Climate change is real and has proved to have serious effects on maize production arising from erratic weather including late rains at the start of the season, droughts, floods due to heavy rains in many areas, which has direct negative effect on food production.  Notwithstanding, the already existing impacts of climate change on maize production, this blog post aims to attribute... Continue reading

Immédiatement après mon affectation dans mon nouveau poste (Chef de Poste Agricole) dans la Région du Centre Cameroun, Département de la LEKIE, Arrondissement de SAA, je constate que les producteurs ne sont motivés et semble être délaissé à eux même eux. Alors j'ai décidé de mener une étude qui m'a permis de comprendre l'accompagnement apport par les agents sur le terrain... Continue reading

Maya Turolla grew up in Venice, where she first studied Anthropology at the Cà Foscari University. She moved to the Netherlands to continue her studies at the Radboud University, where she completed a Master’s degree in Anthropology and Development Studies and two minors (Public Administration and Conflict Studies).  Her research interests shifted from anthropology migration (MSc) to development studies, as she... Continue reading

From the 5th to 8th March 2018 the regional coordinators, national representatives, steering committee members and some members of YPARD from all over the world will hold the 2018 YPARD Strategic Planning Meeting. This meeting will be held at the hosting institution of the European Coordination Unit of YPARD:  the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS), Czech Republic. About the... Continue reading

In the western world, we all take clean water for granted and find it difficult to imagine not having instant access to as much clean drinkable water as we could possibly want.  Most people ignore the fact that a large part of the globe does not have access to clean water which in the 21st century is a complete disgrace. We... Continue reading

Are you a young person passionate about tackling global land management issues? Are you interested in learning about international efforts to stop deforestation? A coalition of international organizations, YPARD included, is inviting you to join other young leaders in Rome to build capacity and act together collectively. We're crossing sectors, land boundaries, and cultures to harmonize youth contributions towards sustainable forests. Join... Continue reading

When Mr. Fusion made its appearance on the back of Doc Brown’s DeLorean in 1989, it foreshadowed a U.S future where trash was fuel. Adapting to renewable energy sources and utilizing waste is usually a component of America’s utopian future and since Mr. Fusion there have been great strides toward that end. Having said that, the transition is an arduous process... Continue reading

Plants are the oldest organisms on the planet. They have survived extinction-level events, adapted to an evolving world, clean the air of carbon dioxide, and are found almost anywhere on earth. There are figuratively countless varieties – from trees and flowers to fruits and vegetables – with unique characteristics and interesting growth habits. People have used plants for shelter, food, clothing,... Continue reading

On February 2017, forty seven African youth attended the MasterCard Foundation’s Young Africa Works Summit (YAW2017) in Kigali, Rwanda. Fourteen of those youth delegates were selected to receive 12 months of mentoring from senior delegates attending the Summit. Over the last months, these youth mentees have started forming relationships with their mentors who will support and challenge them during this year to take... Continue reading

The Ararat valley, Armenia’s biggest agricultural center and breadbasket is currently facing the serious issue of salinization of arable lands. Extensive use of artesian water for fisheries in Ararat valley have caused a high level of salinization of lands. Currently, 25% of land in Armenia is under the threat of desertification. Armenia, a country known for its high-quality groundwater resources, has... Continue reading

It’s quite a task/responsibility to write a story about this producer, as it’s a story about business lead by values and not by the profits, it’s the story about a person, who had the courage to leave his developed and organized country, crossed the ocean to deliver a bit of value to the world. Volker Ribniger bought land and started his... Continue reading

Petr Hindrich, Founder, and Directing Manager of green-books.org shares with us his thoughts, ideas and perspective on raising awareness about nature and sustainable practices in communities using children’s education and books as a starting point through an interview conducted by Stacy Hammond - the YPARD Europe Communications and Fundraising officer. Together with a couple of like-minded friends, he established this non-profit... Continue reading

Happy New Year YPARDians! It is that time of the year when we invite you to participate in the YPARD global members survey to help share insights on how we can serve you better in 2018.  This survey is gathering information on the services offered by YPARD and their value to YPARD members in 2017.  We hope to assess what services are considered... Continue reading

In my years of working with youth and agriculture, the landscape has changed considerably. When I first began in 2010, youth as rarely a topic for discussion, we lobbied for young people as part of delegations, part of discussions and as a topic. Every once in a while, we secured an ill-attended side event.  But it remained ‘novel’ and never did... Continue reading

On a cold winter evening in order to bring some sun into my heart, I covered myself with a warm plaid and started looking at the photos from my trip to Costa Rica that I made in September this year with YES programme (see the description in my first blog on this topic here) Looking at the pictures I asked myself,... Continue reading

To start agricultural production you need to have available resources: land, machines, equipment, seeds….For one who doesn't  have any starting point, like inheriting our parent's farm,  to begin agricultural production can be very difficult. Despite that, youth unemployment in rural as well as in urban areas is growing. Many young people are moving from villages to cities and those who stay... Continue reading

You’ve dreamt of becoming a successful farmer, and you’re prepared to venture into the ever-changing world of farming business.  All that is left is to trade in your current job or day-to-day engagements for farming as a profession. Venturing into farming is not an easy decision to make. Any experienced farmer will tell you that pursuing farming requires learning some critical... Continue reading

As a phrase, ‘data is the new oil’ becomes more and more popular, I often wondered about the impact of data governance and sharing practices in agriculture.  With the growing concern of people on big data, open data access and workshops about data sharing and data revolutions on farming, my wonder was obvious. I wished to know more about the ways... Continue reading

Last year, during the preparation of annual programs 2017, YPARD Nepal identified the need of youth’s capacity building activities to focus on recent graduates.  To address this issue, we organized an event - YPARD Student Research Symposium (shortly called and promoted as #YPARDSymposium) on November 8, 2017 at Hotel Shangri-La, Kathmandu, Nepal with the support of INGENEAS. #YPARDSymposium was designed to... Continue reading

On the 10th and 11th December 2017, YPARD-Egypt participated in a workshop co-organized by the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East & North Africa (AARINENA) and the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR) in Hammamet, Tunisia, under the theme “Transforming AARINENA’s Capacity as a Multi-Stakeholder Futuristic Regional Forum for Research and Innovation for Development Tunisia”.  The workshop brought... Continue reading