“When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?” Chuck Palahniuk once wondered. For me, these sentiments come to mind when I look at GCARD3’s GCARD3 5 key themes and of interest being the third and fifth themes all of which seek to secure the future.  I believe it all started when the “youth in agriculture” started... More

The young takes the center stage. The spotlight is ours. The key players are us. This act is orchestrated by young and dynamic individuals with burning desire to learn, to innovate, and to inspire. This is our generation. And this is our quest for sustainable development in agriculture. The key players About 85% of the world’s youth come from developing countries.... More

  “Once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policemen and a preacher. But every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.”  ~ Brenda Schoepp Growing up, I remember my relatives and older folk asking me what I wanted to be when I became an adult. My career path aspirations used to vary every other day,... More

I perceive participating in Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD3) in South Africa as a marvelous opportunity to augment my knowledge through the mutual sharing of skills and expertise among the scholars and bright mind scientist. I believe this conference as an adventure to synergize fruitful innovative ideas which will help to nurture the young professional and consequently bring... More

I remember back then as a little boy in the village, going to the farm with my father after school was such a hectic task for me. My father was a cassava farmer; he also had a large cocoa plantation which he inherited from his father. I hated farming and everything that had to do with. But that was our only... More

Let me tell you the story that has changed my life, a story of a five month old baby girl who has the same name like me, Lia. I met her at a hospital where she suffered from hydrocephalus & malnutrition. Her tiny body with her lumpy head and swollen belly captured my eyes at a small corner of the hospital.... More

“I’ll do anything to make money, as long as it does not get me into problems with the law.” A Kenyan youth, I’ll call him Paul, once told me. Paul and I met in late February 2016 at an Entrepreneurship Summit in Kenya organized by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) in which more than 85% of attendees were Kenyan Youth.... More

“Discover yourself - but start by discovering the world!” That’s a rough translation of a certain university’s favorite slogan. You can spot it all around campus, plastered on vans, banners and even Christmas tree decorations, yet despite it being thrust in our faces every day, no-one knows what exactly is meant by it. Unleash your inner super-researcher? Go on a bunch... More

With a BSc in zoology, one will wonder how I found my self in agriculture. Upon my graduation, all I thought of was conserving endangered species around the world. Today, my passion for agriculture has grown so much that all I think about is how to make small holder farmer’s lives better. With no academic background in agriculture, all I had... More

Agriculture in essence is Life. The future and survival of mankind arguably can be said to be influenced by agriculture on both a positive and negative perspective. Agriculture is said to be the back bone of Kenya’s economy where I was born and bred. In my opinion achieving most of the SDG's especially 1 and 2 can be achieved through Agriculture.... More

What we already know We all know that the global population is estimated to increase up to 9 billion people by 2050 and, as we must achieve food security at the global level, it is understood the food production should increase, but in a context of climate change. We also know that important amounts of food are wasted or lost (about... More

It is not only in Developed countries that the power of data is leveraged. In the context of climate change, the young Techies from Burkina Faso are shaping the future of irrigated agriculture. Water management in a changing climate The extreme weather events now recognized as "climate disruption" severely affect agricultural production in the world. We are now witnessing longer droughts... More

It is expected that by 2050 the world population will have doubled. The challenge now is to bring up a society that is well aware of the demands that comes with the extra mouths to feed. Threat to this the challenges of climate change. What therefore can be done to ensure that the future is food secure. Keeping in mind with... More

They say: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Well, allow me to disagree with this proverb. Perhaps it is all Vladimir Lenin’s fault. Growing up in Kyrgyzstan in the Soviet times I remember being surrounded by banners quoting the famous communist leader’s words: “Learn, learn and learn”.  And these banners were everywhere – in kindergarten, school, and later in... More

There are more clichés of the type “Money doesn’t really matter” than one can count, especially when we take a look at how development in less favoured countries.  Like it or not,  money matters,  but wealth matters even more. Development, especially agricultural development that is presumably sustainable requires financing, imperatively one that comes with returns making it more of an investment.When... More

“Sorry. I don’t know what you are saying.” “But I don’t think it’s possible.” “Are you trying to fool me. WE have never heard of it.” This quoted statement were exactly what I got in reply when I was on a survey for extension service nearby village of my University two year back. Their reply come as a shock to me... More

As we live in the times of globalization and increasing urbanization, the problems of agriculture are becoming more and more obvious. Youth is no more interested in staying at farms because they want to go out and experience the world, or at least the opportunities that only bigger cities can offer. Unfortunately we are not usually connecting the term AGRICULTURE with... More

I was born in Lamjung, a rural village of western Nepal to a poor family. My father completed his high school and my mother has never been in a classroom. My parents are both farmers and for years, we lived on a meager income that barely met our needs. My parents always wanted me to get a higher education. Like most... More

India is a young country. Both in terms of it’s becoming an independent republic (66 years is not much in country-years!) as well as the population (India is said to be the youngest country in the world). More than half the workforce of this young country is engaged in the agriculture sector but what is alarming is the diminishing participation of... More

Youth in agriculture and global development Evidences abound attesting to the fact that young people play vital roles in, and are without doubt the future of agriculture and global development, hence, securing the future of food production for the growing human population. If not in any part of the world, this is true for the sub-Saharan African region, which I come... More