Finlays Research Assistant Job Vacancies Kenya.

Assistant Research Manager
 
The organization
Finlays is a vertically integrated and geographically diversified agri-business that takes a leadership role in sustainability.

The group has established itself as a reliable, responsible, innovative and sustainable producer with a deep knowledge and passion for its products. Sustainability is pivotal to the group’s success and it lies at the heart of what Finlays does and stands for.

Finlays is Kenya’s largest agricultural export group employing over 21,000 people and annually exporting over 300 million stems of flowers, 7 million kilos of vegetables, 26 million kilos of black tea and 3 million kilos of tea extract.

The organisation is geographically located in Nairobi, Naivasha, Kericho, Mt. Kenya and Mombasa and works with 1,200 vegetable out growers and 10,000 tea out growers.

A vacancy has arisen for a Research professional who is a dynamic and self focused self starter with a passion for excellence in research work.

Location
The position is based at our Tea Estates operations located in Kericho, Kenya.

The Job
Reporting to the Research Manager, the successful candidate will work as an integral part of the Tea Estate management team and provide varied experience in agricultural research environment with a high degree of focus in supporting plantations in their day to day operations.

The key responsibilities for this position include:
    Developing, planning, and implementing field experiments.
    Overseeing entire estates fertilizer distribution and application in liaison with tea estate managers.
    Supervising and monitoring herbicide usage, regular spray equipment maintenance, and planning appropriate training programs for spray supervisors and applicators.
    Planning and implementing tea and eucalyptus vegetative propagation nursery programs ensuring sufficient quality plants are available and timely to estates.
    Conducting detailed pest and plant disease surveys and instituting corrective actions.
    Preparing, coordinating, implementing and monitoring soil and water conservation programs in tea plantations
    Monitoring Planting and infilling program to ensure annual targets are attained.
    Preparation of pruning plan in accordance with the annual pruning policy. Check and advice estates on standards of prune works.
    Preparing documentation and offering technical back up on good agricultural practices
    Providing technical support to out grower farmers
    Prepare and present agricultural demonstrations and field days
    Making detailed observations, analyzing data, statistics and interpreting research results.
    Maintaining familiarity with current scientific literature as well as investigating, creating, developing new methods and technologies for project advancement
    Liaising with internal and external research and development personnel in collaborative trials

The Person
The ideal candidate must possess the qualifications / competencies outlined below:
    Bachelor’s degree in Agronomy or closely related field.
    Minimum 5 years working experience in agricultural set up.
    Good computer skills
    Willingness to work in a variety of conditions
    Ability to design and conduct field trials of agricultural inputs
    Good analytical skills
    Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
    Good planning and organizational skills

How to Apply
If you meet the requirements of this position, please submit an application, including a detailed CV, your postal, e-mail and telephone contacts, names and addresses of three referees.

Your application should reach us not later than 24 May 2013 and be addressed to:

Human Resources Director
Finlays
P O Box 223 – 20200
Kericho
Email: careers@finlays.co.ke

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Posted in: Research Jobs Kenya