“You will be surprised” is the logo written on the t-shirts of the bunch of youngsters at the GCARD2 pre-conference session of YPARD, which stands for Young Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural Research for Development. The leaders of the movement have reason to say so. Since its creation in 2006, YPARD has been acting as a platform for knowledge sharing for young... Continue reading

“Agriculture is an ageing and undervalued profession in many countries and special attention must be given to encouraging young people into careers in all aspects of AR4D...It is important that young people themselves help express what changes are needed in agricultural education and incentives to make careers more attractive and valued and better recognize the range of roles now required in... Continue reading

Dear YPARDians,  As food prices soar and, according to the World Population Prospects that the UN published in 2010, we will be 9.3 billion souls living on earth by 2050 (10.1 billion by the end of the century), it is time to set out on a journey to find the best solutions in order to ensure GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY.  At this... Continue reading

The 4th Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD) was held on 18th June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ARDD took place in parallel with the United Nation's Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20. More than 500 participants attended the event comprising of high level policy makers, scientists, negociators, journalists, farmer organizations, civil societies and other stakeholders in... Continue reading

In the context of my country, Kenya, [which is] largely reliant on agriculture, sustainable development will work only if we empower our smallholder farmers [SHFs] on better ways to farm. One reason why there are constant food shortages even in arable areas is because our farmers still use rudimentary farming methods that can't work now, when farmlands are less and less.... Continue reading