About The Nudge
The/Nudge is an action institute building resilient livelihoods to alleviate poverty. We work with women, farmers, tribals and youth on rural development, agriculture, skilling and economic inclusion, along with 15+ central and state government partners. Our economic inclusion journey for 25 million Indians has reached 10 states with $250M of government funding to cover 1.25M people. Our incubator, accelerator and grand challenges have supported 200+ social entrepreneurs including 17 Forbes 30U30, 3 EarthShot Prize winners, 1 Time Magazine cover and more.
Set up with support from 90+ eminent philanthropists, 40+ corporates and 15+ foundations including Gates, Mackenzie Scott, Vinod Khosla, Nandan Nilekani, Tata Trusts, Skoll, Meta, LinkedIn, HDFC, Mphasis, KPMG and L'Oreal, we are contributing towards a "poverty-free India, within our lifetime."
Who are we solving for?
We are solving for households in poverty who are financially and socially vulnerable through a whole village programme. UdGram targets last-mile villages where poverty is multidimensional and intensified by climate and market constraints, and where communities are largely dependent on agriculture but are unable to make enough from it.
- Whole-village populations
- Priority groups for community integration: women and youth, tribal communities, landless and marginal farmers, and excluded households
- Targeting approach: geography selection based on high MPI deprivation and vulnerability indicators (low cropping intensity, low irrigation, high climate risk, weak service access), followed by household-level diagnostics to tailor support
What are we solving for?
The/Nudge aims to design a time-bound village-level economic inclusion model that is intuitive, locally rooted, and lifts the income levels of the entire village while building climate resilience. UdGram combines intensive graduation support for the most vulnerable with village-wide investment in irrigation, market linkages, climate-smart agriculture, health and sanitation.
Agriculture is the central livelihoods lever. The Agri & Marketing Expert is the person who makes this lever work, transforming knowledge transfer into lasting practice change, and isolated produce into organised, well-priced collective sales.
Position Overview
The Agri & Marketing Expert is UdGram's thematic lead for Pillar 2 (Sustainable Livelihoods), the programme's primary income-generation pillar. This role is responsible for everything that sits between the soil and the market: good agricultural practices (GAP), livestock management, agri-water sufficiency, and collective marketing and market linkages.
You will train and support Field Coaches, Cluster Leads and households, design and run demonstration plots, lead seasonal training blocks, facilitate the first collective sales, and build the market relationships that let communities sell better. You will also own the procurement and distribution of quality seeds and bio-inputs, and will build the producer groups that outlast the programme.
This is a deeply technical and deeply human role. The technical depth matters but so does your ability to translate agronomic knowledge into practice for a tribal household farming a two-acre rainfed plot in Rayagada. The two must come together.
What are some of the principles and approaches we use?
- Demonstration before instruction: households adopt what they see working on a neighbour's plot faster than what they hear in a training room
- Community ownership: build cadres: Krishi Sakhis, Pashu Sakhis, who carry the knowledge after the programme steps back
- Seasonal discipline: agri training before each Kharif and Rabi cycle;
- Market-first design: livelihoods planning starts from what the market will pay, not what the household has always grown
- Government convergence: leverage Agriculture, Horticulture, ATMA, NABARD, OLM, and FPO promotion agencies as force multipliers
What will you do?
A. Training Design and Delivery
You will plan and lead all agricultural training for the programme, in two modes: training Coaches/CRPs who then deliver to households, and direct training of household members in seasonal demonstration blocks. Training is theme-blocked, you deliver an intensive block before each season and step back;
- Design the full seasonal training curriculum for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP): soil preparation, seed treatment, sowing, intercropping, pest and disease management, nutrient management, post-harvest handling, one cohesive training arc before each Kharif and Rabi cycle
- Conduct a 3-day residential training for Coaches before each planting season, equipping them to deliver demo-based field training to households in their villages
- Identify and train a Krishi Sakhi (village agri lead) in each village: a local woman or youth who becomes the first-call agri resource in the village after the programme tapers
- Lead demo-based household training sessions on sowing, intercropping, soil health, bio-input preparation, and value-addition; targeted at women farmers and marginal landholders
- Run seasonal refresher trainings before each new crop cycle; these are shorter (half-day to one day) and assume prior knowledge; they address gaps and new challenges, not the full curriculum again
- Design and run the nutrition garden setup block: seed selection, setup demonstrations, seasonal seed exchange, pest management for kitchen gardens
B. Collective Marketing and Market Linkages
The income gap in Rayagada is as much about price and access as it is about productivity. You will lead the market linkage work — from understanding what buyers want to facilitating the community's first collective sales.
