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Horticultural Production – General Application

CNFA is always accepting applications of individuals experienced in horticulture production, who are interested in serving as Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers in the future. If you see a specific volunteer assignment that you are interested in, please apply directly to that solicitation. If there are not any assignments that fit your skillset within horticultural production, please submit your information through this general application.

Program Background

The John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program is authorized by the U.S. Farm Bill and managed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). F2F works to generate rapid, sustained economic growth in the agricultural sector through short-term technical assistance provided by U.S. volunteers and supported by highly trained local staff. A secondary goal of F2F is to increase the American public’s understanding of international development issues and programs, and international understanding of the United States and U.S. development programs.

CNFA is implementing F2F in the Southern Africa region, working in Malawi, Mozambique, and Angola. We rely on the expertise of U.S. volunteers from diverse backgrounds to respond to the needs of hosts. These hosts can be farms, processors, cooperatives, farmer associations, or other agricultural enterprises; they vary in size and commodity focus.

Illustrative Assignment Objectives

Each volunteer assignment has distinct objectives that are determined by the needs of the host organization. Some examples of horticultural production assignment objectives include:

  • Train smallholder farmers and community members in fruit/vegetable production techniques, potentially including integrated pest management and soil fertility management.
  • Assist in the development of a production plan for farms or farmer associations
  • Train farmers on how maximize the use of available water resources
  • Assist farmers in defining resources necessary to implement a strategic plan (labor, machinery, tools, seeds, fertilizer).
  • Assist farmers in using composting technology to reduce input costs
Desired Qualifications

You must be U.S. citizen or permanent resident to be a F2F volunteer. Each assignment will have unique qualification requirements based on the needs of the host. Some typical qualifications for horticultural production volunteers include:

  • Degree and extensive experience in agriculture, agribusiness, crop and soil science, horticulture, farm management, or related field.
  • Knowledge and experience in farm management.
  • Experience in growing open field vegetables; may include tomato, cucumber, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce.
  • Experience in small scale irrigation systems – set up, maintenance, use of.
  • Experience in adult education.
  • Good presentation and report writing skills.

 

 

If you encounter difficulties submitting an application through this website, please email your CV to F2Finfo@cnfa.org, with ‘General Application – Horticultural Production’ as the subject.