Scaling-up Solutions for Farmers Technology, Partnerships and Convergence

Suhas P. Wani is Former Research Program Director – Asia and Director, IDC at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India. Serving as Advisor to JSW Foundation, Mumbai, international Consultant Asian Development Bank, (ADB) Manila, Trustee of S.M. Sehgal Foundation (SMSF), BAIF Integrated Rural Development, Hyderabad, Member of Advisory Board Council of North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, Maharashtra. Served as Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Board Member of Unilever, Jury for JSW-Times of India Earth Care Awards and Times of India-PRF Social Impact Incubator Program. Has published 600+ research papers, book chapters and books. Spearheaded six Strategic papers for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), GoI, received Gold medal from Government of Vietnam, Fellowship from Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (YAAS), Kunming, China; Doreen Mashler Award, Best ICAR Award and Outstanding scientific article award, Krishi Sanman Award by ABP Majha , Abhinav – Innovative Practices in IWMP” by Ministry of Rural Development, GoI, Asian CSR Leadership Award, 50 Most Impactful Leaders in Water & Water Management.

K.V. Raju , Economic Advisor to Chief Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, India. Earlier, he was Theme Leader, Policy and Impact, IDC, Regional Program of Asia, ICRISAT; Economic Advisor to Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka; Professor, Institute for Economics and Social Change (ISEC), Bengaluru. Worked in the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and Visiting Research Fellow in the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington DC. He has worked on strategic policies and institutions for integrated development of agriculture and water resources  management with different state governments in India and southeast asia. He has organised a number of international development investorsto meet in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh in the capacity as Advisor to Chief Minister. He has guided a number of post graduate students in the area of policies and institutions at ISEC. Published 23 books and 103 papers.  

Tapas Bhattacharyya : Tapas Bhattacharyya, Ph.D. worked as a Principal Scientist and HOD in ICAR, and Vice-Chancellor (former) of Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth (DBSKKV), Dapoli, Maharashtra, India. He has been carrying out basic research in terms of soils and their utility. He has worked for various national and international projects with special reference to soil carbon sequestration and soil carbon modelling to address the issues of global warming and climate change. He initiated research in benchmark soils of India to use it for similar geographical areas for up scaling. Documentation of resource information for posterity and their use in generating temporal datasets, geo referencing resource information for easy monitoring in terms of soil degradation, quality and soil health in India to develop soil information system have been his main research management agenda.