Final Phase Fair Trade Management
Bachelor of Agri Systems Management
Career opportunities
As a graduate in Fair Trade Management/Agri Systems Management, you will have gained a professional knowledge of sustainable agricultural products and of the management of an agricultural chain. You will be active in countries and agri-sectors that are developing. It concerns local, regional or international agri-production and sale. You will be active especially in the beginning of the chain (stands up for the interest of the producer). In doing so you deal with farmers/market gardeners (mostly women), producers organisations (agricultural cooperatives) and purchasing organisations (Fair Trade, Max Havelaar Import-Export companies). And also with government organisations and NGO's.
Because of the increasing emphasis on sustainable entrepreneurship (people-planet-profit) and supply-chain management chain management becomes more and more important. You are challenged to come up with a strategic and practical interpretation for how to deal with social, economic and environmental interests (people-planet-profit) and to combine these three elements harmonious. In doing so you do not only focus on project control but also process control. In order to perform these tasks adequately you operate from chain knowledge in combination with market politics. The specific knowledge of product and quality (knowledge of how the crops grow) and the ability to speak a foreign language will make you someone who can communicate with farmers and is able to intermediate between and within the different groups in a competitive field. Additionally you are solution-oriented, pro-active, systematic, emphatic and communicative.
As an Agri Systems Manager all kinds of jobs await you - in Europe and the tropics alike. You may become a production manager on a tropical farm, a chain development manager or a consultant in one of a range of commercial or noncommercial organisations. Other job examples are: Sourcing Manager for AgroFair, buying fruits from tropical countries, Project Manager for Oxfam-Novib, Regional Coordinator for Fair-trade Labelling Organisation International (FLO) in Central America, Certification Analyst for FLO Cert GmbH, evaluating fair trade standards.
Haike Rieks from The Netherlands
Consultant in tropical agriculture
"I work part-time within the EPOPA programme, Export Promotion of Organic Produce from Africa, which collaborates with exporters who buy organic produce from small farmers, which is then exported to Europe, America and Japan. These farmers receive a group certification, which gains them a better price for their produce. My job within the programme consists of coordinating different projects, informing people about production, improving quality, and various options for certification. I also pay regular visits to the field, which means travelling to Uganda, Tanzania or Zambia to train people, discuss progress, seek out new projects, and meet potential exporters."
"Enjoy working in various cultural settings."