National Specialist in Fish Post-harvest

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is at the forefront of work towards sustainable agriculture and food systems by promoting protection and sustainable use of natural resources, while meeting society’s growing needs for decent and resilient livelihoods. FAO has worked in Sri Lanka for over four decades, sharing technical expertise and building the capacity of stakeholders in agriculture, fisheries, livestock, forestry and environment sectors to build resilience, increase food security and ensure sustainable management of natural resources.

Aquatic foods are among the healthiest food on the planet and should be essential part of healthy diets. In addition, aquatic foods are also among the foods with the lowest carbon footprint when it comes to production. Aquatic foods are highly perishable; therefore, particular care is required at harvesting and all along the supply chain. If not correctly treated after harvesting, they can soon become unfit to eat and possibly lead to food safety risks. Proper handling, processing, preservation, packaging, and storage measures are essential to extend shelf-life, ensure food safety, maintain quality and nutritional attributes, and avoid loss and waste. 
Food loss and waste occur in most, if not all, fisheries, and aquaculture supply chains. Losses constitute lost income to fishers, processors, and traders, but they also contribute to food insecurity, as a loss of fish means less fish available for the consumer. For these reasons, reducing this loss and waste is becoming increasingly more important. Under Component 5 of the project on “Responsible use of fisheries and aquaculture resources for sustainable development” (GCP/GLO/352/NOR), sustainable utilization of fisheries and aquaculture products and its contribution to livelihoods and food security will be enhanced through the application of multi-dimensional solutions to reduce FLW in fish value chains. The project will contribute to addressing knowledge gap by enhancing capacity of fish value chain stakeholders in FLW solutions, improving application of multi-dimensional solutions, and strengthening evidence based FLW knowledge products. The multi-day (gill net, longline, ring net) fishery is associated with quality losses; especially, the gill net fishery. The multi-day fishery produces high volumes of fish and employs many people both in fishing and post-harvest activities. Much of the fish is destined for the national market and hence there is an important contribution to domestic food security. Some longline tuna is exported and so the fishery also contributes to foreign exchange earnings. The multi-day fishery was singled out at the project stakeholder meeting as a priority for government in terms of reducing fish loss and waste.

This project aims to implement strategies to minimize post-harvest losses incurred during on-board handling and improve the overall efficiency of multi-day boat practices.

FAO Sri Lanka is recruiting a consultant to to provide expert guidance and technical assistance to implement strategies to reduce post-harvest losses during on-board handling of fish in Sri Lankan multi-day boat practices. The post is based in the FAO Representation in Colombo, Sri Lanka with delivery basis payments.

Reporting Lines:

The specialist will be working in close coordination with the national Project coordinator regarding project implementation. He/she will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives and the Assistant FAO Representative (Programme). 

Tasks and responsibilities:

Candidates Will Be Assessed Against The Following:

Minimum Requirements: