Research Technician III - Agriculturenew

About IRRI

Job Purpose

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), with the support of the Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, has established the IRRI South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. ISARC serves as a regional platform for research collaboration, capacity building, training, and service provision to institutions, scientists, farmers, and other stakeholders across India, South Asia, and Africa.

Building on the promising outcomes of the Carbon Offsetting Rice Emissions (CORE) project, IRRI and Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) have extended their collaboration through a new initiative entitled “Andhra Pradesh Natural Farming and Low Emission Rice Systems (AP-NATURES)”. The AP-NATURES project aims to generate scientific evidence on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water management under Natural Farming (NF) and Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) systems. The project will develop an emissions database and establish emission factors to model the spatial and temporal distribution of GHG emissions and mitigation potential under NF and AWD, while also generating evidence on improved water management practices, water-use efficiency (WUE), and water productivity (WP) under Natural Farming systems. To achieve these objectives, five implementation activities will be undertaken across 18 farmers’ fields in East Godavari, Eluru, and West Godavari districts during Kharif 2026 and Rabi 2026–27.

The Research Technician will provide dedicated technical and field-level support to facilitate the implementation and timely completion of the planned project activities. The incumbent will assist in coordinating field activities, supporting data collection and monitoring, maintaining project records, and coordinating with farmers and other relevant stakeholders. The incumbent’s support will be essential for ensuring timely field implementation, accurate documentation and data collection, and successful completion of the project deliverables within the defined project period.

This position will be based in the Hyderabad and may only be filled by permanent citizens of India.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Support in the planning of field demonstration and implementation of agreed plan with external stakeholders following the IRRI standardized guidelines.
• Ensure field activities adhere to approved protocols and technical guidelines based on the agreed objectives, outputs, and timelines as reflected in approved impact pathway documents.
• Assist in setting up GHG field experiments, data collection (plant, soil and water) and implementation of package of practices required for experimental field trials and demonstrations conducted in farmers’ fields.
• Support in organization of farmer training, field days, and exposure visits conducted by IRRI and partner institutions.
• Engaging smallholder and women farmers for capacity-building of climate-resilient agronomic practices.
• Support execution of field activities related to low-emission agronomic practices, GHG emissions monitoring and harvest operations.
• Assist field teams, partners, and contract workers during demonstrations, trainings, and field events.
• Maintain inventory of field supplies, seed materials, and equipment, and report when replenishment is needed.
• Maintain and calibrate basic agronomic equipment, as well as some advance equipment (in-field soil and water sensors) and perform minor operational checks and repairs when required.
• Oversee the work of field workers, contract workers and service providers during the routine collection of agronomic and environmental samples in farmers’ fields.
• Communicate with implementation partners, stakeholders and farmers on routine issues to ensure smooth continuation of time-sensitive field activities, and inform the supervisor of any issues arising.
• Support field teams in delivering technical information and recommended practices to farmers and community groups.
• Assist in collecting field data from on-farm trials and coordinating stakeholder visits to demonstration sites.
• Record and encode basic field data for reporting, monitoring, and documentation of project progress.
• Compile, encode and proofread the recorded and observed data, and organize it for analysis by the supervisor and PI.
• Maintain all data files in SharePoint/drive and share it with supervisor and PI on routine basis.
• Monitor the day-to-day progress of research trials, ensuring GHG, soil, plant and water data are collected according to established protocols.
• Perform any other relevant duties, as assigned by supervisor and project leads from time to time

Qualifications

Graduate (BSc. or equivalent) with relevant work experience of 1-2 years or Intermediate with relevant work experience of 7-8 years.

Skills Required

Mandatory

• Has basic knowledge of computer operation, mainly MS Office programs such as Word and Excel and mobile/computer-based data collection.
• Has experience agricultural projects and crop cultivation.
• Has experience in data collection and recording.
• Has experience in office related work.

Preferred

IRRI offers a highly extensive employee benefits package inclusive of globally-covered medical insurance, retirement plan, life and accident insurance and other allowances.

Join our team and be part of our story!

Please note only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
This position will remain open until filled.