Agricultural Economist - World Vegetable Center

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center is a nonprofit, autonomous international agricultural research center with headquarters in Taiwan and regional offices around the globe. AVRDC conducts research and development programs that contribute to improved incomes and diets in the developing world through increased production and consumption of nutritious and health promoting vegetables.

The Job: The Agricultural Economist will participate in applied research projects in the Asia-Pacific region, and possibly other regions of AVRDC’s program interventions, in collaboration with a team of bio-physical scientists and nutritionists. The position will entail working on issues related to farm management economics, input market analysis, and project monitoring and evaluation, as well as examining how to achieve larger development gains from vegetable-based farming system research projects in the region. The work will involve:

• Characterizing vegetables and integrated food production systems including vegetable-based home gardening. Identify factors that constrain or enhance the ability of the poor to cultivate vegetables or to benefit from innovations along the vegetable value chain, and extract lessons for policy and program design

• Conduct research to better understand the interactions and dynamism of nutritional status, health and vegetable consumption, both in rural and peri-urban environments and suggest policy measures to develop an integrated food chain

• Quantify the contribution of vegetable-based farming systems to the livelihoods of the poor and the actual/potential impact of vegetable-based strategies and interventions on poverty and vulnerability, by developing monitoring and evaluation protocols and clear conceptual frameworks for understanding possible channels of impact on marketing potential, post harvest handling/processing and utilization of vegetables in the region

• Setting up and maintaining a regional database for vegetable production and consumption, and analyze supply, demand, trade, and market situation and related consumption economics of vegetables in different regions

• Publishing research results in peer-reviewed journals and influence change among policy makers and stakeholders to support vegetable production, marketing and consumption

• Participating in team proposal writing activities related to the conducted research and emerging vegetable sector research and development issues

• Building national capacity of researchers, farmers and extension agents to promote horticulture technologies through training

• Assisting and/or providing expertise as a resource person for socio-economic issues into AVRDC’s research work

• Performing other duties as assigned by the Deputy Director General – Research.

The Person: Candidates should have a PhD degree in agricultural economics, or horticulture with an economics background, or a related discipline with experience in farm management economics and project monitoring and evaluation. Experience in guiding surveys to collect and analyze primary data and experience with participatory research approaches. Proven record of statistical and econometrics analysis of survey data, and an understanding of farming systems in the Asia-Pacific region is preferred. S/he must have strong communication skills in spoken and written English. The candidate must be able to work with multidisciplinary teams in a multicultural and multinational environment, and be willing to travel extensively, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. For more information about the Center and its activities, please visit the website: www.avrdc.org