Feed & Inputs Specialist

About Corus: Corus International leads an ensemble of social impact organizations working together in the world’s most fragile settings to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to overcome the interconnected challenges of poverty, health care access and climate change. Corus is a new model in the international space, creating a consortium of specialized non-profit and for-profit entities for greater impact. Additional growth is expected. Corus combines over 150 years of experience of our non-profit and for-profit subsidiary organizations – Lutheran World Relief (LWR), IMA World Health, CGA Technologies, Ground Up Investing, and LWR Farmers Market. Together, the organizations take a systematic approach to grow rural economies, eliminate extreme poverty, ensure access to quality healthcare, and respond to urgent humanitarian needs in fragile settings. In Nepal CORUS works through one of the subsidiary organizations LWR. Further details can be found at https://corusinternational.org The following job description is for an anticipated USDA funded Project under Lutheran World Relief Nepal. Job Brief: This position will identify, design, and implement projects/programs and provide effective support for Aquaculture Programs within and outside the organization, in accordance with the requirements and needs and conformity of project management guidelines, to achieve LWR Nepal project targets - The goal of transforming practices towards responsible aquaculture responsibility and other programs related to fish production and productivity related activities. Position Summary: This position will play a key role in developing and overseeing fish feed and input supplies activities in the program area that will align with the overall project work plan. Specifically, s/he will work with key market actors to improve the productivity of aquaculture systems based on the interests and capacity of smallholder fish farmers to adopt sound practices that result in financial, social, and environmental benefits. The Feed and Input Specialist will oversee activities that increase household and aquaculture system resilience including the promotion of appropriate fish types, management practices that are climate smart, and approaches that encourage sustainable use of water and help fish farmers to better manage risk. The Specialist will also coordinate closely with private enterprises, industry associations, farmer-based organizations, regional government ministries, local authorities, and other implementers to ensure coordinated and impactful activities. The Feed and Input Specialist will report to Productivity and Climate Smart Aquaculture Lead. The USDA project aims to address food security through improvements in the aquaculture value chain by (1) incorporating climate smart technologies, (2) improving end market linkages and incomes for farmers, (3) increasing access to finance for farmers to expand trade of agricultural products, and (4) strengthening the public and private sector. The position will be based at the project office in Simara, Bara District Nepal. Key Result Areas: The success of this role is measured by the following KRAs: 1. Carries out assessment of fish feed in term of quality, cost and profitability . 2. Suggests formulation of fish feed and knowledge of other inputs that is more economical, farmer friendly and utilizes local materials to the extent possible. 3. Continuously analyze and seek ways to improve working techniques and processes, as well as the effective communication and implementation of procedural changes. Roles and Responsibilities: • Evaluate the composition and quality of fish feed and inputs obtained from various sources, considering the associated costs. This assessment aims to furnish data for the analysis of the financial viability of the aquaculture business within the project's geographical region. • Analyze the patterns of overfeeding and underfeeding of fish in the program area, categorized by clusters. Based on this analysis, design a training program on the responsible and sustainable use of feed and inputs in fish farming practices. • Conduct an economic analysis of various fish feeds and inputs at different levels, including a comparison between factory-produced feeds and locally produced feed, as well as an evaluation of integrated fish farming practices. • Explore the possibility of utilizing local material for the preparation of quality fish feeds. • Pilot small scale feed production at community level such as cooperative level combined with other processing industry such as rice-mill and oil mill. • Provide training to front line workers and lead farmers about economic uses of fish feed and fish feeding behavior. • Prepare different feed formulations and their economic analysis to enable farmers to make best use of their resources in conjunction with other processing industries like rice mills and oil mills. • Conduct water quality analysis and offer recommendations on feed formulation by clusters. • Collaborate closely with the Productivity and Climate Smart Aquaculture lead, Aquaculture Specialist and Training Manager to develop and execute project workplans and maintain technical oversight of all fishery project activities in the program area. • Provide leadership, and direction to field-level activities related to fish production, productivity, and input supply. • Provide technical support and contribute to project reporting requirements, including annual and quarterly reports, project-level analyses, and other necessary deliverables for the project. Supervisory: - NA Education & Experience: • Bachelor's degree in Aquaculture. • Master's degree is preferred. • Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience. • Prior experience in fish feed industries will be an advantage. • Ability to train farmers and concern stakeholders on fish feeds and other inputs. • Demonstrated ability to do simple economic analysis of association of feed production to fish production and productivity. • Deep commitment to LWR's core values and ability to model those values in relationships with colleagues and partners. • Fluency in English and Nepali is required for this position. Understanding of Awadhi and Maithili language is desirable. • Excellent interpersonal skills. Other Duties: