Throughout the Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6) I have been a big consumer of AASW6 Blog and #AASW6 Tweets. I retweeted and interacted as much as I could from Italy. That was my way to participate. With a theme like “Africa feeding Africa,” what, supposedly, would I have been able to do there on-site? The over 40 young professionals invited from YPARD Africa to report... More

If young people and women are given a platform, they can do more for agricultural research for development (AR4D). Young Professionals in Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD) is an international movement that operates as a network of young people working in the agricultural sector. It is not a formalized institution, but rather it is a global on-line and off-line communication and... More

Fortunate delegates at the 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week in Accra, Ghana  had an opportunity to visit Kpong Irrigation Scheme, one of Ghana’s largest irrigation projects. Rice farming, the project’s main activity is taking place on 1,870 hectares of land a providing a source of livelihood for 2,840 rice farmers. Like any other person with an income, these farmers require financial services especially savings... More

The global food system is plagued by paradoxes. More than 1 billion people in the world do not get enough to eat, but approximately the same amount of people—1.5 billion—consume too many calories. And often what they eat is of little nutritional value, creating a situation where malnutrition and obesity exist in the same communities and even the same families. The... More

“Are these roasted bananas?” I asked, as my colleague Ado looked on nodding against me. “Let's ask her”, he said.  It's amazing! Many different types of fresh agriculture products are sold along the streets of Accra. All the lady could tell us was that the bananas like fruits are called plante according to her pronunciation. One would wonder the destiny and... More

Agriculture in Nepal suffers from years of under-investment, low production, limited research, and petty inputs, technology and services for farmers. By and large, at the beginning of the 20 years Agriculture Prospective Plan (APP) in 1995-96, it was in a worse situation than today. Since we have made progress, but we are still in a low development stage. In general, in... More

Blog post co-authored by Johanna Gysin, Martina Graf Herrsching a.A., Germany Under the motto “Prepare for action” the 26th International Leadership Workshop for Rural Youth is held this year from the 15th of July to the 2nd of August in the House of Bavarian Agriculture in Herrsching am Ammersee in Germany. More than 50 participants from 33 countries and 5 different... More

When it comes to youth and agriculture, most of us think we know what needs to be done: governments and other stakeholders need to develop innovative approaches and policies to get more youth involved in this critical sector. It goes without saying that the stakeholders are expected to involve the youth in innovation and policy formulation. Not much is said about... More

  Cooperation in agriculture often seems to be synonymous with farmers’ cooperatives. In fact, the definition of an agricultural cooperative is “a type of cooperative that unites agricultural producers for production or other activities needed by the members (such as processing, marketing of output or supply of the means of production).” Also through the actions of different stakeholders in the global... More

If we look into Africa‘s recent history, we see that this part of the world fits perfectly, at this time, into the growth limits stated by Reverend Thomas Malthus more than 200 years ago. With a population doubling every 25 years and an ecological decline hard to slow down, Africa is about to reach its “limits of growth”. But this is not a reason to despair. At the Forum... More

A lot has been said about youth in Africa and there are still ongoing debates stressing the importance of involving young people in major development efforts, including agriculture. Last week, picking up on a Twitter conversation from one of the youth activists online, I concluded that, indeed, many development organizations use the term “youth” as an attempt to portray themselves as ‘working for young... More

It is now clear, after the Fourth Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) that climate change poses a serious threat to growth and sustainable development in Africa and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (UNDP, 2007). The effects of climate change – reduced agricultural production, worsening food security, increased incidence of floods and droughts –... More

“Almost 1.2 billion people are going hungry in the world; a third of those are in Africa and sadly a lot of those are actually farmers themselves.” Those were the portentous words of Sean de Cleene, a senior vice president of Yara International (a leading fertilizer company based in Norway with businesses in Africa) and member of the World Economic Forum’s ‘New Vision for Agriculture’... More

During my research on Global Food Security  I heard various opinions about the Food Crisis and how we should tackle it. Ranging from “we should do more” and “we should do less”, every government, NGO, company or researcher considers food security as a societal problem that must be dealt with now. But a statement left me utterly perplexed: “many don’t actually see a food crisis... More

Tels sont les propos, en résumé, des jeunes camerounais qui se sont réunis samedi 29 Juin 2013 pour lancer les activités de YPARD Cameroun à travers les consultations régionales. Plus de 95 jeunes dont 25 femmes environs ont échangé autours de questions liées à la place du jeunes dans les politiques publiques de recherche et développement agricole. Est-ce que les jeunes... More

THE Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme – Knowledge, Information and Skills (CAADP-KIS) is a pan-African vehicle that translates the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA)’s vision into a workable framework to guide agriculture-led development. CAADP’s overall goal is to improve livelihoods, food security and environmental resilience in Africa’s largely agrarian economies. After its 10-year planning phase... More

“Africa now needs desperately to redesign its self-image, create an environment of peace and stability and plan a new science-led future appropriate to its culture, needs and aspirations. In essence, it must become Africa-centered.” Thomas R.Odhiambo, 1993 The forthcoming 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW) comes at an opportune time for Africa. The event poises the continent to surpass earlier generations in... More

With up to 9.3 billion people to feed in 2050 in the world, it becomes urgent to find ways to increase agricultural productivity across Africa, the second most populated continent. One option developed so far by humans is “boosting” soil fertility with chemical fertilizers. But is this option sustainable? What are alternatives to chemical fertilizers do we have? Implications of using... More

Rahel Wyss, HAFL (Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences) How can available resources for development cooperation be used in the most useful and sus­tainable way for people in developing countries? Implementing agencies put much effort into show­ing their results to donors. Impact assessment is not a new term, but governments and donors wish for clearer... More

We are delighted to welcome Davit Gogilashvili as YPARD representative for Georgia. Let me give Davit the floor, in order for him to introduce himself to you: "Dear YPARD family members, let me briefly introduce myself as a country representative of Georgia in this wonderful community. I am Davit Gogilashvili from Tbilisi, Georgia.  I graduated from Agricultural University of Georgia on... More