28 October, Online All day long my FACEBOOK news feed has been happily buzzed by “Love” messages. The group of young professionals we had put together for what became a once-in-a-Lifetime-social reporting experience, were celebrating! It was all natural that they use social media as their party ground. That is without mentioning that they are all spread all around the world... More

A YOUng FARMer‘s vision – A student’s project initiated by Martina Graf Waking up having THE project idea in mind! - Three short films; each of them portrays a young farmer, giving an authentic and positive picture about their daily life and their visions. - During the following days the idea comes back again and again while waiting for the bus... More

One month ago, Courtney and I reflected on the four recurring issues raised over and over again in events and activities with youth involved in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, conservation, development : (1) the lack for finance, (2) unattractiveness of the sector among the youth, (3) mismatch between the education system’s deliveries and the needs of the job market, (4) the lack... More

YPARD is conducting an external review in order to evaluate the progress of YPARD with an emphasis on the last four years, since its last external review in 2009, and to measure YPARD’s progress against the 2010-2014 business plan.This survey is an important part of the review: your experiences, observations and opinions as a member of YPARD are important for us... More

In the words of the UN under the Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner “In the world of seven billion people set to grow to 9 billion by 2050, wasting food makes no sense economically, environmentally and ethically.” As “turn off the lights” was an electricity saving campaign, “Think, Eat, Save” is a campaign set to reduce Food waste... More

In March of 2013, young professionals in agriculture, Mr. Luke Smith, Ms. Donna Marie Moon-Sammy, Mr. Alpha Sennon, Mr. Stephan Monsamy and Mr. Keron Bascombe entered the Thought for Food Global Competition for university students to tackle the world’s food issues. As a result Mr. Sennon, Mr. Smith and Mr. Bascombe attended the Thought for Food Global Summit held in Berlin,... More

YPARD is delighted to welcome Msekiwa Matsimbe as YPARD Malawi representative. Msekiwa is taking over as Maxwell has got enrolled in an academic programme in the US. "I am a young female research scientist in Aquaculture and Fisheries Scientist (Fish biodiversity expert), working as a Research Fellow at the NEPAD Regional Fish Node, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resource (LUANAR),... More

by Marina Cherbonnier and Michelle Kovacevic In just over a month, 10 young professionals will take the challenge to deliver a TedX-style talk during the youth session of the Global Landscapes Forum – Youth: The Future of Sustainable Landscapes. The objective of this showcase is to spotlight the active and crucial role that youth play in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, conservation and... More

“Humans like to confront the unknown” (Bruce Alberts) Not long ago, philosophy embodied the length, breadth and width of inquiry and investigation culminating to knowledge. Advancements in human progress gave birth to the fragmentation of the body of knowledge into disciplines – natural and social sciences. Deference to budget cuts, time lines and polarity in commitments  as now in the U.S.... More

An FAO report in (2004), estimates that a third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted across the global food system. There is an urgent need to efficiently store and preserve food, if we are to achieve food security in the continent. The traditional storage techniques and preservation methods used by African farmers are small-scale, with a capacity of up... More

There are more young people in the African population than ever before. In fact, approximately 70 percent of the over 1 Billion people living in Africa are under the age of 30! What’s more, fewer and fewer young people are attracted to agriculture, or see it as a viable future for themselves. Emmanuel Ngenge Ngeh, Cameroonian founder of the Young Farmers... More

In line with two of its core objectives, that is to facilitate exchange of information and knowledge among young professionals across disciplines, professions, age and regions; and to promote agriculture among young people,  the Young Professionals Platform for Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD) Nigeria, recently paid a visit to the IITA Young Agripreneurs at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)... More

“They are an opportunity if we convert their energies (the youth) to agricultural development but they could be a ‘time bomb’ if we fail to do so,”- President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr Kanayo Nwanze. The above words were expressed by the IFAD President Dr. Kanayo during his speech in August 2012 when he visited the International... More

Presentation of YPARD in Saint-Petersburg The YPARD presentation took place at the last day of September 2013. For Russia it’s a new movement and, as all other new European ideas, it came to the city of Peter the Fist. The presentation took place at Saint-Petersburg State Agrarian University at 17 o’clock. Curious and open-minded students and scientists came to listen to... More

What comes to your mind when you think of a farmer? What comes to mind for most of us is an old man, dressed in overalls, smelling dirty, and chewing on a straw. Though farmers are considered important to food production and the economy of any nation, youth have little interest in agricultural careers. Nowadays most people equate agriculture with farming... More

Mainstreaming the youth in CGIAR Dryland Systems Research programs 1.1 So here I was, a young female Malawian representing YPARD and fellow youth at the CRP1.1 East Africa meeting in Lilongwe-Malawi, where representatives from CGIAR in east and southern Africa had convened. After spending a restless night reading the program document, I could hardly wait to pass my message and thoughts... More

“I have started to realize the importance of youth in the future of a food-secure world… (and) no matter how many new seeds or crops we bring on the market, no matter how many new systems of irrigation, land and water use, cattle breeding systems, food storage improvements…, unless we have young people interested in… agriculture… it will all fail” dixit... More

Technologies and Practices for Small Agricultural Producers About TECA TECA stands for Technologies and Practices for Small Agriculture Producers (TECA), which aims to improve access to practical information specifically for smallholders, extension and advisory services, development practitioners, producer organizations and producers themselves. TECA is FAO’s web-based knowledge repository of applied technologies and practices in English, French and Spanish on different agricultural... More

The Global Landscapes Forum is giving a central place to young professionals by kicking its 2days event with a TedX-style youth session – “Youth: The Future of Sustainable Landscapes” - on the very first morning - 16 November - at the UNFCC COP19, in Warsaw, Poland. About 8 inspirational speakers will take the floor on-site to discuss the issues and actions... More

“In the past decades, organic agriculture was often reacting late to changes in contemporary agriculture and developments were often only visible to farmers as adaptations of the guidelines” says Robert Obrist, Head of the Section of Education and Extension at FiBL (Research Institute for Organic Agriculture) in Frick, Switzerland. He leads our group on the 25th of August through the area... More