fill in the Multi-span first visit assessment template to be filled out with the applicant farms
3. Complete all forms (field visit report) and daily attendance sheets assuring all signatures.
4. Write about 5 success stories/case studies and document using Al Majmoua success Stories form

Ensure to strictly follow Al Majmoua code of conduct, PSEA and child protection policy.

Deliverables

1. Prepare and fill in the Multi-span assessment template during the first field visit
2. Prepare and fill the verification report template during the second field visit
3. Agree with the farms on the dates of the field visits
4. Deliver to Al Majmoua a weekly agenda of the field visits and coordinate with Al Majmoua team about all field visits
5. Deliver the Multi-span assessment and verification reports including signed by participants and the engineer, including pictures
6. 5 success stories form (Including pictures and signature from the participant)