I have turned 40 recently. No cause for alarm: it all went well. Nevertheless, within the YPARD community, I have instantly changed from being a “young” professional to becoming an “old” one. Furthermore, I have also just changed job: after seventeen years working on agricultural policies and development at national and international levels, I am now in charge of a team... More

Over the summer, I have travelled across the Western Hemisphere to visit two new ILRI Graduate fellows I am supervising. They are spending two-and-a-half months in the field to help us validate a model useful for the impact assessment of innovation platforms. This research is funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM). One student is investigating... More

I have travelled recently to visit two new ILRI Graduate fellows I am supervising. They have spent two months in the field with the IFAD-funded MilkIT project, which is enhancing dairy-based livelihoods in India and Tanzania through feed innovation and value chain development approaches. This research is linked to the CGIAR Research Programs on Livestock and Fish and Humidtropics. Our aim... More

I have been travelling to Ghana and Burkina Faso to visit two ILRI Research fellows whom I am supervising. They are currently finishing their data collection in the field with the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food’s Volta2 project. Our aim is to gather data that will help us validate a model useful for the impact assessment of innovation platforms.... More

It must have been two years ago when I had a discussion with my sister-in-law Nancy about my blog. She was surprised about the nature of my blog, my writing about my work as an agricultural economist, and how relatively unexciting that was. (Nancy is a senior legal officer in an international media company so she does have some idea of... More

Last week I was representing the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to give the Inaugural lecture on ‘Animal production systems and markets in developing countries’ at INP Toulouse Purpan’s Eurama MSc in European Animal Management. Indeed, I have recently joined the Changing demand and market institutions Team at ILRI. I am particularly pleased that my second mission for ILRI was so... More

Tout au long de l'été dernier la communauté YPARD a discuté du potentiel des technologies d'information et de communication pour promouvoir la place des jeunes dans l'agriculture et dans la recherche agricole pour le développement. Il ne faut néanmoins pas oublier l'importance que peut avoir une rencontre physique afin d'échanger des points de vue. Ce type d'échange est d'autant plus facile... More

This past summer, the YPARD community has been discussing the potential of information and communication technologies to promote the place of youth in agricultural research for development. Yet, one shouldn't underestimate the importance of face-to-face meetings that encourage an exchange of viewpoints. This type of exchange is all the more facilitated when an event has been set up specifically to promote... More

  Jean-Michel Schaeffer     Tuo Lacina     Sok Sotha J’aimerais revenir sur une question que je me suis posé quand j’ai participé au G120 à la fin du mois de juin : comment les différentes régions du monde appréhendent-elles le concept de « jeune » en agriculture ? Un des organisateurs français du G120 était le syndicat Jeunes Agriculteurs, dont  les membres sont... More

  Jean-Michel Schaeffer     Tuo Lacina     Sok Sotha I would like to reflect on a question which I asked myself when I participated in the G120 at the end of June: how do different regions of the world envisage the concept of “youth” in agriculture? One of the French organizers of the G120 was the farmers’ union Jeunes... More