It is the year 2020! Happy new year! For YPARD, all hands are already on deck. Many young professionals are already back to the grind. It is an opportunity to start strong with increased potentials for better returns, as the new year transitions from days of public merriments and vacations to periods of evaluation - “what progress have I made this... More

We are delighted to welcome a new steering committee member: Marina Cherbonnier. Marina is a graduate with a Master’s degree in Information and Communications Technologies for Development (ICT4D) from the University of Manchester, the UK, and a Master’s degree in Information and Documentation sciences from the UCO, Angers, France. She was also a Bachelor student in French and Classical (Greek and... More

Global Youth Leadership Program, an exclusive 2-day professional program that was held in Beijing on 9th and 10th November 2019. There were 65 youth participants, representing over 25 countries, gathered together to talk about various topics on character and leadership development, personal influence, speaking and communication skills, and social competence building.  The guest speakers were international thought leaders and youth mentors... More

When you buy popcorn in a movie theatre, maize cobs from a street vendor and a meal which comes from processing maize as feed, we should be thankful to the farmers.  They are men and women who battle against the unpredictable weather and invasive insects and bring food from the field to our fork. I have been hearing that agriculture is... More

To increase awareness on the importance of biodiversity mainstreaming across the agriculture and allied sectors three days “Regional Consultative Meeting on Biodiversity Mainstreaming across Agricultural sectors - Asia and the Pacific” was held from 17 to 19 July 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand.  The consultative meeting was co-organized by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat, in... More

We are delighted to welcome the incoming YPARD Belgium communications focal point: Ángela Patricia Guerrero Castillo.  Ángela is a graduate with a Master’s degree in Electronic Engineering from Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería Julio Garavito and a Bachelor in Mechatronic Engineering from Universidad de San Buenaventura in Bogotá, Colombia. Currently, Ángela is a Ph.D. student in Precision Agriculture at Ghent University in Ghent,... More

The East African Farmers Federation (EAFF) together with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) held a two-day workshop on youth space in policy and financial inclusion. This formed part of the ongoing project of “Scaling-Up Rural Youth Access to inclusive Financial Services for Entrepreneurship and employment”. The project is being implemented in 3 East African... More

The school farm initiative is one of the new strategic plans of YPARD and FAO for the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, the project’s framework will make use of a curriculum concept, to promote training sessions based on an integrated production system.  It aims to combine scientific concepts and social capital to set up a socio-economic framework. Its dynamic will... More

The East African Farmers Federation (EAFF) together with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) held a two days’ workshop on youth space in policy and financial inclusion as part of the ongoing project of “Scaling-Up Rural Youth Access to inclusive Financial Services for Entrepreneurship and employment”. The project is implemented in 3 East African Countries... More

We are delighted to welcome the YPARD Belgium Country Representative Michael Ruggeri.  Michael holds a master’s degree in Rural and Agricultural Development from the University of East Anglia, preceded by another master’s degree in Environment and International Development from “La Sapienza” University. Among other things, Michael has recently collaborated with FAO on the preparation of the State of the World’s Biodiversity for... More

Young Professionals for Agricultural Development, YPARD, together with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is now set to develop a new strategic plan that focuses on the development of human capital particularly – the youth.  It aims to design an efficient mechanism of intervention to solve some common challenges within the agricultural sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).... More

In this year, a total of 352 youth representatives from 69 countries gathered in Beijing to attend and contribute to the 4th Asian-African Youth Festival 2019, Beijing, China from 15 to 19 October 2019.  Youth representatives came from all alley of life, including politics, economic, sports, education, media, academia, and social organizations. There were 199 representatives from 34 Asian Countries. The... More

I am Shah Khalid, a Ph.D. scholar in Agronomy at the University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan.  I am very glad to share my story on my journey with YPARD Pakistan. Last month, I have received a call from Prof. Dr. Muhammad Arif, who told me about Ms. Shahla Salahuddin, YPARD Pakistan Country Representative. Ms. Salahuddin introduced a conference co-organized by YPARD... More

YPARD is currently collaborating with FAO to design and plan the best approach in tackling the agricultural sector challenges in the non-conflictual zones in the RNE (North Africa and Near East region).  Looking at the climate and natural resources available in those countries, we note that there are many challenges to overcome.  We could cite countries like Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait,... More

YPARD is currently working with FAO in order to design and plan the best approach to tackle the major challenges within the agricultural sector in RNE (North Africa and Near East region), especially as regards the youth.  Priorities are to be set concerning the countries, which are mainly affected by these challenges such as Syria, Yemen, Sudan and Iraq. A baseline understanding... More

Farmers in rural areas are associated with inadequate technical knowledge on good agricultural production and post-harvest techniques that lead a cycle of poverty. In addition to these, they lack access to sufficient veterinary services for their livestock. This results in economic losses due to disease and pest infestations. To bridge the knowledge gap in these rural areas and strengthen rural knowledge... More

It was on a sunny Saturday on 2nd November 2019 when a group of 30 young agribusiness actors and farmers gathered under the auspices of Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) Nigeria in Ibadan to host a café themed “Agricultural Crop Value Chain: The role of the Entrepreneur”. The YPARD café provided a platform for members of the YPARD network to... More

We are delighted to welcome the YPARD project support intern Wendel Georges.  Wendel is originally from Haiti but have had the privilege to live his past six years in Costa Rica, where he gained first his bachelor degree in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management at Escuela de Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda (EARTH), and just recently he graduated with a... More

We are delighted to welcome the YPARD project support intern Gabriel Yves Badr. Gabriel is an Agricultural Engineering student with a Minor in Politics. He is currently rounding up his final year project entitled “Agriculture, Syria’s economic hope” in order to obtain his diploma of Agricultural Engineering along with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies from the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik.... More

Agroecology is a scientific discipline that involves a set of practices and a social movement.  Indeed, it seeks sustainable farming systems to optimize and stabilize yield and tackles a multifunctional role for agriculture, promotes social justice and culture and strengthens the economic viability of rural areas. The new project involving youth in agroecology will be implemented through the collaboration between UNFAO... More