Objectives of this study:The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has recently funded a collaborative project “Trade‐offs and synergies in climate change adaptation and mitigation in coffee and cocoa systems” led by IITA and with partners from CIAT, the University of Göettingen and several research and extension institutions in the regions. The overall objective is to quantify and analyze the productivity, profitability and carbon footprint of various Arabica coffee systems in smallholder farming systems in Uganda and Tanzania. An outcome of this initiative is to develop climate smart technologies and strategies which will be packaged into toolboxes to help inform and train farmers on best‐bet climate change adaptation/mitigation options. Within this framework and along latitudinal gradients representing the farm types in the above figure, this PhD study will:
University of Goettingen website- characterise the farming system by undertaking on‐farm surveys and sampling to understand the key drivers/constraints;
- utilise existing predictive models (climate suitability, crop and tree models) at various scales to characterise yield gaps and predict where climate change will most affect production;
- undertake agronomic based trials to validate predictions or to develop new understanding of plant response to management (e.g. shade, increased nutrient status etc.).
- Demonstrated ability to work independently in the field
- Demonstrated ability to manage and analyse data from experiments and utilize crop or tree models.
- Good oral and written communication skills in English
- Experience in writing reports and papers
- a covering letter outlining your motivation for this position;
- Curriculum Vitae, outlining your education, work history, publications and the names (with email addresses) of two references;
- Transcripts of your academic record from Bachelor and Masters level studies to the following three email addresses as soon as possible (closing date July 15, 2013)awhitbr@gwdg.de; sgraefe@gwdg.de; p.vanasten@cgiar.org