The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works to improve food security and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for better and more sustainable use of livestock. ILRI is a CGIAR research centre - part of a global research partnership for a food-secure future.
Role Overview
The Feeds Research Officer will work closely with interdisciplinary teams from ILRI's People Policies and Institutions (PPI) and Genetics, Nutrition and Feed Resources (G&NFR) programs. The primary objective is to conduct research on Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) breeding, production, processing, and utilization in livestock diets. This role is crucial for building resilient and sustainable livestock systems that improve livelihoods and enhance food security for smallholder farmers in Africa. This includes optimizing BSFL rearing systems, evaluating the nutritional value of BSFL for different livestock species, scaling, and developing effective extension strategies to promote uptake of BSFL-based livestock diets and frass among smallholder farmers.
Specific Duties and Responsibilities
- Provide specialized technical support for the collection, management, and analysis of data generated from feed resources, including chemical analysis (proximate, fibre, mineral, vitamin, amino acid), and digestibility studies to ensure high-quality data collection, accurate analysis, and effective data management related to the integration of BSFL in animal diets.
- Provide expert support and coordination for the design, development, protocol design, and implementation of animal feeding trials, ensuring high-quality data collection, compliance with institute policies and procedures, and adherence to ethical and scientific standards.
- Support trials evaluating the impact of Black Soldier Fly diets on animal performance, health, and environmental impact, and to work with selected feed companies to optimize Black Soldier Fly Larvae rations.
- Conduct rigorous data analysis of Black Soldier Fly Larvae trial data, generate high-quality outputs including presentations, scientific papers, and tailored dissemination materials, and effectively communicate research findings to diverse audiences, emphasizing the novel applications, impact on animal productivity, and cost-effectiveness of BSFL integration for smallholder farmers.
- To lead and coordinate the planning, implementation, and reporting of the project focused on use of black soldier fly as animal feed, ensuring the timely delivery of project outputs, effective management of project resources, and alignment with research objectives.
- To develop and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including private sector entities, government agencies, national agricultural research systems, farmer collectives, and farmers, while actively engaging in capacity-building initiatives and outreach activities to promote the adoption of sustainable animal feed practices and technologies.
- Other duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications and Experience
- Master’s degree in animal science, Livestock Science, Feeds and Feeding Science, Animal Nutrition, Livestock Production, or specific related areas such as dairy or poultry science.
- Strong understanding of livestock nutrition and diet formulation, particularly in smallholder systems, with knowledge of non-ruminant nutrition (poultry and swine) and opportunities for BSFL inclusion.
- Skills in feed and nutrient analysis, data management, and statistical software.
- Awareness of feeding gaps and systems perspectives in developing-country mixed crop–livestock systems; field-based experimentation experience, with participatory research methods in smallholder systems an advantage.
- Strong quantitative and analytical skills, with proven ability to work in multidisciplinary teams to address feed challenges.
- Demonstrated experience in partnership management, stakeholder engagement, and co-creation of solutions.
- Experience contributing to and leading activities and reporting for small projects, ensuring effective decision-making and team alignment.
- Willingness to travel to rural areas.
- Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain professional contacts, and to interact with national officials and experts, other researchers, international organizations, development partners, and other stakeholders.
- Proficiency in using Ms Office and statistical packages such as STATA, R, SPSS etc.
- Demonstrated good organizational skills and ability to work with a minimum of supervision.
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