YPARD – a global effort at youth involvement in agriculture

Youth Platform for Agricultural Development (YPARD) is a global effort targeted at getting young professionals involved in different aspects of agriculture, from entrepreneurship to research, to agro-allied products and services. Currently, over 300 young professionals are part of the network, out of the 5345 members worldwide, says Wale Ojo, the country representative of YPARD, a network opened to all youths interested in one aspect of agriculture or the other.

Ojo says through YPARD, young professionals have been funded to attend conferences related to agriculture, get information on scholarships first-hand and they have been able to apply and win scholarships. “Members who are scientists or researchers have had a platform to share their work and researches with others in their field,” he adds.

There are no doubt challenges, Ojo says, in Nigeria, the challenges is mainly funding and getting partners to form synergies locally. “We need these to be able to meet up with our strategic objectives, which includes promoting agricultural involvement of the youth, advocacy to influence policies in that direction, creating opportunities for young professionals in agricultural research and development, providing firsthand information to members and also building a strong network of YPs.”

Speaking on the necessity of such a platform, he says, “During my training at the Songhai Centre, an integrated farm in Porto Novo, I discovered the importance of being part of a group that have a common vision in agriculture. During one of my personal researches, I came across the YPARD. I joined this network and after a year of active participation, both locally and internationally, I became the country representative.