The intensive use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers to agricultural crops has considerable negative impacts related to health and safety of farmers and workers, environmental damage (on soil, water and biodiversity), food safety and international trade. While many highly hazardous pesticides have been banned by international conventions or are prohibited under voluntary sustainability standards, the problems on the ground remain persistent.... Continue reading

India is a land of 1.31 billion people, with diverse ethnic and socio-economic linkages. With the majority living in rural areas, The Father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The Future of India Lies in Its Villages”.  Rural India had been a show-stopper for many revolutions that occurred in India and it is the part to be focused upon for many... Continue reading

What do you usually do after attending a conference? Most of us would just be back in our daily routine of doing studies or work. But when you are given a once in lifetime opportunity, somehow you just feel that urge to share it to others. This is exactly what we felt after having been given a handful of opportunities to... Continue reading

Reblogged from the GFAR Blog What was the “YAP” project all about, again? In the run-up to the upcoming #GCARD3 global event, we announced “YAP”, the Youth Agripreneurs Project. “YAP” is a pilot project targeting young agricultural entrepreneurs or “agripreneurs” by GFAR (the Global Forum on Agricultural Research), CGIAR (the Global Agricultural Research Partnership) and YPARD (the Young Professionals for Agricultural... Continue reading

Shaky fossil fuel price have at times posed threat to the core of every country’s economy. The recent nosedive of the oil price, for instance, has left the oil-based nations grappling with the fear of irrecoverable economic damage. While affluent overseas have been scrambling to offset the vicissitudes produced largely by the wobbly oil prices through the development of more sustainable... Continue reading

Within two weeks, 96 young professionals from every region of the world applied to be part of the GCARD3 Global event’s youth delegation. The team will be given the mission to be the voice of the youth: to be part of the discussions online and onsite, to solicit their peers to contribute with their own input, and to particularly express those youth... Continue reading

Urban youth face unprecedented challenges, from climate change to unemployment to multiple forms of inequalities and exclusion, particularly for youth belonging to vulnerable or marginalized groups. To provide an open space for critical exchange between urban researchers, professionals and decision makers who believe that urbanization is an opportunity and can lead to positive urban transformations, the UN Habitat III organized a... Continue reading

There is no tool for development more effective than the Empowerment of Women… 8th March, is an International Women’s Day. In this ‘Women’s Day’, women are recognized for their countless efforts and contribution for the development of the whole world economy and the society. Considering the involvement of women to every aspect of life, this day we will recognize the incredible... Continue reading

We are delighted to welcome our very first YPARD Country representative for Jamaica:  Jhannel Tomlinson Jhannel Tomlinson is a 24 year old MPhil/PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, whose research interests include climate smart agriculture, innovation adoption, rural livelihoods and adaptation.She is currently a Commonwealth Youth correspondent involved in numerous... Continue reading

Social media is no longer a new tool for everyone to get connected across the globe. As of 2015, there are over 2.206 billion users, which is 30% of the world’s population. It has become clear that social media really is the future of global marketing. For nonprofits, social media can be an effective tool to tell stories of what the... Continue reading

En tant que membre de YPARD et représentant des jeunes dans le développement agricole, j’étais invité a’ prendre part aux consultations nationales sur l’intégration des sites du CGIAR au Mali, le Mardi 1er mars 2016. Le Consortium des centres du groupe consultatif de la recherche agricole internationale (CGIAR) est un partenariat mondial de recherche agricole qui travaille à la réduction de... Continue reading

Before coming to Bishkek I was thinking that Facebook was the most useful tool in social media to attract youth in agriculture.  However, during the Social Media training under the coaching of Peter Casier I discovered that with Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube, Blogposts etc. I can be more effective. But why and how? BBC has identified that most of the “likes” on... Continue reading

The CGIAR Research Programs, including Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB), were established in 2012 and are currently undergoing a shift to a second phase of Agri-Food System research programs from 2017 – 2022. RTB partners are collaborating to produce a proposal for the next phase of the research program, which will be submitted to the CGIAR Consortium on March 31. They would... Continue reading

Globally, women play a very key role as far as agricultural production is concerned. However, they have lesser access to productive resources like inputs, land, financial services, extension services etc. and the situation is much more worse in rural areas. A certain proportion of these women happen to be youths. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation 2010-11 State Of Food... Continue reading

In 2016, YPARD celebrates its 10th anniversary. Early January, we sent a call to YPARD members to join #YPARD10Years Celebrations. We invited them to bake a cake, shoot a 1 minute testimonial video about YPARD or to create their own activities - throughtout the year. Meet our first #YPARD10Years Ambassadors Three very active YPARD members kicked off the #YPARD10years Testimonial Videos... Continue reading

Agriculture, is an ancient sector in Africa and has been the major source of livelihood in most African countries. Africa is also known to have enormous natural resources such as forests, birds, fish, lakes and rivers and land. However, the “land of plenty” is struck with food and nutrition insecurity, famine, poverty and unemployment.  Worse still, African Agriculture is dominated by... Continue reading

Last year, YPARD, Dryland Systems CRP and HAFL teamed up to conduct a pilot study on ‘Youth and Agriculture in the Drylands’ to better understand the realities, viewpoints, aspirations and challenges of rural youth living in the agricultural dryland areas of Midelt, Morocco. The province, characterized by steep mountain slopes and numerous valleys, is located between the High and Middle Atlas... Continue reading

Three months ago, 50 “landscapes” youth innovators were embarking in a life-changing adventure with the “youth-in-landscapes” initiative. Back to their “normal life”, they took the time to reflect on their experience: how it impacted them and what their vision is, to carry on being active leaders of change for sustainable development. They shared their thoughts through inspiring testimonials. What clearly comes out of their... Continue reading

Tomato production remains one of the less stressful and most lucrative agribusiness for young people to invest in because of its high nutritional values which increases demand among household across the country.2015 experienced a rise in the demand of tomatoes against the supply across all the notable markets in Nigeria, especially Mile12 and Idi-Oro market in Lagos State.The Tomatoes and Orchard... Continue reading

Connecting for agricultural efficiency start with understanding the inter-relationship of youth, ICT and agriculture in the present world. Agriculture has a glaring picture in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the small scale farmers and youths constitute part of the stakeholders to achieve these goals. In Nigeria, smallholder farmers constitute the larger percentage of disadvantaged people in terms of productivity, literacy... Continue reading