In the past few weeks I had the opportunity to be a mentor to 4 great teams in the Thought for Food (TFF) Challenge (check out my experience HERE). After being a mentee in other online programmes and discussing in several networks on how a good mentoring programme should look like, I can give some inside tips & tricks for a great mentoring experience. The organization that... More

We are delighted to welcome Apeh Omede as Web4Knowledge intern at YPARD. Apeh will provide support in posting information on www.ypard.net while learning how to use Drupal Content Management System and optimize information services online. He will be working remotely 10 hours a week for 3 months (renewable). Apeh Omede is an active YPARD member from Nigeria and currently on Australian... More

The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) is organising a Regional Workshop on “Engaging Youth in the Implementation Phase of the CAADP Transformation Agenda – KIS” on 9-10 May 2013 at FARA Headquarters in Accra, Ghana.  The meeting will look at the entire CAADP country and regional policy processes, and identify innovative approaches for making job creation for young people a... More

Where: FARA Secretariat in Accra, GhanaWhen: 9th – 10th May, 2013 Background Africa has the largest share of children and youth, and it is expected to experience a ‘demographic dividend’ where the youthful population will peak, bringing a unique opportunity for rapid human capital development and economic growth. In fact, Africa possesses the fastest-growing and most youthful population in the world... More

A few years ago, when I first attended Syngenta`s Forum for the Future of Agriculture I found out about the TFF Challenge, a competition aimed at students of all levels that has set an objective to “feed 9 billion by 2050? by unleashing the creative potential of youth in designing innovative solutions for ending world hunger.At first, I was angry. I... More

A subsistence oriented agrarian economy is predominant in Nepal. 65.8% of total population is engaged in agriculture in which 60.2%are male and 72.8% are female. Because of the diversified climatic condition Nepal has got high potentiality of producing major cereal crops, legumes, fruits and vegetables. Climatic condition of Nepal is subtropical to temperate and annual rainfall is about 2000mm (east), 1000mm... More

Last week, I promised that I would write a follow-up article to the one I previously posted on “Practicing what we preach in Agriculture: Too Cool to Farm”. I had wanted to discuss the general challenges and opportunities in farming from my local perspective. However, I will not specifically dwell on the particulars of challenges and opportunities but will discuss them... More

A National Youth in Agriculture Policy Dialogue in Zimbabwe was held at Rainbow Towers in Harare Zimbabwe on the 26th April 2013 to interrogate the case study findings—for Zimbabwe, following the commissioned six country case studies in 2012 by the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Network (FANRPAN), based in South Africa. These policy dialogues are on-going in FANRPAN’s program of... More

I am a young girl from eastern part of Nepal, moreover I am very young in agriculture field although more than two third of Nepalese population depend upon agriculture to sustain their daily life. When I meet with my neighbors and other people, they usually ask me what I am studying. My answer is “agriculture”, but their perception level is different... More

On a sunny day of spring, YPARDians, students from the Department of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering and Department of Molecular Medicine & Bioinformatics, lead by F.M. Safiul Azam from UODA had a visit to farmers` field to learn detail about agricultural practices and crop-profit status of horticulture. They have visited fields of Taro and Gladiolus, which are one of the major... More

The Young Professionals' Platform for Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD), as a global community, has given particular attention to promote youth in agriculture from its establishment. Last week on 25 April 2013, YPARD has organized a seminar entitled YPARD Awareness Campaign (YAC) in collaboration with Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) at Chitwan, Nepal where a total 113 undergraduate students were actively... More

                I started blogging about one and half year ago. During very beginning of my blogging I didn’t have any idea of what I could post in my blog. Later, I visited some blogs and planned to shape my blog in similar way. I started to collect some online resources and calls such as... More

For the last ten days, I was in my village for a –Grand Plan, to clear and plant about 4 hectares of Land which myself and my brother have been cultivating for the 3rd consecutive year for the production of Beans and Maize. As a young person passionate about agriculture and rural development, farming and cultivation of crops popularly grown within... More

During two days a team of three motivated YPARD promoters (Martina Graf, the European Coordinator, Johanna Gysin, Swiss representative and Rahel Wyss, a committed YPARD member) spend their lunch break in front of the HAFL – canteen and spread the word about YPARD among students but also among lecturers, researchers and other employees of the college. The event was a success;... More

YPARD welcomes YPARD representative for Uzbekistan: Sitora Khabibova! Sitora Khabibova is a graduate of the Russian academy of Economics named after G.V.Plekhanov in Tashkent. She studied Business and Business administration with a major in Finance and credit, from 2004 to 2008. After University she was employed by a consulting company and the Asian Development Bank for different projects and as interpreter.... More

To enable better networking and collaboration in agriculture, AgriVIVO, managed by the GFAR Secretariat and developed jointly with Cornell University and FAO, has been launched:http://www.agrivivo.net.  AgriVIVO is a search portal built to facilitate connections between all actors in the agricultural field, bridging across separately hosted directories and online communities. YPARD, convinved that this is a great mean for Young Professionals to connect... More

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) organized the 2nd Youth Forum of ARD on 21st April to discuss what qualifications a researcher needs, what atmosphere is needed for young researchers in ARD. Speakers from leading research agencies - Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University and CAAS shared their experiences and ideas. YPARD China Representatives Jieying Bi presented on behalf of... More

The Forum for Agricultural Risk Management in Development (FARMD) is a network of institutions, practitioners, and academics seeking to enhance experience and knowledge sharing in agricultural risk management, particularly in developing countries. By improving the practice of agricultural risk management, the network seeks to strengthen investments in the agricultural sector and reduce the vulnerabilities faced by different stakeholders. FARMD is open... 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

Recently I participated in the 18th Orientation Course Programme for faculty of Swami Keshwanand Rajasthan Agricultural University (SKRAU), conducted by Directorate of Human Resource Development-DHRD (SKRAU), Bikaner, (Rajasthan), India during 13th to 26th February, 2013. On its second day of the program, there was one lecture on “Agricultural Education: Perspectives and Prospects” delivered by Dr. M. P. Sahu, Dean, College of Agriculture,... More