On the occasion of the 3rd IAALD Africa Chapter conference, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) organised a series of activities in the framework of the ARDYIS project. These included the prize giving ceremony of the YoBloCo Awards and a consultative workshop under the theme "Using ICTs to strengthen youth opportunities in agriculture and rural areas".  Winners and some best participants... Continue reading

I was asked to give a presentation to the Open Ceremony of the conference ‘Youth Perspectives: Environmental Issues in Contemporary Societies’, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from April 27-29 2012.  The conference was organized by Geneva International Model United Nations, GIMUN, a fully student run (with great professionalism and high enthusiasm!) NGO with consultative status at the UN Economic and... Continue reading

YPARD is glad to welcome its new YPARD South Africa representative: Shakespear Mudombi. Shakespear is a doctoral student based at the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation (Faculty of Economics & Finance) of Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa. His research interests include: ICTs,  agricultural technology adoption, science, technology and innovation (STI) systems, climate change information and knowledge transfer.... Continue reading

?Opinion: Consolidating youth voices in agriculture  By Raymond Erick Zvavanyange  Youths have diversified agriculture, thanks to information and communication technologies (ICTs) which are leading numerous initiatives. Youths are benefiting through start-ups, mobile communities, and through a voice. The voice is precisely a lobbying and advocacy when it’s well-intentioned. Fifty or so years ago, lobbying or advocacy was likely a policy maker’s... Continue reading

When applying for an internship, job or call for participation, there are key points not to miss in order to pass the first round of selection and potentially get an interview. YPARD has been proposing a number of opportunities in the past few years and we have taken the chance to list a number of tips that will help optimize your... Continue reading

On the 15th of May 2012, I and a friend decided to see and observe the activities of the All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Ondo State Chapter. We went out of keen interest to associate with other farmers and see how the association can come up to sensitize the youth more about agriculture. Maybe before I share what I experienced,... Continue reading

Africa is a home to big and potential agicultural lands that would be enough to feed all the hungry in the continent. But a huge challenge in adoption to technologies has hindered this giant to discover the potential it has to feed its people. It amazing how small and young countries like Israel has made it possible to feed its people... Continue reading

  In the context of the upcoming United Nation's Conference on Sustainable Development (also known as Rio+20), people over the world are sharing their thoughts and opinions on how they see their future, so that their voice is heard at the conference from 20-22 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is being done through various methods: essay contests, blogs,... Continue reading

Most of you know YPARD as an international platform through which  young professionals are able to express their ideas and realise their full potential towards a dynamic ARD. You might not know about all of the other activities that are going on worldwide, at local, national, regional and global levels. You can now find the YPARD 2011 activity report in the... Continue reading

Maxwell Mkondiwa Farmer experimentation and field school using System of Rice Intensification: Youths involved in taking a video to showcase in another area (Cho Moi District, Bac Kan Province, Vietnam). A community or village is normally treated as a unified unit consisting of various individuals who share various common resources and institutions. Practitioners have indeed implemented development projects in this so... Continue reading

YPARD welcomes Martina Graf as the YPARD Europe coordinator for the recently established YPARD Europe Chapter. Martina will lead the development of the European network, creating a working group with the young professionals who have demonstrated their interest in working to shape the YPARD plan of action for Europe.  Martina is based in Switzerland, holds a Bachelor of Science in International... Continue reading

AT AKURE, NIGERIA. THE ENTERPRENEUR UNDER 25 (EU-25) FORUM THEME: AGRIC-BUSINESS On April 29 2012, fifteen (15) young men and women came together to discuss on the future of agriculture and agric-business in Nigeria. The EU-25 is a monthly entrepreneur forum which is done over lunch where entrepreneurs under the age of 25 come together to discuss on how effectively create... Continue reading

YPARD is welcoming three new country representatives in Africa: in Malawi, Mali and Sierra Leone. Get to know more about them and liaise with them to get involved in national and local initiatives with YPARD! Maxwell Mkondiwa, in Malawi Maxwell Mkondiwa is the YPARD Malawi representative. He is a 22 years old research fellow (intern) at the Centre for Agricultural Research... Continue reading

I had a vision to start a company when I graduated from the Njala University in 2009, in Sierra Leone. I shared this vision with three of my friends, they were positive about it and encouraged that I extend the invitation to the whole class of seven Agricultural Engineering students. The problems was unemployment especially for agriculture graduates, it was a... Continue reading

YPARD is welcoming three interns to support information services through ypard.net, increase YPARD visibility and community interaction on Social Networks, and strengthen the reach of YPARD in three languages: English, Spanish and French. YPARD is eager to get more young people from all over the world involved in youth and agricultural development, and this will enable us to provide enhanced support... Continue reading

by Maxwell Mkondiwa, reporting from the 6th Community Based Adaptation Conference in Vietnam It is now recognized worldwide that agricultural and farming systems need to be improved beyond their capacities if the human race is to avert the catastrophe that may result as population growth exceeds food production. Catastrophe seem likely when you consider the billions of people who will be food insecure... Continue reading

YPARD China will hold YPARD China launching conference in Beijing, in partnership with Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), in late May 2012. A pre-survey has been conducted in order to identify Chinese YPs’ interests in YPARD website YPs’ role in Modern Agriculture Approaches to promote young people to be involved in agricultural activities Means to accelerate the communication among China... Continue reading

Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences hosted a Young Professionals' Science Forum to discuss the basic qualities for a YP, the atmosphere for a better research, the system for improvement of YP's, on 26th April, in Beijing, China. Jieying Bi, YPARD China Representative was invited to share her experiences in FAO, GFAR and YPARD. YPARD China won great success from the promotion... Continue reading

A group of young graduates in Kenya have introduced a mobile-phone enabled technology which will help farmers in rural Africa to link up with crop researchers, meteorological departments and veterinary scientists to better their farm yields. Calvins Okello, a science graduate from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and a colleague, Gordon Owiti, have developed the new technology... Continue reading

The University of Ghana recently hosted over 100 agricultural stakeholders from around the world to discuss the role of young people in farming and food. The conference which ran from 19th to 21 March was dubbed Young People, Farming and food and organized by Future Agricultures Consortium (FAC) an independent learning alliance of academic researchers and practitioners involved in African agriculture.... Continue reading