Agriculture Information Specialist - Geographic Information Systems and Earth Observation (SC 7)

Organizational Context

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) country offices assist governments in developing policies and programs for food security, hunger reduction, and sustainable agricultural, fisheries, and forestry sectors. The FAO Office in Zimbabwe, for 2022-2026, supports government efforts through its Country Programme Framework, focusing on inclusive agrifood systems, climate resilience, and natural resource management. Zimbabwe is a pilot country for the ESTELLA project, integrating Earth Observation (EO) technology and farmer registry data to enhance agricultural statistics and decision-making.

Job Purpose

This role is crucial for the operational deployment and management of a Sen4CAP pilot project in Zimbabwe. The primary focus is on integrating Earth Observation (EO) derived indicators with national farmer registry data and developing or configuring IT solutions, including mobile applications, for data collection at the farmer or extension level. A key responsibility will be the development of an interactive GIS platform to monitor progress on ecological health and biodiversity, supporting national policy information needs and institutional workflows.

Responsibilities

Support the implementation of the Sen4CAP operational pilot in Zimbabwe, integrating EO-derived indicators with the national farmer registry for policy use cases under the ESTELLA project. This involves consulting with national stakeholders to confirm priority indicators and use cases, mapping policy needs to Sen4CAP outputs, and executing pre-defined processing chains. The role requires coordinating the ingestion and validation of farmer plot data, packaging and delivering EO outputs to designated users, and acting as the national technical interface between FAO, national institutions, and technical partners. Additionally, design, develop, or configure a mobile solution for farmer-facing data collection, ensuring usability in low-connectivity environments and interoperability with national systems. Provide technical mentoring to national staff on EO and GeoAI workflows, facilitate coordination meetings, and prepare a final technical report. A significant task is to design and develop an interactive Remote Sensing/GIS dashboard for tracking human-wildlife coexistence and biodiversity, including identifying and mapping ecological hazards and risks using machine learning techniques.

Work Experience

Requires at least five years of relevant professional experience in Earth Observation, geospatial analysis, GeoAI, or related technical fields. Experience working with agricultural or land-related datasets and with government institutions or development partners is considered an asset.

Skills

Essential skills include practical experience with Earth Observation data and GeoAI or machine learning techniques. Proficiency in geospatial processing environments such as QGIS, Python or R, and Google Earth Engine is required. The ability to extract, manage, and structure plot-level EO indicators and document technical workflows is crucial. Core competencies include Results Focus, Teamwork, Communication, Building Effective Relationships, and Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement.

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