Association: Programme Director – Agriculture Research with BAIF Development Research Foundation, a reputed NGO in India engaged in Sustainable Livelihood of Rural Communities through Agri-Horti-Forestry, Livestock Development and Natural Resources Management since last 58 years with an outreach of 4 million rural poor families from 100,000 villages of 15 states.  

Experience: 36 years in BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune

Academic: Masters in Agriculture with Specialization in Genetics and Plant Breeding from Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (1987) 

Significant Contributions:

Agriculture Research and Innovation Programmes: Coordinating and facilitating Agrobiodiversity Conservation, Forage Crop Improvement, Sustainable Agriculture, Agroforestry, Nature Positive Solutions, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation and Abiotic Stress Management in crops through molecular breeding.  

Agrobiodiversity Programme:  Mapping of traditional landraces and specific traits associated, documentation of knowledge and best practices, establishment of in-situ and ex-situ conservation centers, providing skills to seed saviors in maintenance of the diversity and identifying landraces for specific traits, registration of landraces with National Gene Bank and seed production of worthy land races for large scale promotion and conservation.  Conservation and evaluation of the performances of timber and non-timber forestry species in Germplasm Centres at BAIF Campuses located in various agroclimatic zones. 

Forage Research: as a Forage Breeder and Principal Investigator of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) sponsored project on Forage Crops, evolved many varieties of fodder pearl millet, maize, alfalfa and B N Hybrids out of which 5 varieties and 4 B N Hybrids were released at the National Level by ICAR. All these varieties have been well adopted by farmers across the country for cultivation on their own farms. 

Involved in research on Soil health improvement, Biochar, Agriculture crop residue management, beneficial microorganisms in agriculture and smart agriculture practices. Active participation in training and capacity building programmes for skill development, knowledge building and entrepreneurship development; Networking with National and International Research Institutes for Research collaboration, Technology Transfer, Training and Capacity building.  

Served as Project leader, Principal Investigator and Advisory Committee Member in various national and international projects funded by DST, DBT, NABARD, ICAR, BIRAC, European Union (EU), IDRC, CIRAD, OFI, ICARDA, The Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT and DIKU. 

Honours/Awards: 

• Certificate of Appreciation by ICAR, New Delhi in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 for outstanding contribution in Forage Resource Development
• Best Publication Awards – 5
• Membership Certificate by Bioinfo Publications and honoured as valued Reviewer of International Journal of Agriculture Sciences
• Member of Technical Committee, Food and Agriculture Division (FAD), Bureau of Indian Standards, Government of India, New Delhi

Publications: Published 35 Scientific Papers in prestigious national and international journals with focus on sustainable agriculture, forage crop production, agroforestry, molecular genetics; 2 books in Forage Crops, 2 book chapters and 22 popular articles.