About 3 billion ha. of land (equivalent to near to 41% of the earth's land) are dry, says an article by the CGIAR Dryland Systems research program CRP 1.1. Furthermore the program states that within a population close to 2.5 billion in dry areas, 16 percent of the population is extremely poor. The CRP1.1 focuses on populations of the dry areas... More

by Marina Cherbonnier and Courtney Paisley Youth are sometimes asked to provide their input into the big issues in the landscapes sector (agriculture, forestry, fisheries, conservation, development, industry, climate change), but let’s face it — this input often stays on the sidelines and rarely influences the ‘real’ decisions that are being made. We’re hoping to change this by providing a platform... More

YPARD is delighted to welcome Madhu Sudhan Ghimire as Social Media Intern. Madhu will be working on spreading the word and animating YPARD social media channels on Facebook page and group, Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. He will be working remotely from Nepal some 10-15 hours a week. Madhu is a young nepalese student enrolled in a BSc. Agriculture at Tribhuwan... More

The 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week with the theme;- “Africa Feeding Africa through Agricultural Science and Innovation” was held between the 15th and 21st of July 2013 at Accra, Ghana and put together by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). It was an event  that I was happy to have participated in. You might wonder why I have said... More

Happy International Youth Day 2013 ! IYD is celebrated every year by the UN on the 12 August. The theme for this year is ‘Youth Migration: Moving Development Forward’. We asked young students and professionals in agriculture to share with us their experiences and insights about youth migration and its relation to Development. We particularly invited them to discuss rural-urban migration and... More

The road is long towards full inclusion of Young Professionals into strategic international actions for agricultural development. But the adventure enables you to meet and work with outstanding people who understand the critical role youth play for sustainable development. It is time to celebrate youth supporters and look at the achievement made together so far. GCARD2, 2012, represented a milestone for... More

Interview with Nick Levendofsky, National Farmers Union and Kansas Farmer Union USABy Ivana Radic Nick Levendovsky (28) from Kansas, representing the National Farmers Union (link) and the Kansas Farmers union at the 26th International leadership workshop for rural youth, in Herrsching, Germany gives a great insight in his up to date learning from the seminar. In another interview he tells about... More

Last May 2013, YPARD was solicited by the Chicago Council to invite some Young Professionals to take part in the live blogging and tweeting of The 2013 Global Food Security Symposium. A young live blogger would watch a panel discussion or a keynote address and then would write up summary and key points to be posted on the Chicago Council’s Global... More

If we look into Africa‘s recent history, we see that this part of the world fits perfectly, at this time, into the growth limits stated by Reverend Thomas Malthus more than 200 years ago. With a population doubling every 25 years and an ecological decline hard to slow down, Africa is about to reach its “limits of growth”. But this is not a reason to despair. At the Forum... More

Blogpost by Marina Cherbonnier and Peter Casier, two AASW social reporters. Blog post originally posted on The FARA-AASW Blog. Meet Marina Cherbonnier, the YPARD Web and Communications Officer. I call her a “can-do-it-all” ball of energy. She has a background in ICT4D (University of Manchester, UK) and in information and documentation sciences (UCO, Angers, France). She previously was an intern at... More

YPARD was invited as a partner and official representative of the youth during the CRP1.1 launching, held on 21-23 May 2013, in Amman, Jordan (CGIAR -ICARDA), to discuss the importance of the youth in the implementation of the CGIAR CRP1.1 on Dryland Systems to achieve its impact. It was only about giving some general hints on how youth’s involvement could be... More

Overcoming the threats to agriculture and food security in a changing climate requires a strong scientific evidence base to both help smallholder farmers choose resilient strategies and to guide development policy and investments. Building on a Bioversity and CCAFS (Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security) systematic review of the role of diversification in agricultural systems, the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research is... More

Just few days after been nominated as the Local Representative for Young Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD) in Lagos, Nigeria. I was privileged to attend the Youth and Policy Dialogue Series on: Food Security for a Mega Population organized by HEDA resources, Lagos - Nigeria on 5th March, 2013. It was a very wonderful occasion involving individuals, farmers,... More

by Abodunrin Adeola Atinuke “The budget of any nation, especially a developing nation such as ours, is the next important instrument of governance after the Constitution. It reflects government's priorities in the various sectors while also showcasing government's values and reward systems. It is the budget that government utilises in encouraging or discouraging growth as well as in improving the welfare... More