Principal Scientist
Dr. Sreenath Dixit is the Head of the ICRISAT Development Center (IDC), a research cluster under the Global Research Program -Resilient Farm and Food Systems. He collaborates with the Global Research Program Director to deliver impactful outcomes to smallholder farming systems. He guides and supervises a multidisciplinary team of natural resource management experts and social scientists to develop and deliver climate-resilient agriculture technologies and improve productivity for smallholder farmers. Furthermore, Dr. Dixit is responsible for mobilizing and building partnerships with governments at the state and national level, along with private and public entities, to support ICRISAT’s goals. As the Head of IDC, Dr Dixit, with his knowledge of the Science of Delivery and the impact pathways, is striving to achieve positive outcomes for smallholder farmers. Additionally, he also has experience mobilizing resources, and collaborating with partners, like farmer organizations and governmental line departments, effectively.
With a doctorate in Agricultural Extension from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India (1993), he belongs to the 1990 batch of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). His efforts have led to many ICAR awards, such as Vasantrao Naik Award for Dryland Agriculture and the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Award for Tribal Agriculture Improvement besides the Young Scientist award of the Indian Society of Extension Education early in his career.
In his career spanning over 30 years, he has served in different capacities with National Research Centre for Cashew, Puttur (1992-99) and Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad (1999-2014). He headed the Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Bengaluru as its Director (2014-18) before moving in to ICRISAT. He has also served ICRISAT earlier in his career in two different projects between 2002-06.
He has over a hundred publications to his credit and published about 80 research papers both in national and international journals, written over 35 book chapters, and several project reports and policy papers. Besides, he has also published over 100 popular articles on a wide range of subjects including agriculture, education, rural development, etc.
Expertise: Participatory natural resource management, innovative institutional mechanisms for promoting sustainable rural livelihoods in fragile ecosystems, technology testing and frontline extension strategies, location-specific adaptations to climate change and ICTs in agricultural extension.
Publications
- Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) for rapid soil testing and soil quality assessment in smallholder farms
on April 6, 2023 at 6:31 am
- Evaluating the trade-offs and sustainability of minimum tillage and crop-residue addition for food production in the dryland tropics
on July 28, 2022 at 8:07 am
- Reducing risk of crop failure by building system-level resilience through science-based natural resource management interventions: A case for rationalising crop insurance premia
on July 1, 2022 at 5:00 am
- Detecting Soil pH from Open-Source Remote Sensing Data: A Case Study of Angul and Balangir Districts, Odisha State
on May 5, 2022 at 9:38 am
- Decadal variations in CO2 during agricultural seasons in India and role of management as sustainable approach
on April 4, 2022 at 4:13 am