- Conduct a market and price baseline assessment at programme start: identify the key crops, their prevailing farm-gate prices, mandi prices, and institutional buyer prices (FCI, state procurement, private processors)
- Map buyers — mandis, FPOs, processors, institutional buyers — within realistic travel distance of each cluster, and build relationships with them before the first harvest
- Form Producer Groups (PGs) in each village: orient members, run the first meeting, establish the aggregation process, and facilitate the first collective sale event after each Rabi harvest (March–April) and Kharif harvest (November)
- Train household members on MSP awareness, grading and sorting, basic weighing and documentation, and their rights in the mandi — so they can negotiate and transact with confidence
- Support FPO formation (formal registration with NABARD or state FPO Promotion Agency) when Producer Groups are ready — typically by end of the Livelihoods phase
- Facilitate value-addition training (drying, grading, packaging, basic storage) for crops where better presentation or processing can meaningfully improve price realisation
- Coordinate procurement of seeds for collective block sales: identify certified seed sources, negotiate pricing, facilitate distribution, and track seed quality outcomes by variety
C. Input Procurement and Bio-Input Support
You will manage the programme's relationship with input supply — ensuring quality seeds reach households at the right time, and that communities progressively build their own bio-input capacity.
- Identify and empanel 1–2 reliable certified seed suppliers per block; negotiate bulk pricing for programme-supported seed purchases
- Coordinate seasonal seed distribution to cohort villages — track quantities, varieties, and lot numbers; follow up on germination rates and field performance
- Establish bio-input preparation centres at village or cluster level: vermicompost, jeevamrit, panchagavya, neem-based preparations — training a village-level facilitator to run each centre
- Track input costs versus output quality across demo plots and supported households; use the data to refine what inputs the programme recommends season-by-season
D. Government Convergence and Scheme Mobilisation
You will own the agri-specific government interface — the relationships and convergence channels that give the programme leverage far beyond its own budget.
- Build working relationships with the block-level Agriculture Officer, Horticulture Officer, ATMA Farm Advisor, and veterinary department — attending monthly coordination meetings and flagging convergence opportunities
- Identify and facilitate access to agri-specific government schemes: PM Kisan, PMFBY crop insurance, KCC (Kisan Credit Card), ATMA training programmes, and NHM/NFSM scheme benefits for participating households
- Engage with ORMAS or the state's FPO promotion agency on Producer Group registration, equity grant access, and revolving fund linkage
- Represent UdGram at Agriculture Department review meetings and Kisan Melas where relevant; use these forums to increase the programme's visibility with the government
Who are we looking for in this role?
Qualifications and experience
- 4–7 years of experience in agricultural extension, rural livelihoods, or agri-enterprise development, with direct field implementation experience (not solely research or policy)
- Hands-on experience in at least two of the following: GAP training and extension, collective marketing and FPO formation, livestock management in tribal or rain-fed contexts, agri-water structures (MNREGA), or value chain development for small and marginal farmers
- Demonstrated experience training community cadres or CRPs — not just training households, but building the next tier of trainers
- Experience with Odisha or comparable tribal agriculture — familiarity with rainfed farming systems, tribal land use patterns, and the specific pest and soil challenges of this geography strongly preferred
- Exposure to market linkage work: producer group formation, mandi systems, collective selling, or institutional procurement (FCI, state procurement, private buyers)
- B.Sc. or M.Sc. Agriculture, Horticulture preferred; strong field experience in a relevant role may substitute for formal qualification
Skills and attributes
- Training design and delivery: the ability to translate agronomic knowledge into demonstration-based learning that a semiliterate household member can act on the next morning
- Market intelligence: comfort navigating mandi systems, reading price signals, and negotiating on behalf of a producer group
- Community rapport: trusted by farmers; not perceived as an external expert but as someone who learns from the field as much as they teach
- Fluency in Odia essential;
- Organised and data-literate: tracks seasonal data, adoption rates, and market outcomes; can read a spreadsheet and write a structured field note
- Collaborative: works within a team model, your role is to build the capacity of Coaches and Cluster Leads, not to be the only agri person in the room
- Willingness to travel extensively within Rayagada district and be field-based full-time; seasonal peaks (planting and harvest months) require intensive field presence
What’s in it for you?
Own your growth: Our impact-led environment encourages learning and development through L&D wallet, mentorships, and opportunities to grow into new roles.
Find your tribe: We hire for intent, attitude, smarts and skills, in that order. You will join a passionate team committed to people excellence and inclusion.
Take big bets: Be part of scalable and impactful initiatives — driving change across 50,000+ households, 15+ governments, 200+ social enterprises and more.
Make it happen: Work with high autonomy and purpose in a culture that empowers Nudgesters to take action, iterate fast and implement bold ideas.
We aspire to be an inclusive and diverse organisation and encourage qualified individuals irrespective of their religion, caste, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, or any other dimension of identity, to apply.
