While the agricultural sector in Guatemala employs the 31.2% of the total workforce (ILOSTAT), it only contributes 11.3% of the national GDP (World Bank) and represents a very low percentage of the total investments in the country. An urgent enhancement of investment in agriculture is needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular to end poverty (SDG 1) and hunger... More

YPARD France is seeking for a young, innovative and fresh spirited professional to take on the role of a Country Representative (CR) and continue its work on youth in agriculture! Since 2012, the YPARD France chapter has been boosting youth's participation in agriculture, food and environmental issues by carrying out awareness work on social media and a consultative mission for higher... More

The world has changed and so has climate. In the past years we have experienced dramatic change in climate in line with increasing temperatures, changed in rainfall patterns, high levels of carbon emission and green house gases emissions. The world forest has suffered harm and has continued to face high rates of deforestation. These changes have seen the world agricultural practices... More

Nepal being a diversified country in terms of culture, customs, religion, ethnicities, geographical habitat, the feeding habit of the Nepalese and the food they consume obviously differs accordingly.  No doubt, Nepal is an agricultural country and different agricultural products have unique and significant nutritional values and agriculture is the prime source of food.  Despite the diversified food production and consumption habit,... More

YPARD is proud to share its YPARD 2017 annual report.  2017 was vibrant with continued activities geared towards achieving  the network objectives. This year saw the network strengthen its operational processes with some exciting results as thus; The YPARD External Review  With the YPARD business plan 2014-2018 coming to a close, in the spring of 2017, Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) commissioned the Royal Tropical Institute... More

The Philippines Youth-in-Agriculture Mentoring Program is YPARD Philippines’ first mentoring program.  Essentially, it is a year-long scheme that aims to bring together students and young professionals in agriculture, to match them with agriculture experts from various subfields that YPARD Philippines focuses on in its youth-in-agriculture agenda: academy, research, extension, business and policy/governance. Throughout the program, mentors will meet with their mentees... More

We are delighted to welcome the new YPARD Peru country representative, Flor de María Prado Flor de María is a graduate of the Pacifico University, Perú with a Bachelor´s degree in Administration. The first years of her career she worked in some Peruvian companies. However, she was always really interested in finding the way to create opportunities for people who need... More

Lucia Ntchela, a farmer from Mwanza in southern Malawi can now fully rely on the income from the chili farming to meet household expenses and to pay school fees for her children.  She no longer needs to look for income from other sources. But things have not been always rosy for Lucia. Like other farmers in her community, she struggled to... More

My name is Artur Harutyunyan, I am a YPARD Armenia member and a senior student at Agribusiness Teaching Center (ATC). During my two years of education at ATC, I have been provided with firm and in-depth knowledge about the agribusiness sector. Agribusiness related subjects such as Agricultural Economics, Agroecology, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Agribusiness Case Study has become a cornerstone... More

The Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) Ghana has successfully signed a letter of cooperation with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) for “domestication, data population and local management of the eCapacities™ platform”. The eCapacities™ platform will foster online collaborative and interactive engagement by African organizations on agribusiness, investment, human capital, and production data to promote policy design, targeted... More

With perfect lighting and the cackling of geese as a soundtrack, Campaigning for Conservation (C4C) training kicked off at the Manor House Agricultural Center on the 12th of March 2018 and lasted twelve days. This was a training offered to twenty-six Farming for Biodiversity Campaigners from across the country Kenya by RARE, IFOAM Organics International and was supported by German Environment... More

Africa’s agricultural system is faced with many challenges such lack of access to material and monetary resources, low investor confidence in agriculture and unfortunately wrong perceptions of youth about the farming enterprise as a whole. However young men and women who are the future of nation have the energetic, creativity and innovation to drive the agriculture sector forward. To harness these... More

I am sure you have all heard that famous fish quote probably hundreds of times “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.  Ok, but what happens if the proverbial man loses his fishing pole or the fish somehow run out of that river? What... More

In order to be a successful goat farmer, there are basics you must consider or know before you start a goat farm. These include but not limited to the following: Location: The most important consideration you must first make is location. Common goats generally survive in warm areas that are well drained. Apart from temperature, space is necessary. Goats live in... More

We are delighted to welcome the new YPARD South Africa representative, Tshiamo Dichabe. Tshiamo has expertise in business strategy conceptualization, new venture creation and project/programme implementation. He holds a B.Com Marketing degree from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, majoring in Marketing Management, Business Management and Project Management. He is currently enrolled at the University of South Africa (UNISA) to... More

As the new YPARD Serbia country representative in exploring potentials for partnerships with associations and organizations with similar cause as YPARD’s; making better standing for young farmers, I attended the third International conference on “Young farmers in Serbia and EU” organized by the Serbian association of young farmers. At the conference Jannes Maes, presidents of the Serbian, Czech, Hungarian and Croatian... More

YPARD is glad to welcome Emmie Kio as remote YPARD Social Media Intern for 3 months, 10 hours a week. Emmie will take part in strengthening YPARD Social Media strategy and support information sharing and interaction through social media platforms such as Facebook group and page, Linkedin group, Twitter and more! Emmie Kio is from Kenya. She holds a bachelor of... More

Since 2012, the Swiss chapter of Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) is helping to boost youth's participation in agriculture, food, and environmental issues in Switzerland. YPARD Switzerland is seeking a new Country Representative (CR) from July 2018 or upon agreement. Do you bring along a young, innovative and fresh spirit? Then this is the position for you! Becoming a CR... More

It is believed that healthy, energetic and fresh young minds will build a healthy nation for tomorrow.  Keeping this into concern, children of today’s age need more priority regarding health and nutrition. Since the mid-90s to the present, Child malnutrition has significantly declined but chronic malnutrition is still high in developing countries, like Bangladesh.with 36% of children being affected worldwide.   While in... More

Twenty-seven-year-old Paul Zaake is co-founder and executive director at Rakai Environmental Conservation Programme (RECO), a not-for-profit organization based in Uganda’s southern Rakai region, and member of the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) network. To mark International Day for Biological Diversity, celebrating 25 years of action for biodiversity today, we asked him why biodiversity is important - and how youth can... More