ICRISAT Development Center (IDC)
Asia Program
Dr Sreenath Dixit is Principal Scientist & Head, IDC based in Patancheru, India, since January 2018. He is currently working with the ICRISAT Development Center, Research Program-Asia on developing strategies for capacity building and large-scale uptake of science-backed technologies to achieve impact on the ground.
With a doctorate in Agricultural Extension from the Universality of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India (1993), he works on capacity building strategies to implement multi-disciplinary, multi-institute consortium projects on ground with focus on scaling up across large areas. 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 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 25 years with the National Agricultural Research System (NARS), 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 published over 50 research papers both in national and international journals; written over 25 book chapters and several project reports and policy papers. He has also published over 100 popular articles on a wide range of subjects including agriculture, education, rural development etc.
Expertise in: 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