If you’re tired of doing the same old chores on the farm, day in and day out, or are looking for a little more excitement in your life, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade might have the perfect job for you.

MFAT is seeking a farming field manager to help set up and run an Agricultural Support Programme in Bamiyan Province, Afghanistan.

The successful applicant will be educating locals on farming selected crops such as wheat, potato and fruit as well as beef, sheep and goats.

The position will run for 9 months beginning in June and MFAT says the ideal applicant will have broad practical farm experience and well as having worked in a developing country context.

MFAT Afghanistan aid programme manager, Mike Seawright, says the goal is to help increase incomes and livelihoods in the Bayman Province by improving farming practices.

“We recognize in Afghanistan that agriculture is one of the few potential industries, especially in Bamiyan, to make some sort of economic headway basically for farming families.

“And in the case of Bamiyan I guess 70-80 percent of the people are engaged in some form of agriculture.

“In terms of New Zealand’s engagement there we want to move that forward a little bit.

Mr Seawright says agriculture in the province is fairly basic.

“Just to give some rough comparisons they still use ox and plough with wooden ploughs to plough the ground for example for potatoes.

“Simple things like they’re not weighted in terms of when they are putting the plough through the soil means they get their families to sit on it – literally the kids sit on it while the ox runs ahead pulling the plough.

“So simple things like this are making huge inefficiancies in the farming sector there."