Will #GCARD3 boost the #SDG4AG in 2030?

Agriculture is our business and nobody should be left. This peers with this year GCARD’s theme. Farmers, consumers, politicians, scientists, young persons, we are all concerned by agriculture.

The Madiba’s country, the rainbow nation invites us next April for the 3rd GCARD Conference in the capital city of Johannesburg under the theme: “No One Left Behind: Agri-food Innovation and Research for a Sustainable World”. It will be an opportunity for participants to discuss on multi stakeholders inclusion on agri-food innovation and research for a sustainable world.

The themes of the meeting are linking with the sustainable development goals. The conference offers a unique place to develop strong strategies on agricultural research for development as it plays a meaningful role in maintaining momentum in agricultural sector. Other topics will be developed on business of farming, development of attractive investment in agricultural sector, using technologies for agricultural development and for the better rural futures. Many developing countries continue to apply subsistence farming and contribute increasingly to the national Gross Domestic Product (up to 40% in the Democratic Republic of Congo). Actually, it is important to consider the agriculture as a business and mechanized.

I attended the 2013 ICT4Ag Conference in Kigali where I was trained on social reporting prior the main conference by the CTA and published a blog on Earth Audit. It was an opportunity for me to learn more on blogging, effective use of social channels and help me to raise my audience on social media. Through YPARD, I volunteered as online social media reporter for 2014 World Agroforestry Congress.

In March 2014, the African Union, under the Commission of Rural Economy and Agriculture invited me to attend the 10 Anniversary of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program Partnership Plate form in Durban.

We developed a Youth and Agribusiness Plan in Africa. The action was followed in November 2014 by the 2nd African Union-Private sector and Agribusiness Forum in Kigali, where African Youth proposed a plan on youth involvement in agribusiness at the continental level.

At the GCARD3 we will use social media’s vuvuzela to amplify youth voices and we will close by Shosholoza to loud the voice millions of farmers who feed their countrymen with subsistence farming to have access to technologies.

We are Youth, and agriculture is our future. Visit also my blogs Youth4AgDRCongo, Bukavu My city.

I am Congolese national (DR Congo) and hold a bachelor degree in Agroforestry and worked since 7 years with local and indigenous communities and particularly women and youth on agroforestry and environmental sustainability.

I am coordinating Jeunes Volontaires de Grands Lacs pour l’Environnement, a led youth organization working in Eastern DR Congo.

I worked as M&E and agro forester expert at the Office of Studies and Planning for the Division of Environment, Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development. I continue to work with communities and plan to develop some tools for forest fire monitoring and diseases prevention for sustainable food production and sustainable forest management.

This blog post is part of the GCARD3 Youth blogpost applications. The content, structure and grammar is at the discretion of the author only.

Picture credit: Prince Wilondja Wabilima