International Food Policy Research Institute Horticulture scientist (consultant individual) for AI-assisted photo-based quality and food loss assessments International Food Policy Research Institute • Nigeria • via Shortlist Job Board

To feed its growing population amid climate change and other challenges, the developing world needs a flourishing food system that is nutrition-sensitive, efficient, safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable. This requires bringing modern technologies to local communities, helping stakeholders to acquire the relevant technical know-how, and building strong partnerships and institutions. Developed countries around the world can play important roles in these efforts and Japan is one of them. We explore how Japan can lend its expertise to address food and nutrition challenges in the developing world by examining the transferability of Japan’s advanced technologies, know-how and institutional innovations to the developing world.

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), under the financial support through the Japanese Government’s FY2025 Supplementary Budget, implements the project “Reducing food loss with AI-assisted photo-based quality assessment in conflict-affected Northeast Nigeria”.

In many developing countries, including Nigeria, much of fruit and vegetable production is lost largely because of lack of an adequate cold chain, including postharvest handling, cold storage and temperature-controlled transportation. As a result, not only the availability of fish, fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs and meat but also the safety and nutritional content of the food are affected. Under such conditions, all agents in the supply chain including farmers suffer from income reduction, while consumers face unstable and lower-quality supply of normally more nutritious foods.

The proposed intervention aims to accurately measure the magnitude of food loss and identify critical areas to reduce the loss at the post-harvest chain from farmgate to retail markets. AI-assisted photo-based quality and food loss assessment will be introduced to understand (a) quality distribution (including the rate of spoilage) and (b) the volume of loss in the tomato value chain at up to 40 wholesale and retail markets.

IFPRI is seeking qualified consultants who can develop visual reference charts for the AI program development in the AI-assisted photo-based quality and food loss assessments on tomato and contribute to the research. Tasks include preparation works such as collecting all necessary photos on tomato (varieties, maturity stages including rotten, unfit for sales such as damages, diseases, etc) and organizing them to develop visual charts that guide annotation works for the AI training.

• Develop visual reference charts on tomato covering varieties relevant in Nigeria
• The charts are two types: (a) maturity stages including rotten (unripe, ripe, fully ripe, overripe, and rotten) and (b) discarded: damages, diseases, etc., for each maturity stage in (a)
• Collect photos (if needed, take photos) required to develop visual reference charts defined in (a) and (b)
• Frequently discuss with Inaho Inc. in Japan, IFPRI and local collaborators to improve the quality of works

April 2026 to March 2027. We anticipate signing a contract as soon as possible.

Required qualifications of the consultant / survey team leader:

• Demonstrated outstanding experience in conducting field works in Nigeria
• Demonstrated experience in horticulture research, especially tomato
• Demonstrated ability to communicate with value chain actors
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Excellent tracking records with international collaborators
• Demonstrated experience in conducting top class research on horticulture science
• Demonstrated experience in field and experimental data collection

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