Farm Manager

About Freshvale

Freshvale is a Zambian agribusiness SME enterprise dedicated to sustainable, community empowerment, and agricultural excellence.  Inspired by a 42-year legacy of commercial pioneering in Zambia, Freshvale is built upon the strategic principles, resilience, and vision of our business's late founding Chairman. 

Freshvale specialises in the production of cherry tomatoes, as our primary anchor, where we maintain a strong market position and are actively expanding our range. Alongside our fresh vegetables, our nursery produces a robust seedling catalogue—including tomato, onion, cabbage, lettuce, peppers, eggplant, beetroot, leafy greens—with a growing focus on cherry tomato, aromatic herbs, and chilli seedlings. By providing these advanced, high-yield seedlings, Freshvale serves as a premium sourcing partner for entry-to mid-level growers looking to scale, established commercial, and specialised high-value agricultural markets. 

Role Summary

The Manager holds overall responsibility for production across both of Freshvale’s sites — both the nursery/seedling operation and cherry tomato and vegetable cropping. You will translate the Managing Director’s commercial goals into practical production plans and deliver them: hitting yield, quality, and cost targets, leading the site teams, and ensuring the right products are ready in the right quantities to meet customer orders. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can run day-to-day operations independently while keeping the MD informed and escalating major decisions.

Key Responsibilities 

Production & Agronomy

• Plan and manage the cropping calendar and nursery production schedules across both sites to meet sales forecasts and customer orders.
• Oversee all production stages — propagation, transplanting, irrigation and fertigation, crop nutrition, pest and disease management, harvesting, grading and packing.
• Maintain high seedling quality: germination rates, healthy transplants, and proper hardening-off across the full seedling catalogue.
• Drive yield and quality of cherry tomatoes and other crops, and uphold consistent grading and quality standards for produce.
• Scout crops regularly for pests and disease and implement an effective integrated pest management (IPM) programme.

Operations

• Develop a maintenance plan for all mechanical or electrical equipment
• Great housekeeping skills, ensuring workers use the right tools and work safely  

Site, Inputs & Resource Management

• Manage both sites to use land, water, greenhouses/tunnels, irrigation systems, and equipment efficiently.
• Plan and control inputs (seed, growing media, fertilisers, agrochemicals): forecast requirements, manage stock levels, and minimise waste and losses.
• Ensure infrastructure and equipment are maintained and operational, working with the Maintenance & Logistics Supervisor.
• Maintain biosecurity and hygiene standards across both sites to protect crop health.
• Infrastructure plan for expansion and services including borehole and irrigation systems design and layout. (Ability to use CAD tools is an advantage) 
• Oversee light construction works, sinking boreholes, building structures

Team Leadership

• Lead, supervise, and develop the site supervisors and labour across both sites.
• Plan labour allocation, schedules, and the seasonal workforce to match production needs and control labour costs.
• Train staff on best practices, standard operating procedures, and safe working methods; set targets and manage performance.

Quality, Compliance & Safety

• Enforce food-safety, agricultural best-practice, and quality standards throughout production.
• Ensure compliance with Zambian agricultural, environmental, employment, and occupational-safety regulations, including safe handling, storage, and application of agrochemicals.
• Maintain accurate records for traceability, certifications, and audits.

Planning, Reporting & Cost Control

• Prepare and manage production budgets; monitor and control input, labour, and operating costs.
• Track and report production data — yields, germination rates, wastage, and harvest volumes — to the Managing Director for decision-making.
• Forecast production against sales orders and coordinate on product availability and delivery timelines.
• Contribute to expansion planning, including new crops, varieties, and scaling of the operation.
• Look our for new technologies in pest and disease control to advise the MD

Coordination & Order Fulfilment

• Coordinate with the administrative/operations and sales functions to fulfil seedling and produce orders accurately and on time.
• Ensure harvesting, grading, and dispatch align with customer delivery schedules.
• Support key-customer relationships on production, quality, and supply matters.

Key Performance Indicators

• Crop yield and quality against targets (per site and overall).
• Seedling germination and quality/rejection rates.
• On-time, in-full fulfilment of customer orders.
• Crop loss and input wastage kept within agreed limits.
• Production and input costs managed within budget.
• Labour productivity and compliance/audit outcomes.

Required Qualifications & Competencies

• Diploma or degree in Agriculture, Horticulture, Crop Science, Agronomy, or a related field.
• 5+ years of or production management experience, ideally in vegetable or horticultural production.
• Strong practical agronomy knowledge: irrigation and fertigation, crop nutrition, and integrated pest and disease management.
• Proven team leadership — managing supervisors and sizeable field labour teams.
• Sound planning, budgeting, and cost-control skills, with disciplined record-keeping and reporting (comfortable working with data and spreadsheets).
• Experience with protected cropping (greenhouses/tunnels) and drip irrigation or fertigation systems.
• Experience running nursery/seedling production.
• Experience managing multiple sites or scaling an operation.
• Knowledge of Zambian agricultural practices, agrochemical regulations, and employment and safety requirements.
• Valid driver’s licence, with the ability to travel regularly between the two sites.
• Hands-on, results-driven, and able to work independently and be accountable for production targets.
• Strong communication and problem-solving skills; trustworthy and dependable.

Nice-to-Haves

• Direct experience with cherry tomatoes or other high-value horticulture.
• Competence with equipment (tractors); mechanical and electrical knowledge and skills are highly desired.
• Relevant certifications (e.g. safe pesticide handling).
• Familiarity with or inventory software, and with seasonal business cycles.