Niels Jensen
Recherche partenariat
Agricultural economist with 31 years of experience with smallholder development, market linkage and contract farming, agribusiness development, agricultural trade, agricultural public institutions and farmer associations in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Detailed knowledge of agro-related entrepreneurship; MSME business models, operations and support incl. management of supply chains, logistical arrangements, human resources/job creation, market development, export facilitation, fair trade, financial management, credit facilitation etc. Extensive experience with formulation and implementation of business plans. Carried out study on partnerships between agribusiness SME‘s and large-scale agro-industries. Extensive experience in networking and knowledge sharing with the private agribusiness sector in Africa. Has operated own commercial commodity trading business in Tanzania with procurement, transport and sale of farm inputs (fertilizer, seeds, equipment etc), grains, horticultural produce etc.
Knowledgable about agro-processing technologies such as grain milling, feed production, cassava drying & grating, coffee pulping and curing, tea factories, sugar mills, seed oilextraction, cashew nut processing, abbatoirs etc. Experience with agricultural warehouse management incl. stock monitoring, produce drying, grain handling efficiency parameters etc. Also strong experience with design and management of horticultural pack houses and cold storage/chains. Knowledged about appropriate technology and innovation processes. Experience with food safety, i.e. in relation to grain storage systems and HACCP certification of food processing facilities. Has also been trained and has implemented Glabal GAP certification of export farms.
Highly experienced in designing, managing and evaluating smallholder support programmes. Extensive experience with smallholder contract farming (CF) for raw material processing within a wide range of crops incl. paddy, pulses (beans, groundnuts), paprika/chilli, sugar cane, horticultural produce, sunlower, sesame, cassava etc. Has designed plans for and provided technical support to several CF schemes; modalities includes scheme management, farmer identification, organization and records, contract formulation, farm input & extension services, harvest planning, produce pricing and payment models, grower loan facilitation & recovery etc. Has evaluated CF schemes for paprika/chilli, horticultural produce, coffe, cotton, dairy, sugar cane and soya.
Has designed smallholder and agro-SME support programs incl. the establishment of bank credit lines for agribusiness, catalyst investment grant fund modalities, agribusiness management capacity training/coaching, agribusiness start-up facilitation incl. farm service provision through local business cluster development., scaling-up of small-scale irrigation and other potential farm technologies for emerging commercial farmers and commodity processing. Has also worked with smallholder water use associations.
Strong experience with agricultural supply chain/market analysis & development; has conducted a wide range of agricultural value chain studies for a range of commodities (e.g. grains, coffee, chilli, pulses, horticulture, oilseeds, poultry, cattle/beef and honey). Has analysed export markets and formal and informal cross border trade modalities in Eastern and Southern Africa for a number of crops along with regional comepetitiveness assessments such as Domestic Resource Cost calculations and import/export parity prices.
Has long term working experience with market information systems and database design. Extensive knowledge on smallholder productivity and income generation, technology transfer, risk coping mechanisms, farmer association/coop establishment/development and farmer capacity buiding (training and mentoring). Also experience with the farm input sector; fertilizer and seed supply, seed variety trials/demos/certification, tractor field services etc. Has conducted comparative grain cluster analysis in East Africa.
Extensive experience in preparation of commercial agribusiness plans, feasibility studies, financial investment analysis/modelling (IRR/CBA), investor forums, identification & support, credit & grant fund management, business development service (BDS) management and business environment assessments. Experience with establishment of large commercial farms from bush clearing, soil ripping and other land prep to irrigation, storage and fertigation infrastructure development.
Knowledgeable about sustainable agricultural land management issues i.e. conservation farming and other climate smart technologies, agricultural land/soil mapping, surveying and titling issues. Conversant with the economics of environmental conservation, i.e. applied Cost Benefit Analysis for environmental projects, optimal farm input use, wastehandling etc.
Long- and short-term working experience with GIZ, EuropeAid, World Bank, FAO, bilateral donors, the private consulting sector and NGOs within the Fairtrade sector; has worked with a wide range of CBOs in Africa incl. farmer assocations, savings groups, women and youth associations etc. Was for seven years partner in ABD A/S (DK) specialising in commercial agribusiness and agricultural development consultancies in Africa, especially networking of Danish and Eastafrican agribusinesses and commercial farmers.. Has experience with establishment of BDS entities for agribusiness consultancy services.
Conversant with program design and management incl. Results Chain/Logical Framework design, grant fund management, monitoring & evaluation modalities, program work planning and budgetting, financial reporting, preparation and assessment of technical and financial proposals. Has managed and capacitated teams of agribusiness advisors on a long term basis and has also worked as team leader for a number of short-term consultancies.
Used to multi-cultural/diciplinary teamwork, challenging working conditions in remote rural settings and to the social dynamics of African societies. Can work effectively without supervision and are able to handle large data volumes; has good analytical/triangulation skills -writing and synthesization capabilities are well developed.
Experience with online distance project and workshop mangement under Covid19 restrictions.