Program Manager - Agriculture

MIDAS - Middle India Development and Advancement Strategy a Project initiative by The Convergence Foundation (TCF)

ABOUT MIDAS:

These roles are being hired as part of a new initiative focused on accelerating economic growth in underdeveloped rural districts across India.

The initiative is called MIDAS Middle India Development and Advancement Strategy, a project initiated by The Convergence Foundation (TCF). Its objective is to create scalable models that improve prosperity in regions of Middle India areas with large populations and untapped potential but lagging economic development.

As a first step, MIDAS has chosen Deoria, a district in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, as its pilot site. Over the next 34 years, the goal is to develop and test a playbook for driving district-level growth in Middle India that can later be replicated in similar regions.

To implement this, TCF is partnering with the Deoria Development Alliance, a local initiative led by Member of Parliament Shri Shashank Mani, which aims to increase the districts per capita growth rate to 10% annually over the next decade. The initiative on the ground is branded as Amrit Prayas.

About AMRIT PRAYAS

Amrit Prayas is a 10-year Economic Development Strategy for Deoria Lok Sabha. It will be implemented under the Deoria Development Alliance, an initiative led by Member of Parliament Shri Shashank Mani and supported by an experienced team of leaders. It aims to increase the district's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate to 9.2% annually over the next decade, generate 1.7 Lakh additional employment, keeping environmental sustainability in mind while releasing Human Potential.

The vision and mission of Amrit Prayas is to rapidly and equitably grow GDP over historical trends, create large-scale, high-quality employment, especially for non-farm jobs, while preserving the environment and realising human potential. Furthermore, we seek to do this in an inclusive manner by having a village and cluster-level implementation plan. A visionary and ambitious project like Amrit Prayas will require a whole-of-society effort with the private sector, the public sector, and the citizens coming together for implementation.

Project Management Unit

The Project Management Unit (PMU) will implement the 10-year roadmap for district-led economic development in Deoria. This team will work directly with concerned stakeholders to anchor investments, remove bottlenecks, and oversee the development and execution of key projects. Their major work streams will be:

1. Agriculture and Allied Industries

2. Local Entrepreneurship / Enterprise

3. Investment Attraction

4. Anchor Projects:

Personnel within the Project Management Unit are full-time professionals dedicated to the daily execution of Amrit Prayas, responsible for strategic delivery, grassroots coordination, stakeholder engagement, and rigorous program monitoring.

TEAM MEMBER AGRICULTURE

About the Role:

The Team Member Agriculture will support the design and implementation of interventions in agriculture, livestock, and aquaculture. The role will focus on:

• Enhancing productivity of existing crops,
• Diversifying into high-value crops,
• Strengthening farmer institutions (FPOs, SHGs, cooperatives),
• Building value addition and processing infrastructure, and
• Enabling market linkages with institutional buyers and private players.

The role demands strong execution skills, farmer engagement capabilities, documentation ability, and close coordination with government and private stakeholders. The Team Member will report to the Team Lead Agriculture.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Implementation

• Support delivery of agriculture and allied projects under Amrit Prayas, aligned with sustainability and inclusivity goals.

Crop Diversification & Productivity

• Identify opportunities for high value crops and diversification opportunities like banana, turmeric, vegetables, mushrooms, and aquaculture diversification.
• Drive productivity enhancement in staple crops through better inputs, irrigation, and agronomic practices.

Farmer Mobilization & Institution Building

• Work with FPOs, SHGs, and cooperatives to strengthen collective bargaining, input access, and aggregation.
• Mobilize farmers for pilots, trainings, and exposure visits.

Value Chain Development

• Facilitate primary/secondary processing (sorting, grading, chips, powders, feed mills, dairy chilling, poultry units).
• Guide branding, certification (GI/organic), and packaging initiatives.

Market Linkages

• Enable connections with buyers, traders, and digital platforms
• Develop cluster-based linkages for high-value crops and livestock products.

Sustainability & Climate-Smart Agriculture

• Promote water efficiency (drip/sprinklers), soil health, crop rotation, organic inputs, renewable energy (solar irrigation, cold storage).
• Identify opportunities for carbon projects and climate-smart interventions.

Monitoring & Reporting

• Prepare detailed action plans with milestones and household-level targets.
• Track implementation progress via dashboards, farmer logs, and periodic reporting.

Cross-vertical Coordination

• Collaborate with Enterprise and Investment teams for integrated solutions (e.g., Linking processing infra to farmer supply).

Knowledge & Documentation

• Draft project reports, feasibility assessments, DPRs, case studies, and best practice documents.
• Capture learnings from pilots to support replication and scale-up.

Educational Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Horticulture, Agribusiness, Rural Development, or related field (required).
• Master's degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness Management, Development Studies, or related discipline (preferred).

Professional Experience:

• Minimum 3-5 years of experience in agriculture/rural development, agribusiness, value chain projects, or allied fields.

Desirable Attributes:

• Experience in government projects, farmer advisory, FPO development, or agribusiness ecosystems.
• Ability to work closely with farmers and grassroots institutions while also engaging national buyers and startups.
• Strong documentation, communication, and training skills.
• Comfort in multi-stakeholder, fast-paced environments with tight delivery timelines.

Location:

The base location will be Deoria with travel to Delhi, and any other place as required for work.