Let’s make 2015 the year that youth are making a truly active contribution to agricultural development! Thank you for being part of a very successful year and I hope you are ready to take on 2015. At YPARD we have been developing the capacity of young professionals, advocating for their involvement in agricultural development and ensuring that they have a place... More

The opportunities for the use of maize as food, feed, fodder as well as its use in the industrial sector is significantly increasing in the Asian countries. When reviewing the needs of the poultry sector and the expansion of the maize seed industry, farmers from North West India (Haryana, Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh) show inclination towards the maize cultivation. In... More

According to a recent report by Forum for the Future, a sustainability advisory nonprofit based in the U.K., “doing the right thing for our food system” by investing in good nutrition can reap significant financial rewards; however, stagnation can be incredibly costly. Their report, Nutrition: An Emerging Threat or an Opportunity? analyzed the financial risks of food manufacturers who make products that are high in fat,... More

An european young professionals' experience Young professionals are motivated and willing to bring ideas to adapt to change. They enjoy working as inter-disciplinary teams which is crucial in designing solutions that answer inter-connected development issues. Through YPARD: the international network of young professionals for agricultural development, they gain the credibility to represent the youth around the world within agricultural stakeholders' discussions.... More

It is clear that major development policies in developing countries pay little or no attention to food insecurity and undernutrition. Food insecurity and undernutrition are low on priority list of most countries particularly in Africa. But the costs of food insecurity and undernutrition are staggering. Food insecurity and undernutrition threaten human survival. The 2012 Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report : ‘The State... More

Africa is a net importer of food, spending more than $20 billion each year on food imports. As the African population continues to grow and urbanize at a fast rate, African agriculture and related value chains will be required to grow and evolve quickly. Addressing these problems calls for various initiatives; spanning macro-economic policy, improvements and access to technologies that can... More

Plants are feeding the world and without (modern) agriculture the world could feed only 4 million people. But will we find the solution for feeding 9.5 billion people in 2050? It seems that intensifica­tion is not the answer, as enough food is produced globally, natural resources are getting scarcer and the current status of human food security is highly controversial: about... More

YPARD is delighted to welcome Rahel Wyss as the new Country Representative for Switzerland. Because of new intense professional paths, Johanna has decided to hand over her role as YPARD Switzerland representative to another Young Professional. Read her testimonial about her experience with YPARD. Rahel Wyss has been already fully involved with YPARD in Switzerland; she substituted Johanna at a SFIAR... More

Centre for Sustainable Development's special June Newsletter on the Best New Resources for Adaptation, Resilience and Sustainability presents best international resources on climate change, climate smart agriculture, smallholder value chains, health and water. Centre for Sustainable Development encounters so many excellent nonprofit, climate change, DRR and development  resources that we periodically compile them in a special issue newsletter. Access and download these resources. June... More

As we saw in the past, there are many more rules, laws, conventions are made for protecting the environment but there is no effective implementation . For this implementation youth play a vital role. Young people constitute a large part of the world’s population and young people will have to live longer with the consequences of current environmental decisions than will... More