NAIROBI, Kenya, September 8, 2016
Impact investing pioneer Root Capital (www.RootCapital.or) announced today at the African Green Revolution Forum a new partnership with The MasterCard Foundation (www.MastercardFdn.org) that will help raise incomes for over 300,000 smallholder farmers in West Africa. The Foundation has committed $5.2 million to Root Capital over five years to support early-stage agricultural businesses that generate transformational impact in rural communities in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Senegal.
The challenges of succeeding in farming and agro business are immense for young people. To address these, Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD), an international movement, met in Lagos to share the know-how needed to build agribusiness during the organisation’s 10th anniversary, DANIEL ESSIET was there.
September seems to be the cakes month with YPARD Nigeria setting the ball rolling.On September 18th , the YPARD Nigeria team had a meetup at Agrihub Nigeria to mark the YPARD the 10years anniversary event under the theme “empowering youths in agriculture. They had a meet and greet with presentations and discussions on the challenges of youths in agriculture . This culminated in the cake cutting event. Read more on John Agboola commentary #YPARD10Years: The Formidable Platform of Young Professionals in Agriculture.
Combining software and smart machines is helping farmers achieve triple bottom line results
With the growing global population, demand for food is rising. But the amount of arable land is decreasing, and its quality is diminishing. Software-driven crop management is one way that farmers can grow more, using less space and fewer natural resources. It also helps farmers preserve soil vitality by applying 21st century technology to one of the oldest innovations in farming: crop rotation. The New Economy explores how software-driven crop management works, and how it can help businesses, consumers, and the planet.
Having long heard about YPARD, I felt the need to join them during at their participatory discussion. "Young Professional for Agricultural Research and Development", well known as YPARD, organized an interactive workshop this Monday morning on the theme "Mission 2026: acting now to support youth in agriculture". They posed a most important challenge: when looking back, what actions will the youth of tomorrow wish today´s environment-custodians had taken in order to improve the agricultural sector of 2026 and their place on it?
A US$113million Ghana Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (GASIP) to promote and scale-up agricultural value chains in the country has been launched in Tamale.
The six-year project funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – a United Nations Specialised Agency – and implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) is aimed at supporting infrastructure development, technology transfer, conservation farming and research to ensure the production of quality food crops to meet demands of the market.
Only one in eight secondary school graduates with good grades apply for scholarships. This is because many have misconceptions about getting funding. Here are some of the common misconceptions.
Many secondary school students believe this is true. As a result they are put off from applying for funding. But the assumption is not true. There are many organisations that award scholarships, but only a small percentage do so on the basis of outstanding academic achievement.
The Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL) and its partners are looking for enthusiastic and engaging students and young professionals to be part of high-level discussions with the top leaders from different landscape sectors at the 2016 Global Landscapes Forum (GLF). The YIL unites young innovators to develop real-world solutions to land use challenges in partnership with organisations working on the ground.
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