A joint PhD course called “Assessing transformation in smallholder agricultural systems and Natural Resources” took place in December 2013 and January 2014. The course, organized by the Agricultural Transformation by Innovation (AgTraIn) and the Agricultural and Rural Innovations (ARI) programmes, involved more than 40 PhD students from 23 nationalities who are completing the research in 9 different universities. The two-month on-line... More

The Agricultural Transformation by Innovation (AgTraIn) Programme is one of the Erasmus Mundus PhD programmes. Its main objective is to train the future researchers and professionals within the topics of successful sustainable development and transformation of farming systems in the developing world. The scope ranges from the technical aspects of agricultural production, over post-harvest management, processing and value-addition, to market access... More

Agricultural development specialists and policymakers around the world are concerned that young people are not interested in remaining in rural areas and taking up farming. Agriculture is rarely the first choice of many who study it. Agriculture holds no prestige and young people taking it up as a livelihood are not considered success stories in their communities. While there will always... More

“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people do not recognize." Ann Landers. Opportunities lies in problems, perceptions are mere feelings towards problems. Passing over opportunities repeatedly makes one poor. Then, let’s explore few opportunities and perceptions together. To have an occasion in agriculture or agribusiness does not just mean using hoes and cutlasses to sow the seeds in... More

YPARD Asia has recently welcomed a young group of new interns from different parts of China, one of which is based in Taiwan. These trainees have been recruited by YPARD China, which has been offering a strong support to YPARD Asia, and they are in charge of collecting, publishing and publicizing news on YPARD Asia, as well as launching the Chinese... More

We are delighted to welcome YPARD Representative for Pakistan: Shahla Salah Shahla is a brilliant, energetic, passionate and inspiring young woman in Agriculture.  She tells us more about her and addresses this message: “I belong to the valley of greenery field of rice wheat, sugarcane, maize, fruits, fountain & endless mountains. I still remember those innocent days of my childhood when I was... More

“Without agriculture we are going nowhere, no farmer, no future”. This is how Kolo Juliana, one of the IITA Youth Agripreneurs organizers, stated the relevance of fostering agriculture among the youth. “Now that they have been trained, she added, they can go back to their places and impart the knowledge among other youth”. Under the slogan of “A youth to youth... More

Last week a diverse group of people came together at the farm Veld & Beek in the Netherlands: young farmers, future farmers, old farmers, people from farming organisations and lots of press. They came to hear the story of Joel Salatin, according to Time Magazine the world’s most innovative farmer. Joel’s latest book – Fields of Farmers – deals with the... More

We are delighted to welcome Amelia Ochoa as YPARD Web and Communications Officer. Amelia is joining YPARD Global Coordination Unit for a period of 6 months. Amelia has a background in Audiovisual Communications and Hispanic Philology, from the University of Navarra, Spain. In 2010, she contributed to a Project on Mass media and NGO crisis as a researcher. They analysed the... More

Have you ever found yourself in the situation in which you wanted to submit a funding proposal to support your  participation to an event but you were not successful in the end? If yes, keep reading. Getting sponsorship is not an easy task, especially when it comes to attending international conferences. It is usually a lengthy process for which you start... More

  Between 28-30 May 2014, the IITA Youth Agripreneur (IYA) and the Young Professional in Agricultural Development (YPARD) Nigeria will celebrate the Youth in Agribusiness Development Initiative (YADI) Workshop. In order to engage on-site participants, reach out to a wider audience remotely and promote the YADI Project Conceptualization Workshop, both organizations are putting together a Remote Social Reporting Team. This volunteer... More

The family of the three brothers Christos Belides (32), Miltiades Belides (30) and Theodoros Belides (20) has a long history of wine producing. Their grandfather was winegrower in Constantinople and in 1922 he took some of his wine varieties with him to Greece. Nowadays the winery is located near the city Kozani, in the north of Greece. The three brothers are... More

Agriculture is the main source of food, income, and employment for the majority of people in Nepal. But one big hurdle for most farmers is financing. Loans tend to be too expensive for smallholder farmers. They often involve a lengthy application process, and farmers can rarely meet the rigid collateral requirements—rural land is neither recognized nor accepted as collateral by many banks. Without... More

Currently, 2.5 billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Globally, the average age of farmers is around 55 years. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Statistical Yearbook 2013, 27 percent of the world's population is under 10 years old compared to only 8 percent over 65 years old. It's clear that agriculture needs to attract younger farmers. In Europe, one-third of all... More

Did you know about the new International Labour Organization (ILO) kit? It consists of a training package called "Gender and Entrepreneurship Together – GET Ahead for Women in Enterprise"– that aims to assist ILO partner organizations in promoting enterprise development among women and young girls in poverty who want to start or are already engaged in small-scale business. The so called... More

“There won’t be development without youth. Young people have to be involved and finding how agriculture can be attracting for young people is the priceless solution we should seek after”. This is how Abdoulaye from Senegal sums up the main message that comes out from an online survey made by FSN Forum in West Africa in collaboration with YPARD, available in... More

Agriculture is key to Nepalese economy by determining economic growth and employment for most of the rural people and it is said as the foundation of the development of the country. However, no extra developmental activities have been done by the concerned agencies in this sector except few investment on irrigation and agricultural development projects. Agricultural production in Nepal is highly... More

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) published recently its Youth Strategy Plan from 2013 to 2017. After more than 15 years supporting and promoting youth engagement in agriculture, CTA has launched this strategy in order to boost the crucial role of young people in agriculture and rural development (ARD) to develop and modernise the sector. 70% of Africa’s... More

Deadline: 25 May 2014 Farming First! - That’s the name of a coalition of over 130 organisations. The coalition articulates actions towards sustainable agricultural development worldwide. It gathers multi-stakeholder representatives: world’s farmers, scientists, engineers and industry as well as agricultural development organisations. With one shared voice, Farming First highlights the importance of improving farmers’ livelihoods and agriculture’s potential contribution to global... More

Lengthy presentations are a tired conference format. To come to concrete and effective solutions, we need lively and focused discussions with people of different views. But lively discussions need a glue to hold them together. And that glue is a moderator. What is a facilitator? It is the facilitator who sets the context, drives the discussion, and engages the audience in... More