The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the internationally recruited position of Banana Breeder.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innova­tions to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Please visit http://www.iita.org/ for more information on IITA.

IITA focuses on breeding of six very important crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): cassava, yam, banana/plantain, maize, soybean, and cowpea. These breeding programs have been reviewed using the Breeding Program Assessment Tool (BPAT) (https://plantbreedingassessment.org/) and have had extensive interactions with the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding (EiB) platform. As a result, crop specific and cross cutting (institutional) improvement plans have been developed along with product profiles and market segmentation analyses. Implementing these plans will be a central part of the Accelerating Breeding Initiative of the OneCGIAR with active involvement and close collaboration with other Initiatives within the Genet­ic Innovation Science Area and bilateral projects.

The successful candidate will design, execute, and manage the banana breeding program, while also coordinating a breed­ing network targeting East and Central African banana prioritized market segments. The successful candidate will work closely with local partner organizations, including CGIAR and NARES institutions, as well as other partners, to establish a crossing and evaluation program aimed at delivering superior varieties that support rapid adoption by farmers. This position reports to Banana Breeding Program Lead.

Position Responsibilities

• Breeding Strategy: Formulating breeding strategies aimed at achieving specific goals, such as increasing yield, improving stress tolerance, or enhancing nutritional content.
• Product Design and Development: Implement an effective breeding strategy to develop elite breeding material and a product advancement process to identify new candidate varieties for targeted market segments and product profiles.
• Demand-led Breeding: Support and contribute to the revision of market segment definition and product profile development and seed system activities in the region.
• Germplasm Development: Working with NARS and selected partners, identify, obtain and develop appropriate germplasm to sustain the breeding program.
• Coordination: Coordinate the development of a stage gate multilocation product performance testing strategy, data analysis and advancement process, which is aligned with target market segments, TPEs or Agro-ecologies.
• Optimization of Breeding Processes and Operations: Ensure cost effective breeding operations, and standard operating procedures that deliver agreed quality and performance indicators.

Collaboration and Partnerships: Develop strong partnerships with national public breeding programs to collabora- tively identify critical germplasm, product needs and define complementary breeding objectives.

Enable and actively support the regional crop network to collaboratively plan and implement breeding activities that optimize the development of individual and shared network germplasm products and builds capacity to share knowl­edge, best practices, training etc.

Capacity Building: Provide training and mentorship to breeding staff, partners and scholars on breeding techniques, methodologies, data analysis and scientific communication.

Reporting: Produce monthly and annual reports.

Educational Qualifications

The candidate should have a PhD in plant breeding, genetics, or a related field. At least 5 years of experience in plant breeding.

Experience applying quantitative genetics principles, genomics and latest breeding technologies is desired.

Experience working in the tropics will be considered favourably.

Experience with polyploid and perennials is an asset.

Strong networking and facilitating skills with focus on enabling and empowering others to succeed.

Demonstrated ability to work in multicultural and diverse environments.

Excellent interpersonal, analytical and organizational skills.

Successful experience and commitment to inclusive research design and implementation.

Evidence of experience in resource mobilization.

Excellent written and oral communication skills.