The mission
A premium that arrives in year four can't carry a farmer through year one.
Regenerative farms dip before they recover, and nobody pays for the dip. Mendroot already pays 310 farms through it. This role designs the payments that carry all 1,200.
- Regenerative food
- Smallholder finance × Agronomy
- Full-time
- Closes 10 Jan
Farmgate Economist
Mendroot · Kumasi, hybrid · $50–65k · 40 people
or
Your part in it
- DESIGN
- the bridge payment: amount, timing, and repayment from the Soil Grade premium.
- TEST
- the terms with three farmer co-ops before anything is signed.
- PAY
- farmers by mobile money, in the months they actually need cash.
- TRACK
- every repayment against the farm's soil score.
- REPORT
- to funders on what the money did, farm by farm.
What success looks like
- DAY 30
- you’ve recorded twenty farm budgets and named the hardest month on each.
- DAY 60
- draft terms fit on one page, in Twi and English, and three co-ops have read them.
- DAY 90
- the first 100 farms have a bridge payment scheduled.
What you’ll need
- 3+ years in microfinance, farm economics or rural development
- Cash-flow models you can explain to a farmer
- Willingness to spend a week a month on farms
Nice to have, not required
- Any agronomy background. Amaka will teach you the rest.
- Experience paying people by mobile money
Where you’ll work
- OFFICE
- Kumasi (Adum), Monday to Wednesday. Co-op calls and payment runs happen in person.
- REMOTE
- Thursday and Friday, from anywhere in Ghana.
- FIELD
- One week a month on partner farms in the Ashanti Region. Travel and lodging paid.
- HOURS
- Greenwich Mean Time. Core hours 09:00–14:00.
- MAR–MAY
- Lean season. Payment runs every two weeks, with a day off after each.
Languages
| Language | Need | Why |
|---|---|---|
| English | Required | Team language, and the language of every funder report. |
| Twi | Nice to have | Most co-op meetings around Ejura run in Twi. We pay for lessons. |
Where this role takes you
Week 1
You sit at the kitchen table.
Visit twenty farms around Ejura with Amaka. Ask what each farm earned and spent last year, and which month was hardest.
20farm budgets recorded
Day 90
You price the bridge.
Design the advance payment: how much, when, and how it is repaid from the Soil Grade premium. Test it with three farmer co-ops before anyone signs.
3co-ops testing the terms
Year 1
Every transition farm is covered.
All 1,200 farms can take a bridge payment in their lean months, paid by mobile money, with repayments tracked against their soil scores.
0farms quitting for lack of cash
2030
Farmers paid to restore soil.
Mendroot's goal is 250,000 hectares of restored soil across West Africa. The payment model you design is what lets a farmer afford the switch.
250khectares restored
Meet the crew. There's a seat for you.
- You?This seatFarmgate Economist
Amaka Obi · Head of agronomy, your manager
“I can tell you what a cover crop does for the soil. You'll tell me what it does to a family's September.”
On a bad day: disappears into a field and comes back calmer.
The essentials
Farmgate Economist · Mendroot
- Salary
- $50–65k
- Where
- Kumasi, 3 days in office
- Leave
- 28 days
- Extras
- Farm housing at harvest
How you'll interview · about 2 weeks
- 1 · Chat with Amaka
- 2 · Price a bridge payment (paid)
- 3 · Meet the crew
- 4 · A co-op meeting in Ejura
Your first stop
Twenty farm kitchen tables around Ejura
Not ready to apply? Talk to Esi for 15 minutes.
No CV needed. Ask about the work, the people, or what a hard week looks like.