Yesterday evening, I opened my Facebook page and could not miss the status updates of my friends of the Faculty of Agriculture who passed their final year exams and are going to graduate soon... Status updates on Facebook My first reaction was happiness for them, since I still remember being in the same situation last year, and the feeling of completing... Continue reading

Dear colleagues I am calling on all YPARD members from or working in South Africa to get in touch with me so that we network and strengthen YPARD activities in the country. I was recently appointed the YPARD representative for South Africa. I am a researcher based at the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation (IERI) of Tshwane University of Technology... Continue reading

The first event organized by YPARD China was a strong start from a very important region.  Young professionals from different parts of China undertook long train journeys to be part of a momentous occasion and the first of its kind for YPARD in China!  The day started out with many distinguished speakers from the hosts, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences... Continue reading

I was invited by GYIN (Global Youth Innovation Network) to attend - on behalf of YPARD - the presentation of the African Economic Outlook 2012 focusing on Youth Employment, at IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), on Friday 8 June. The presentation included a short macro-economic overview and a discussion on youth employment enhancement. Let me emphasize here the key aspects... Continue reading

I was invited by GYIN (Global Youth Innovation Network) to attend - on behalf of YPARD - the presentation of the African Economic Outlook 2012 focusing on Youth Employment, at IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), on Friday 8 June 2012. The presentation included a short macro-economic overview and a discussion on youth employment enhancement. This was an excellent opportunity for... Continue reading

BioVisionAlexandria (BVA) is an international event organized by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), in partnership with the World Life Sciences Forum, BioVision. This year “BioVisionAlexandria: New Life Science: Linking Science to Society” was held from 21-25 April 2012 at Alexandria, Egypt.  BioVisionAlexandria is an important gathering that brings together distinguished speakers and Nobel Laureates all over the world. It includes representatives of... Continue reading

On June 12th – 13th June 2012, YPARD was present in Brussels as an official member at the Steering Committee Meeting of EFARD (the European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development) through Codrin Paveliuc-Olariu. Reporting back from the EFARD SC Meeting, Codrin mentions that the strategic objectives of the Forum are to encourage dialogue between European AR4D stakeholders by promoting awareness,... Continue reading

Introduction YPARD Vietnam has organized two training courses, that gathered over 140 farmers, on 13-June for Coffee and 16-June 2012 for Tea farmers in Lam Dong province, Vietnam. These courses had done very successfully. Coffee and tea farmers were very happy and feel highly enthusiastic with the course. Lam Dong province is one of provinces that grow a lot of Tea... Continue reading

The 4th Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD) was held on 18th June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ARDD took place in parallel with the United Nation's Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20. More than 500 participants attended the event comprising of high level policy makers, scientists, negociators, journalists, farmer organizations, civil societies and other stakeholders in... Continue reading

Under the support of YPARD, YPARD Asia and CAAS, the “Climate Change and Food Security—Role of Young Professionals in ARD YPARD China Promoting Conference” was successfully held in CAAS on 5th June, 2012.  Over 190 participants from 21 organizations attended this great YPARD China event:   International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), OXFAM, International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC),... Continue reading

In the context of my country, Kenya, [which is] largely reliant on agriculture, sustainable development will work only if we empower our smallholder farmers [SHFs] on better ways to farm. One reason why there are constant food shortages even in arable areas is because our farmers still use rudimentary farming methods that can't work now, when farmlands are less and less.... Continue reading

“My participation to the Youth, ICT and Agricultural innovation workshop, Ugunja, Kenya, 24th May” This workshop was part of the research to find out how rural youth can be empowered through ICT to come up with ideas that will contribute towards agricultural innovations and hence rural agricultural sustainability. This was after it was clear that many rural youth are leaving agricultural... Continue reading

It is a big pleasure and honor for me to take over the coordination of YPARD Europe! While thinking about my welcome text for YPARD blog, I started to realize that I’ve been working in agricultural business for almost 12 years now! And still, I belong to the young professionals!As I am new to the community, I’d like to give you... Continue reading

YPARD is glad to welcome its new YPARD South Africa representative: Shakespear Mudombi. Shakespear is a doctoral student based at the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation (Faculty of Economics & Finance) of Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa. His research interests include: ICTs,  agricultural technology adoption, science, technology and innovation (STI) systems, climate change information and knowledge transfer.... Continue reading

I was asked to give a presentation to the Open Ceremony of the conference ‘Youth Perspectives: Environmental Issues in Contemporary Societies’, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from April 27-29 2012.  The conference was organized by Geneva International Model United Nations, GIMUN, a fully student run (with great professionalism and high enthusiasm!) NGO with consultative status at the UN Economic and... Continue reading

On the occasion of the 3rd IAALD Africa Chapter conference, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) organised a series of activities in the framework of the ARDYIS project. These included the prize giving ceremony of the YoBloCo Awards and a consultative workshop under the theme "Using ICTs to strengthen youth opportunities in agriculture and rural areas".  Winners and some best participants... Continue reading

I had a vision to start a company when I graduated from the Njala University in 2009, in Sierra Leone. I shared this vision with three of my friends, they were positive about it and encouraged that I extend the invitation to the whole class of seven Agricultural Engineering students. The problems was unemployment especially for agriculture graduates, it was a... Continue reading

On the 15th of May 2012, I and a friend decided to see and observe the activities of the All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Ondo State Chapter. We went out of keen interest to associate with other farmers and see how the association can come up to sensitize the youth more about agriculture. Maybe before I share what I experienced,... Continue reading

YPARD - Young Professionals’ Platform in Agricultural Research for Development - wishes to contribute to the debate on change in formal higher agricultural education with integrating the views of young professionals. Indeed, the views of young professionals have not previously been included in discussions on curricula development. Therefore an YPARD study has been initiated in 2011. The report is now available... Continue reading

YPARD welcomes Martina Graf as the YPARD Europe coordinator for the recently established YPARD Europe Chapter. Martina will lead the development of the European network, creating a working group with the young professionals who have demonstrated their interest in working to shape the YPARD plan of action for Europe.  Martina is based in Switzerland, holds a Bachelor of Science in International... Continue reading