Visit to the Mayr's in Erding, Germany “Our farm is a medium to small farm, compared to the others in the area” says Clemens Mayr, a farmer from Erding, Germany, while pointing to the distant fields on his farm. This surprises his guests from Mali, Madagascar and Switzerland; a farm of 60 hectares is considered a large farm in the visitors’... Continue reading

We are delighted to welcome YPARD country representative in Russia: Iana Perevoshchikova The floor is to Iana for her to introduce herself to you: “I was very lucky with my biology teacher at school, where the interest came from. As a good specialist in the field, she ran a Youth Laboratory of Nature Research, which I attended. We went to a... Continue reading

Throughout the Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6) I have been a big consumer of AASW6 Blog and #AASW6 Tweets. I retweeted and interacted as much as I could from Italy. That was my way to participate. With a theme like “Africa feeding Africa,” what, supposedly, would I have been able to do there on-site? The over 40 young professionals invited from YPARD Africa to report... Continue reading

The issue of unemployment among young people continues to be at the top of the list of agenda in global, regional, national and local meetings and discussions by governments, corporations and organisations. As these discussions rise in number continuously, there seems to be little improvement in the situation of unemployment among young people. Policies have been formulated, initiatives have been created,... Continue reading

The impact assessment studies on agricultural research in Africa (in most commodities including Rice, Maize) have shown  huge payoffs, more than any other investments, reaching rates of return of more than 100%. It is however, necessary to note that impacts of agricultural research have long time lags from initial investment to actually reaping the benefits. This is exacerbated by market failures... Continue reading

We are delighted to welcome a new YPARD representative in the region of Latin America and the Carribean (YPARD-LAC): Rebeca Souza, YPARD country representative for Brazil! Rebeca is an economist very much passionate about encouraging young people, enhacing human development and promoting food and nutrition security. She holds a Masters Degree in International Development and has a very diversified work experience... Continue reading

If young people and women are given a platform, they can do more for agricultural research for development (AR4D). Young Professionals in Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD) is an international movement that operates as a network of young people working in the agricultural sector. It is not a formalized institution, but rather it is a global on-line and off-line communication and... Continue reading

Fortunate delegates at the 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week in Accra, Ghana  had an opportunity to visit Kpong Irrigation Scheme, one of Ghana’s largest irrigation projects. Rice farming, the project’s main activity is taking place on 1,870 hectares of land a providing a source of livelihood for 2,840 rice farmers. Like any other person with an income, these farmers require financial services especially savings... Continue reading

“Are these roasted bananas?” I asked, as my colleague Ado looked on nodding against me. “Let's ask her”, he said.  It's amazing! Many different types of fresh agriculture products are sold along the streets of Accra. All the lady could tell us was that the bananas like fruits are called plante according to her pronunciation. One would wonder the destiny and... Continue reading

The global food system is plagued by paradoxes. More than 1 billion people in the world do not get enough to eat, but approximately the same amount of people—1.5 billion—consume too many calories. And often what they eat is of little nutritional value, creating a situation where malnutrition and obesity exist in the same communities and even the same families. The... Continue reading

Agriculture in Nepal suffers from years of under-investment, low production, limited research, and petty inputs, technology and services for farmers. By and large, at the beginning of the 20 years Agriculture Prospective Plan (APP) in 1995-96, it was in a worse situation than today. Since we have made progress, but we are still in a low development stage. In general, in... Continue reading

Blog post co-authored by Johanna Gysin, Martina Graf Herrsching a.A., Germany Under the motto “Prepare for action” the 26th International Leadership Workshop for Rural Youth is held this year from the 15th of July to the 2nd of August in the House of Bavarian Agriculture in Herrsching am Ammersee in Germany. More than 50 participants from 33 countries and 5 different... Continue reading

When it comes to youth and agriculture, most of us think we know what needs to be done: governments and other stakeholders need to develop innovative approaches and policies to get more youth involved in this critical sector. It goes without saying that the stakeholders are expected to involve the youth in innovation and policy formulation. Not much is said about... Continue reading

  Cooperation in agriculture often seems to be synonymous with farmers’ cooperatives. In fact, the definition of an agricultural cooperative is “a type of cooperative that unites agricultural producers for production or other activities needed by the members (such as processing, marketing of output or supply of the means of production).” Also through the actions of different stakeholders in the global... Continue reading

If we look into Africa‘s recent history, we see that this part of the world fits perfectly, at this time, into the growth limits stated by Reverend Thomas Malthus more than 200 years ago. With a population doubling every 25 years and an ecological decline hard to slow down, Africa is about to reach its “limits of growth”. But this is not a reason to despair. At the Forum... Continue reading

A lot has been said about youth in Africa and there are still ongoing debates stressing the importance of involving young people in major development efforts, including agriculture. Last week, picking up on a Twitter conversation from one of the youth activists online, I concluded that, indeed, many development organizations use the term “youth” as an attempt to portray themselves as ‘working for young... Continue reading

During my research on Global Food Security  I heard various opinions about the Food Crisis and how we should tackle it. Ranging from “we should do more” and “we should do less”, every government, NGO, company or researcher considers food security as a societal problem that must be dealt with now. But a statement left me utterly perplexed: “many don’t actually see a food crisis... Continue reading

“Almost 1.2 billion people are going hungry in the world; a third of those are in Africa and sadly a lot of those are actually farmers themselves.” Those were the portentous words of Sean de Cleene, a senior vice president of Yara International (a leading fertilizer company based in Norway with businesses in Africa) and member of the World Economic Forum’s ‘New Vision for Agriculture’... Continue reading

It is now clear, after the Fourth Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) that climate change poses a serious threat to growth and sustainable development in Africa and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (UNDP, 2007). The effects of climate change – reduced agricultural production, worsening food security, increased incidence of floods and droughts –... Continue reading

THE Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme – Knowledge, Information and Skills (CAADP-KIS) is a pan-African vehicle that translates the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA)’s vision into a workable framework to guide agriculture-led development. CAADP’s overall goal is to improve livelihoods, food security and environmental resilience in Africa’s largely agrarian economies. After its 10-year planning phase... Continue reading