Job Description: Biomass Procurement & Supply Chain Officer
Location: Krishnagar, Nadia District, West Bengal
Position Type: Full-Time, Field-Intensive
Reports To: Project Manager / Operations Head
Language Requirements: Fluent in Bengali (essential for rural community engagement) and working knowledge of Hindi/English.
Job Purpose
The Biomass Procurement Officer will be responsible for building, managing, and scaling the supply chain of agricultural residues (jute sticks, rice husk/straw, mustard stalks, maize residue, etc.) for our biochar project in Nadia. This role requires a mix of field-level relationship building, negotiation with local aggregators (farias), partnership development with Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), and logistical coordination to ensure an uninterrupted, cost-effective supply of biomass to the production plant.
Key Responsibilities
1. Sourcing & Vendor Management
- Identify, onboard, and manage local agricultural middlemen (farias), aggregators, and transport contractors across Krishnagar and neighboring blocks.
- Establish long-term supply tie-ups with local rice mills (chatals) for consistent rice husk procurement.
- Partner with NABARD/State-backed Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and Gram Panchayats to secure bulk agricultural residues.
- Run village-level awareness campaigns to encourage farmers to sell their residues directly to our collection centers instead of burning them.
2. Quality Control & Field Operations
- Enforce strict quality metrics at the time of purchase, specifically measuring and auditing moisture content and ash/soil contamination using digital meters.
- Implement a graded pricing structure based on biomass quality (moisture discounts).
- Coordinate the seasonal mapping of crops in Nadia to anticipate supply spikes and shortages (e.g., jute sticks in autumn, mustard/paddy in spring).
3. Logistics & Storage Coordination
- Organize cost-effective local transport (via tractors, motorized vans, or local trucks) from farm gates/aggregation points to the project site.
- Oversee the inventory at the central storage yard, ensuring proper stacking, ventilation, and fire-safety compliance for highly volumetric materials like jute sticks and straw.
- Ensure strategic stockpiling of dry biomass ahead of the monsoon season to guarantee year-round plant operations.
4. Documentation & Reporting
- Maintain transparent weight, quality, and payout records for all procured biomass.
- Prepare weekly/monthly procurement cost analyses and volume forecasts for management review.
Required Qualifications & Skills
- Experience: 2–5 years of experience in rural procurement, agricultural supply chain, agribusiness, or raw material sourcing. Experience working within West Bengal’s agricultural ecosystem is highly preferred.
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness Management, Supply Chain, Business Administration, or a related field. (Equivalent on-the-ground field experience will be valued over degrees).
- Local Knowledge: Strong geographic and cultural familiarity with the Nadia district (Krishnagar, Tehatta, Ranaghat, Nakashipara, etc.).
- Interpersonal Skills: Exceptional negotiation and relationship-building skills. Ability to confidently interact with smallholder farmers, local traders, mill owners, and government officials alike.
- Mobility: Must possess a valid two-wheeler driving license and a vehicle for intensive field travel across rural clusters.
- Tech Savviness: Basic smartphone and computer literacy to log procurement data, use messaging apps for coordination, and manage simple spreadsheets.
A "Son/Daughter of the Soil" (Rural Background)
- Why: A candidate raised in a farming family in Nadia (e.g., from areas like Tehatta, Nakashipara, or Chapra) will already know how the local agricultural economy functions. They will inherently understand when harvesting happens, how farmers think, and what they normally do with leftover jute sticks or paddy straw.
2. Fluent in the Local Dialect & Culturally Relatable
- Why: Procurement is 90% negotiation and trust-building. Rural communities can be wary of corporate or "city-educated" outsiders trying to purchase what they see as waste. The candidate must be able to sit at a village cha-er dokan (tea stall), chat comfortably with the farmers or local farias (middlemen), and build immediate rapport using the regional Bengali dialect.
3. Highly Mobile and Action-Oriented
- Why: This is not an office job. The ideal candidate must own a two-wheeler, have a valid license, and genuinely enjoy traveling through village dirt roads and muddy fields during harvest seasons. They shouldn't mind spending hours in the heat audit-checking moisture levels or directing tractor logistics.
4. High Integrity & Street Smarts
- Why: Because procurement involves handling raw transactions, volume estimates, and weighing metrics at the farm gate, the candidate must be highly honest but sharp enough not to get cheated by middlemen attempting to pass off wet or dirt-clogged biomass.
Please share your resume [email protected]
Pay: ₹25,000.00 - ₹35,000.00 per month
Work Location: In person
