President's Corner

   The 3rd Biennial International Scientific Conference was a great success. The mix of virtual and on-site platforms brought together over 150 participants with a fantastic slate of invited and contributed oral and poster presentations along with greatly demanded several panel discussions on Senior Professionals’ Forum, Nepal’s Agricultural Development Policies and Strategies, Personal Financial Literary and Education, and Career Opportunities in Industry and Academia; Research Mini-Grant symposium; Competitive students’ oral, poster, and essay writing opportunities; and Ag-poem recitation. Overall, the conference gave away $1950 cash prizes, agriculture pioneer award, and outstanding volunteers/members recognition and appreciation. As the newly elected president of this vibrant professional society, I would like to congratulate the entire conference organizing committee (COC) led by Dr. Nanda P. Joshi, founding president and COC Co-Chair Dr. Lila B. Karki, COC Co-Chair and outgoing NAPA president Dr. Megha N. Parajulee, and NAPA Executive Committee for their extraordinary work.

It is my great pleasure and honor to serve this global society as the president of the fourth Executive Committee from 2022 to 2024. My journey with NAPA started from day one while chartering it through the working committee formed in 2015 and active engagement since then in the past three Executive Committees as - Joint Secretary (2016-2018), General Secretary (2018-2020), and Vice President (2020-2022). Over seven years of constant involvement as the lead of various sub-committees such as Membership Drive, Conference Secretary for the 1st International Scientific Conference in 2018, Member-Secretary of its flagship journal ‘Global Journal of Agricultural and Allied Sciences (GJAAS),’ and many other responsibilities prepared me for this opportunity to lead this great organization. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my predecessors, Drs. Lila B. Karki and Megha N. Parajulee, for their excellent leadership and commitments in the last seven years of NAPA’s establishment. In these years, we have experienced many challenges and endured difficulties that have sharpened my leadership capability to take NAPA to the next height. The entire NAPA community has entrusted my steadfast commitment and hard-working passion for the continuous growth and development of this organization. As always, I look forward to working with all of you for the next two years on this leadership role towards fulfilling its mission and streamlining the perspectives to achieve global food security through agricultural transformation.

With the tremendous support from our valued NAPA members and highly dedicated committees, I am confident that we will deliver our commitments with unwavering efforts. On behalf of my leadership team, I vow that this newly elected Executive Committee will work diligently to heighten NAPA’s identity further with a focus on the following key aspects in addition to delivering our ongoing legacy programs:

• Publish a comprehensive database of agricultural professionals involved in NAPA to establish a baseline with their experience and expertise.
• Organize the subject matter roundtable for all disciplines to bring students and scientists of all phases together for meaningful interaction and networking, advice, and guidance.
• Develop tangible collaborations among NAPA professionals as well as professionals of agricultural and allied disciplines in Nepal and beyond in research, education, and extension.
• Strengthen NAPA’s resources, specifically seeking extramural funding.
• Organize training, workshops, and symposia for capacity building and professional development of its members (scientists, faculty, and students) in the Americas, Nepal, and beyond.
• Expand collaborations with other organizations in the Americas and beyond to achieve our common goals.
• Prioritize GJAAS publication to serve a global audience for NAPA’s programmatic sustainability.
• Enlarge endowment funds for its economic sustainability.
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  If you would like to get involved in any of the NAPA activities or have any suggestions about how we can improve our efficiency and effectiveness, please contact us at napa@napaamericas.org.
  
  For further information, you can always visit our website (www.napaamericas.org).
  Thank you all for your continued solidarity and support to make NAPA grow internationally.
  
  Pradeep Wagle, PhD
  President
  Association of Nepalese Agricultural Professionals of Americas (NAPA)
  NAPA email: napa@napaamericas.org
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