As a phrase, ‘data is the new oil’ becomes more and more popular, I often wondered about the impact of data governance and sharing practices in agriculture.  With the growing concern of people on big data, open data access and workshops about data sharing and data revolutions on farming, my wonder was obvious. I wished to know more about the ways... More

Young farmers’ problems seem to be pretty much the same in every part of the world: market, land, financing, information about production techniques and their contributions to agriculture exactly the same: making food producing sustainable, natural environmental safer and agriculture modern and easy. In Serbia, many young farmers start their own agricultural production without any help from government, associations or others.... More

Introduction Youth have the potential to contribute to food security, economic development, social inclusion and stability in Uganda. But sadly, three of every four youths in Africa live on less than USD 2/day (African Economic Outlook 2013). While there have been multiple calls for youth to engage in agribusiness, a few African youth have access to financial services and products at... More

With the purpose to promote YPARD’s mission in Armenia, and to better understand how local youth can benefit from it, in March, our team organized two meetings with different stakeholders involved in agriculture. The first meeting took place in the mountain resort Aghveran, gathering young farmers involved in organic farming. The second meeting was organized for juniors, who pursue a bachelor’s... More

As part of the Government of Kenya’s commitment to raise the profile of agriculture among youth in Kenya, the Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries (MoALF) in Kenya together with its partners in the agriculture sector will be conducting County Consultations on the newly developed Youth in Agribusiness Strategy 2017 – 2021. This is an initiative supported by the Government of Kenya... More

We are delighted to welcome our very first YPARD Country representative for Italy: Virginia Cravero. Virginia is a Biologist specialized in bio-technology and agrifood, as well as in the development of traditional and local food products. She is passionate about food and all issues related to it. “Since I was little I experienced that food carries such pleasure that it was impossible... More

Photo by Ollivier Girard/CIFOR   So you’re thinking of applying for the YPARD mentoring program? Here are some tips to help you with your application.  Read the question It’s surprising how many people give irrelevant answers to questions. If for example we ask you to describe someone who has been important in your life, this is not the time to tell... More

Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) in Zambia is undertaking activities aimed at creating interest in and commitment to agricultural development among the youth, through information exchange, dialogue, networking and mentorship. We are looking for Successful Young Farmers (35 years and below) who can be our Role Models for Secondary School Students. These should be active farmers or main players along... More

The Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture is advertised by the organisers as ' the world's award winning sustianable agriculture event'.  There were indeed many innovative and interesting products on display, from vertical farming to glasses that enable farmers to see problems with their crops. But, was it really promoting sustainable agriculture? One major thing that was missing was a good number of... More

Twenty young participants, sixteen countries represented; a swirl of passion, enthusiasm, dedication, drive, smartness and kindness all together - in brief: YPARD Europe very first face-to-face meeting. The goal of the YPARD Europe conference was to meet each other, to create synergies, to build stronger plans and refine concrete activities on national level, for each YPARD Country chapter, in the frame... 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

  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

Fortunate delegates at the 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week in Accra, Ghana  had an opportunity to visit Kpong Irrigation Scheme, one of Ghana’s largest irrigation projects. Rice farming, the project’s main activity is taking place on 1,870 hectares of land a providing a source of livelihood for 2,840 rice farmers. Like any other person with an income, these farmers require financial services especially savings... More

Agriculture in Nepal suffers from years of under-investment, low production, limited research, and petty inputs, technology and services for farmers. By and large, at the beginning of the 20 years Agriculture Prospective Plan (APP) in 1995-96, it was in a worse situation than today. Since we have made progress, but we are still in a low development stage. In general, in... More