“Ho avy” is the Malagasy word for “future”, yet when a social scientist recently asked a farmer in southwestern Madagascar’s spiny forest region what she thinks about the future, her reply was “we don’t”. We are on a mission to change this at a systemic level, and as YPARD recognizes, that means focusing on youth. This past September, our small NGO,... More

Long gone are the days where social media was considered merely as "just fun for the kids". Social media is now an essential part of communications. It is now central to expand outreach and stimulate dialogues and collective actions among professionals in agricultural development. Still, the diversity of tools and the intrinsic of how to use them effectively are overwhelming. Sharpen... More

We are delighted to welcome the YPARD Country representative for Uganda, Sylvia Natukunda Mwesigwa. Sylvia has over 10 years of experience working as an agribusiness consultant for several projects and organisations. Key among these include her previous position as the National Agribusiness Consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). Her expertise stems from the training she... More

A YPARD Delegation of young professionals from the southern and northern mediterranean region was invited by the GFAR to participate to the 4th Mediterranean Congress 2015: Rural Communities, No Longer Left Behind, in Milan, co-organized by the Fondation du Dialogue Sud-Nord Méditerranée. In no time we gathered 17 young people from 11 countries (from both north and south), with 50% of... More

  The 2nd International Conference on Global Food Security  recently convened at Cornell University’s campus in Ithaca, NY from October 11-14, 2015, gathered over 660 participants from over 60 countries. Jointly organized by Columbia University’s Cheryl Palm and Cornell University’s Christopher B. Barrett, the conference focused on promoting research in agronomy, economics, nutrition, and other disciplines addressing key challenges affecting global... More

Thomas Prince They’re young, articulate and organized and they want to be heard. They are the new generation of agricultural professionals who want a future on the land and to be able to make a difference to the social and economic life of their communities. One of most important and exciting outcomes of the 4th Congress of the South-North Mediterranean Dialogue... More

It’s held every five years and goes by many names: the world’s fair, world exposition, and universal expo to just name a few.  This year’s world’s fair was held in Milan, Italy (from May 1-October 31, 2015) and its the first time this historic gathering has been themed around food: “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.”  With a strong emphasis on... More

Samwel Gatimu Murage Before I joined YPARD, I was working in animal feed formulation and production, hay and livestock keeping. I remember my dad’s reaction (he’s a dairy farmer) to my first dairy meal product: He couldn’t believe the improvement the meal made to dairy production at our farm. I never thought I would grow my company, Lesah farm, into a... More

Youth involvement in agriculture in Africa is worryingly dismal with almost 200 million people aged between 15 and 24.These statistics present a serious challenge if this population segment is not productively engaged in food production early enough. The average age of a farmer in Africa is estimated at  55 but the question on who will feed the world when this farmer... More

World Food Day 2015 (16th October) had been set aside to maximize global food security with the focus on social protection and agriculture – breaking the cycle of rural poverty. With the recent launch of the Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs), of which “No Hunger” is the second among the 17 goals, there is a clear indication that world leaders must develop... More

by Jolan van Herwaarden               Update, 5 Nov. 2015: The webinar about the principles of fundraising is now closed. Watch the recorded webinar. Learn more about Jolan, our Expert Guest from The Resource Alliance, below. Money makes the world go round, right? Well, maybe that is not entirely true (I personally think it is Empathy but let’s not... More

The International Center for Food Industry Excellence (ICFIE) is conducting a survey about the perceptions and aspirations of youth who migrate from their place of origin and youth who prefer to stay in their place of birth. By filling out this survey you will help us to have a better understanding of the relation between migration, perception, and aspirations. ICFIE is... More

Agriculture!  It is such an important profession. All minds need food at least 3 times a day iregardless of the profession they practice. Ever imagined how food brings everyone at the same level?  Here is a compilation of the world movers and shakers  with a common factor;  they all have to eat to continue being great or even greater in what... More

Nearly 4000 participants from 142 countries met at XIV WFC World Forestry Congress on 7-11 September 2015 at Durban, South Africa. This congress, gathered professionals from diverse sector from every corner of the world and whose 2050 vision for forests and forestry was made through the active participation of youths. Youth are dynamic and powerful agents of change with the ability... More

Youth’s engagement was vibrant both physically and online during this year's World Forestry Congress. As young people, we wanted to generate strong youth’s discussions, content and outcome statements; we had paved the way for that by proposing 15 youth cross-cutting aspects to think about throughout the World Forestry Congress. Read: mainstreaming Youth for sustainable forest and people’s futures: 15 youth cross-cutting... More

How can we shape education so that it matches young people’s needs if we don’t involve them in curricula development discussions? This has been an overly repeated question in conferences but with no concrete answer to it. But The Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences, fondly referred to as GCHERA is on a mission to change... More

Today one of the main global challenges is how to ensure food security for a world growing population whilst ensuring long-term sustainable development. According to the FAO food production need to grow by 70 percent to feed world population which will reach 9 billion by 2050.Further trends like increasing urban population, shift of lifestyle and diet patterns of the rising middle... More

Update 5 Nov. 2015: This webinar is now closed. Watch the recorded webinar and learn more about our Expert Guests below. A few of the core Thought For Food team members will be hosting the Captivating Your Audience through Powerful Presentations webinar on October 28th and we are beyond excited to meet you all. Thought For Food (TFF) is an international NGO determined to support... More

We are delighted to welcome our very first YPARD Country representative for Sweden, Karolin Andersson. Karolin recently graduated in agricultural development from the Institute of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. She comes from Malmö in southern Sweden but has also studied since 2008 at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala to get a... More

Photo Credit: Sanjeeb Bhattarai On September 15th, AgTraIn Doctoral candidates attended a Social Media Lecture by Marina Cherbonnier from Ypard in the Humboldt University of Berlin. The lecture was part of the course “Applied research communication and disseminating for agricultural development” organized by the University of Copenhagen, with the collaboration of the other five AgTraIn Universities: Wageningen University; Montpellier Supagro; University... More