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As a pre-meeting activity to the 7th GFRAS Annual Meeting an e-discussion takes place from 23 August to 2 September to prepare the topic of "The Role of Rural Advisory Services (RAS) for Inclusive Agripreneurship". Stephen C. Mukembo gave us a first definition of agripreneurship: "the application of entrepreneurial principles to identify, develop, and manage viable agricultural enterprises/projects optimally and sustainably for profit and improved livelihoods". How is this different from agribusiness start-ups mentioned by Sivakumar P S? Who are these famous agripreneurs? Farmers? Young business men exploring opportunities in agriculture? Women who venture into off-farm activities? And: Aren't all farmers agripreneurs?

JICA launched the Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security in Africa recently at a side event of the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD Ⅵ), held in Africa for the first time. The initiative, abbreviated as IFNA, aims to improve nutrition in Africa, with a particular focus on the region south of the Sahara Desert, which is said to have some 220 million undernourished people.It is also said that nearly 800 million people in the world are chronically undernourished. What's more, some 159 million children ages 5 and under reportedly are stunted.

"The quantification of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions represents a critical issue for the future development of agro-food produces. Consumers' behaviour could play an important role in requiring environmental performance as an essential element for food quality. Nowadays, the carbon footprint (CFP) is a tool used worldwide by agro-food industries to communicate environmental information. This paper aims to investigate the role that CFP could have in consumers' choices in three significant agro-food sectors in the Mediterranean area: wine, olive oil and cereals. A critical review about the use of CFP was carried out along the supply chain of these three sectors, in order to identify opportunities for enhancing food quality and environmental sustainability and highlighting how environmental information could influence consumers' preferences. "

Livelihoods Venture, an investment fund financing innovative social projects, is looking for a passionate and motivated project manager in charge of rural development around the world. Livelihoods is convinced of the necessity to invent a new model that would allow companies to have a hands-on approach to sustainability. One of its main objectives is to set-up and strengthen sustainable supply and value chains. The funds are used to promote projects maximizing both the social and environmental impacts on local communities.

"12 August 2016 - Did you know that the world will need to feed two billion more people by 2050? Or that farmer populations in developing countries are ageing rapidly (the average age of farmers is about 60)?"

"Twigire Muhinzi is an exciting extension model because it combines two different kinds of Farmer to Farmer Extension approaches: Farmer Promoters (FP) with demonstration plots and Farmer Field Schools (FFS) with experimental plots. More than 1,000,000 farmers (>50% of all Rwandan Farmers) are already involved. The access to advisory services in Rwanda has increased from 32% in 2012 to 68% in 2015. The results are spectacular: Farmers produce more, increase their income significantly, save in groups, buy and sell in group and venture in all kinds of economic activities. Last but not least, the "FFS - The Plant is the Teacher program in Rwanda is among the 10 Finalists for the prestigious DAC Price for taking development. Registration before 30 April is compulsory both for national and international participants."

The Universidad ISA of Santiago, the University of Stirling in the UK and the University of Guyana have held the constituent assembly of the Institute of Aquaculture and Aquaponics-INAQUAP- in Georgetown, Guyana, on October 28, 2015. The Institute of Aquaculture and Aquaponics (INAQUAP) is being established as a key outcome of the project funded by the ACP-EU EDULINK II called "PESCADO - Pioneering Education for Sustainability of Caribbean Aquaculture Development & Opportunities" - its acronym in English.

Vocational Education and Training (VET) is an important tool for a country's social and economic advancement. It offers an alternative educational path for youths and adults who wish to grow professionally, and at the same time provides qualified manpower needed across all sectors of the economy.

Une récente réunion entre la Commission européenne et la Banque Mondiale a laissé entendre que le développement local mené par les acteurs locaux (community-led local development,CLLD) bénéficie d'excellentes perspectives d'avenir, d'autant que la coopé ration avec les initiatives de développement local pourrait s'étendre au-delà de l'Europe. L'événement, organisé à Bruxelles en novembre 2013, a réuni une vingtaine d'experts du développement local, parmi lesquels des spécialistes du développement à base communautaire de la Banque mondiale, des experts des programmes LEADER et du développement urbain de l'UE, des responsables de fonds sociaux et régionaux ainsi que des experts utilisant le CLLD dans les zones de pêche.

