https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJUjrAEl-gs&feature=youtu.be By MARK HOLDERNESS, GFAR Executive Secretary This article on GFAR's role was originally published on the G20 Portal on the occasion of the 2017 G20 Summit held 4–5 September 2016 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. We all know that humanity faces huge challenges in achieving sustainable development and that we must act now. Our agri-food systems, and our… Continue reading Shaping the Future of Agriculture and Food Together
Early this year, I opened my e-mail inbox and read the announcement about GCARD3 – Third Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development–and immediately I got the feeling that I should just go for it. I applied to participate as a social reporter and soon I found out I had been selected--I was on my way! The Conference… Continue reading The Chief is a Leader among Equals
What potential do Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) hold for improving Agriculture and Nutrition? What are the specific challenges in your own country? A "Global Twitter Chat" around these questions will be held by the #GCARD3 Social Media Team. In the spirit of GCARD3 as a global and multi-stakeholder platform, this team represents several regions… Continue reading Have your say in Global Twitter Chat: ICTs for Sustainable Agriculture and Improving Nutrition
Have you ever imagined how a mobile phone whose coordinates can be located is able to transform a farmer’s life? It is possible, thanks to geographic information systems (GIS) which has enabled the mapping of spatial features on earth. This allows enquiry into the geography of any location and acquisition of information like land use,… Continue reading Geo-tech: the future of Agriculture
A beautiful plant is like having a friend around the house. Beth Ditto I will tell you something that is not new to any of us. Today, nearly 1 billion people across the world face the problem of undernourishment. Agricultural development organizations do their best to tackle this ‘number one’ issue which is a problem… Continue reading Plant wisely!
When I joined the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) network as mentoring coordinator in February 2015, I hoped to facilitate a mentoring program that helped YPARD members to be brave, be bold and be open. To be brave because creating a sustainable food system, better youth employment, combating climate change and equalising gender can… Continue reading Brave, bold, open: Launching the Youth Agripreneurs Project
It is almost impossible to talk about agriculture without mentioning smallholder farmers. Many smallholders farm under very poor conditions and often lack access to affordable and suitable inputs such as quality seeds and pest control measures which in turn result in very low yields. Yet, in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa smallholder farmers produce most of the… Continue reading Capacity building: What’s in it for the smallholder farmer?
One can only understand the real feeling of being unemployed and jobless, if they have experienced it. This is especially true in rural areas where there is a shortage of land to grow food and it is difficult to generate income and survive. For the unemployed youth in Kundi village of South west Ethiopia, migration… Continue reading No tree, No bee; No honey, No money
India has a huge research and extension infrastructure for agricultural development. Yet, over 59% of the farm households in India received no assistance from either government or private agricultural extension services during 2013 (NSSO Survey 70th round 2013: Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households in India). Of the 40.6% households who received extension assistance, only… Continue reading Agripreneurs: The emerging role models
Yeah, yeah, another blog post from me. So sue me. I noticed that there is something missing from all the blog posts that are going up: getting to know the YAP people better. I understand. In the mad, beautiful rush that was GCARD3, with all the faces and names flying about, it was hard to… Continue reading Get to Know Your YAPPERS Better
Two weeks after the whole GCARD3 experience, the surreal feeling has not worn off. I still wake up at the wrong time of the day, I still look for the awesome people that I experienced GCARD3 with, and I have not really adjusted back into the life that I had before the fateful day that… Continue reading Deep, Dark Confessions: Thoughts of a YAP-per
Luggage Going to a foreign country, you always want to be prepared for all possible outcomes. The good, the bad and everything in between. My luggage reflected that. Both the physical and the mental. I had clothing which Eskimos would model as well as those you would wear when the sun seemed to reign supreme.… Continue reading My Trip to a New Me After #GCARD3
A great man once said, “Scientists are inherently crappy communicators”, and as someone who has one foot in both worlds, I can definitely say that this is true. Scientists, especially those that come from the hard-core world of science where I lurk, have this inherent need to "talk shop", no matter who they are talking… Continue reading Agriculture, Science, and the Art of KISS-ing
Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending the GCARD3 Global Event - a conference that really enabled me, as a farmer and farmers’ organization representative, to feel that we were making a difference. I step back just a bit to explain that over the past few years I’ve had the opportunity to participate… Continue reading Personal Reflections on the GFAR Partner Assembly and GCARD3 meetings in Johannesburg South Africa
So what exactly transpired behind the closed doors of the YAP Mentorship at GCARD3? I always felt that we would emerge a lot more silent and contemplative than when we went in. ‘How did your day go? What did you guys do?’ Was the regular slew of questions that proceeded from our YPARD counterparts, to… Continue reading Where The Magic Happens
Let me begin this blog by saying this: at no point during the whole GCARD3 conference did it feel like any of this was actually happening to me. Not when I was stepping into the plane leaving from Manila to Dubai, not when I landed in the O.R. Tambo International Airport, not when I was… Continue reading A Little Fish in the Open Ocean: Thoughts of a Budding Bug Buff
Is 'leaving no one behind' a truly inclusive statement? If so, what about people living with impairments or disabilities? The overarching theme of the Third Global Conference for Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD 3) was ‘No one left behind: Agri–food Innovation and Research for a Sustainable World'. During the conference there was increased recognition of the need… Continue reading Truly Leaving No One Behind
It was beyond my wildest dreams: being part of the Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR) Partner Assembly and delivering a keynote speech at the Third Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD3). The experience at GCARD3 was more surreal than I thought it would be. There were approximately 512 passionate and brilliant delegates at the… Continue reading Make Your Move
https://youtu.be/inuUH64_nQk I am sitting at one of the round table discussions at the Third Global Conference on Agricultural Research and Development (GCARD3). Across from me is a middle-aged gentlemen, vibrant and bold. He's wearing a golf tee-shirt branded 'African Biosciences'. He says that, as a young Masters student in the 1990s, he tried to secure… Continue reading Stepping out of your comfort zone
https://twitter.com/EclGen/status/716547151451578368 A geneticist's personal experience of the world of social media at GCARD3 I am a geneticist by trade; my ‘safe place’ is in the laboratory where all things are clean and within white, well-defined boxes. My ‘un-safe’ place would constitute a series of unpredictable subjects (humans) functioning on jet-leg and an unlimited supply of… Continue reading A gene-jockey tweets her way through GCARD3
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