The objectives of the project are: (1) To identify barriers to adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) practices, including biophysical, socioeconomic, and institutional and policy constraints; (2) To identify labor-efficient mechanization options for smallholder farmers; and (3) To identify approaches and strategies for inclusive scaling of CA practices. The project will go beyond bio-physical science (agronomic benefits) to encompass social and scaling science to understand not only the bio-physical performance but also the socio-economic and institutional drivers and barriers to adoption of CA technologies and practices.

Under the guidance of the Socio-economist for the ACASA project, the Research Associate will:

• Design and conduct household surveys.

• Conduct focus group discussions and key informant interviews.
• Develop a database and conduct a meta-analysis of available data from surveys and on-station/on-farm experiments on adoption and benefits of conservation agriculture practices in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• Conduct high-quality, scholarly literature reviews.
• Analyze data and contribute to the writing of research reports, journal articles, policy briefs, and other publications of relevance to the project.
• Assist with the organization of stakeholder workshops and consultations.
• Participate in scientific workshops and conferences.
• Train survey supervisors and enumerators.
• Carry out any other duties as may be assigned by the supervisor.

Requirements

• MSc degree in Agric. Economics or Agribusiness from a recognized university.

• Experience conducting economic analysis and familiarity/proficiency with various statistical software packages, such as Stata
• Demonstrated ability to write research reports and journal papers.
• Familiarity with both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
• Proficiency with computer assisted personal interview (CAPI) software such as ODK, CSPro, etc.

• An active interest in socio-economics research.
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• Ability to work independently.

Benefits