As one is growing, several things shape them up more especially their environment and people around them. It is never easy to get someone who can stand with you and give a hand. In 2016, I graduated from EARTH University with a Bachelor’s degree in agronomic engineering I had so many ideas and so much energy to start life, but did... Continue reading

“YES!” That was the resounding answer of the Steering Committee of the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) after three YPARD members from the Philippines (Jim), Cameroon (Marc) and Trinidad and Tobago (Alpha) proposed the creation of the Youth Working Group that will work closely with GFRAS and Regional Rural Advisory Services (RAS) Networks.  This was during the 8th GFRAS Annual... Continue reading

I recently returned from the 5th TAP partners assembly in Laos Thailand. What is that? And what does this mean for YPARD? TAP an acronym for the Tropical Agriculture Platform  is a capacity development platform that seeks to build stronger capacities for individuals and institutions to engage in agricultural innovation systems (AIS). It was born out of the need to provide soft... Continue reading

Across the different segments in the agricultural sector, an agreement was reached on the increasing need to have future leaders or professionals cut across the various aspect of the value chain. More importantly, the need to have professionals that will take charge of the growing population, the food needs and ultimately be equipped with knowledge, skills - especially in leadership, entrepreneurship... Continue reading

Being both an environmentalist and an agronomist, I have always been fascinated by organic agriculture. Although the organic market in Russia is in its early stages, Russia seems to be an attractive location for the development of organic agriculture, since agriculture is not as intensive as it is in the rest of Europe. Moreover, there is a lot of fallow and... Continue reading

We are delighted to welcome the new YPARD Albania representative Bledar Meta. Bledar has completed his Bachelor studies at the Agricultural University of Tirana, Faculty of Economics and Agribusiness, at the Agribusiness Management branch. After graduating, he participated in various training courses, one of which was training for Enterprise Management in Vienna-Austria, at the Institute of Professional Training “WIFI Austria”. He graduated... Continue reading

The FAO Regional Office for Africa in partnership with the Capacity Development Unit (OPCC) of the Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development Division (OPC), SP2 , SP3, the African Agribusiness Incubator Network (AAIN), Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), and the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) - Africa is organising a three-week online consultation from the 25th October to 15th November 2017 (in English... Continue reading

With the efforts to bring YPARD representative office in Albania, YPARD Europe team and Bledar Meta the newly selected YPARD Albania country representative organized an event to introduce the YPARD platform in Albania through an interactive presentation. The event was held on August 10th, 2017. In addition to presenting the global platform, Bledar also introduced the newly developed ideas for YPARD... Continue reading

‘Student-Farmer Interaction Program’ is a Mobile Approach for On-site Mentorship led by YPARD Nepal in collaboration and coordination with farmers’ groups and local partners. The program aims to provide farmers with technical and/ or advisory information on production and management techniques, and at the same time to facilitate two-way learning between agri-students and farmers. YPARD Nepal in collaboration with District Agriculture... Continue reading

The Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG) of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and The World Bank launched a programme to pilot the use of Principles Guiding New Investments in Agriculture in selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, in 2015. The aim is... Continue reading

I believe the youth will drive agricultural transformation in Africa. This belief stems from my knowledge, skills and experience on a day to day basis of interacting with students. Kindly permit me to introduce myself before I share my thoughts. My name is Mukiibi Shaban and I work with a civil society organization attached to a school farm where I discharge... Continue reading

The small holder farmers in Zimbabwe have for some time remained small and subsistence farmers due to the lack of market control. Mbare Musika is a hive of activity in the early morning as farmers deliver their produce. It is disheartening to know that many of these are small holder farmers who toil working their backs out in the scorching heat... Continue reading

In the wake of global efforts to improve financing for agriculture, the Bank of Ghana in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa – AGRA is designing the Ghana Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL) programme. The goal of this instrument is to reduce the perceived risk of agriculture financing... Continue reading

As part of the increasing discourse towards global partnerships for mobilising resources to support sustainable development projects, the European Union (EU) Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) led the way by organising the Blending4Ag Conference in Brussels, Belgium on 7-8 November 2016. The Conference brought stakeholders from the private and public sectors, regional organisations, and Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to... Continue reading

Uganda has seen strong economic growth with a threefold increase in per capita GDP over the past generation. Extreme poverty has also been eliminated to one-third of the population.  There is visible evidence of this growth in the increasing traffic on our roads, the increasing number of storey buildings in the central business district and all the suburbs of Kampala, the... Continue reading

Generations have passed away but agriculture remains constant.  In the olden days, one can only identify and define a farmer on the appearance of an old man with bicycle, holding cutlasses and tying his or her hoe, a basket of yam and cassava and sometimes firewood at the back of the bicycle.  For some growing children, if asked to draw a... Continue reading

Decades ago, importance was not really given to the livestock industry as most farmers’ concentrated effort on planting crops for household consumption and little for sale. In the same vein, few households who domesticated micro livestock mainly did so, for consumption during festive periods while few households then, understood the market value of trading these animals. The new age and era has... Continue reading

My name is Pilirani Tendai Khoza from Malawi. I was a youth keynote speaker at the 2017 The MasterCard Foundation Young Africa Works Summit on the topic of “gender.” Upon arriving in Kigali for the first time, I distinctly remember it being an amazing place where I gained a lot of insight by experiencing the Rwandese culture at first hand. Needless... Continue reading

The involvement of youth in the 7th Forest Science Symposium: My IFSA / South Africa experience I was so overwhelmed with the joy of travelling to South Africa, it was like a candle was light inside of me and I could scarcely rest for the couple of hours that I was in the plane though it was a night trip. It... Continue reading

With a vigorous rise in population, demand for food and food products is going up every day that puts an immense pressure on agriculture.  Such an increasing pressure consequently asks for an interminable availability and increased efficiency of inputs as irrigation and fertilizers. However, due to climate change, lack of proper government policy, overexploitation of natural resources and low resource use... Continue reading