"The Platform's work plan 2014 was endorsed by board members at the beginning of February following a consultation process of about three months. Its outcomes are orientated to attain the revised Platform goal to promote effective policy and investment in rural development. Activities are planned under four pillars: strategic initiative, targeted advocacy with policy and decision makers, knowledge sharing, and networking and cooperation. Several thematic streams from post-2015 to nutrition, land and livestock etc. as well as input, reporting and co-organising from relevant international events will be implemented. Furthermore, Platform evaluation will help define the Platform's future and the design of its new Strategic Plan. The 2014 work plan is designed in a way general enough to provide for the flexibility a network needs, but also detailed enough to allow for a neat work process."

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) seeks input to their draft report on SDG indicators. The public consultation has commenced and run until 14 March. Read more...

Education, training and research in agriculture, agroforestry and natural resources are important cogs in the engine of socio-economic development. These elements drive innovation which eventually translates into food security and a better environment.

"On 10 July 2013, Mr Shyamal Majumdar, Head of Office of UNESCO-UNEVOC, has attended the iMove Network India in Dresden, Germany. Organized in cooperation with the Federation of Indian Commerce and Industry and the National Skill Development Corporation the event aimed at promoting the German-India collaboration in TVET. Mr Shyamal Majumdar delivered a keynote speech, in which he outlined Technical Vocational Education and Training from the international perspective and highlighted the importance of TVET in present times. Mr Majumdar urged for TVET to be transformed first and then scaled up in order to meet global demand. Furthermore, Mr Majumdar shared the key messages of the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report on Youth and Skills, and the role of the UNEVOC Network in transforming TVET, addressing key challenges of quality, capacity and public-private partnership (PPP)."

"Ratings for the Agriculture Support Services Project for Tunisia were as follows: outcomes were moderately unsatisfactory, risk to development outcome was significant, Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately unsatisfactory. Some lessons learned included: the benefits of a comprehensive project design can be outweighed by complexity, difficulty in implementation, and resources being spread too thin, even in a middle-income country like Tunisia. The effectiveness of complex projects implemented by multiple actors can be undermined unless the project management unit (or its parent agency) has sufficient authority to proactively coordinate key implementation agencies. Attempts to move from public to private provision of services can be undermined if there is not sufficient attention to beneficiary, needs, perceptions, and incentives, both for producers and service providers. Lack of ownership of producer associations by farmers limits their utility in providing farmers with inputs, access to services and inserting their interests into agricultural policy."

"Agricultural development is essential if Africa is going to feed itself and reduce poverty, which we believe it can. It is also central to achieving other priorities, including economic and industrial growth to provide jobs for young people, and promote political stability. Science can help deliver on these long-term national and regional goals, but only if it receives proper support-especially within Africa itself. Some steps have been made, but more needs to be done and done quickly."

"Africa urgently needs adequate number of quality agricultural graduates to actualize her potential in Agriculture. However, for this to be achieved, Tertiary Agricultural Education (TAE) stakeholders in the continent must work closely to leverage on their respective strengths. Pedagogy pic One of the participants of pedagogy training receives a certificate during a training workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya. In pursuit of the above objective, the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE) is implementing a programme titled 'The Strengthening Africa's Strategic Agricultural Capacity for Impact on Development (SASACID)' which focusses on supporting TAE institutions in Africa to produce agricultural graduates with the right knowledge, skills and attitudes suited for the agricultural sector."

"Program : Le Maroc - Deuxieme pret de politique de developpement pour l'education (Français)" Télécharger ici : http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2013/07/01/000445729_20130701130237/Original/767190PGD0FREN0PPDE20PD0P1205410FR.docx

"After the tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, the recovery of fishing was limited while non-fishing sectors temporarily expanded. This paper shows that fishermen's ex-post labor supply responses continued to be constrained by the provision of low quality production assets. The average fishing productivity also declined for the negative selection in response to the aggregate shock. In a natural experiment set-up, it shows widening income inequality after the tsunami for income losses to the recipients of poor quality aid. It suggests the importance of quality monitoring and private market access to sustainably promote rural development after the tsunami."

"Twenty finalists; 10 for each category of the Africa-wide Women and Young Professionals in Science Competitions, 'Feeding 1 Billion in Africa in a Changing World', will compete for the top five places in each competition on 15-16 July 2013. The winners will be announced during the FARA General Assembly from 17-20 July 2013, in Accra, Ghana. The full papers of all 45 semi-finalists will be published in the third volume of 'Agricultural Innovations for Sustainable Development: Contributions from the 2012/2013 African Women and Young Professionals in Science Competitions'. Click the links to view the final programme and read the abstracts."

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