Mr Venkatramani Govindan is Agricultural Scientist and Fellow with over 40 years of research in Sustainable agriculture and organic farming. With special expertise in Dry Areas Agriculture and water and natural resources management, he comes armed with most valued knowledge and expertise to drive our interest in Food Security supporting activities of critical social value.
Brief profile below;
**Awardee, Choudry Charan Singh Award for Excellence in Journalism in Agricultural Research and Development instituted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Government of India . July 2001.
*** Awardee, Millenium ICRISAT Science Award 2002 as the Outstanding Journalist in recognition of the contribution to disseminating scientific information through creative journalism.
*Freelance Agricultural Communications and Knowledge-Sharing Specialist (from August,2009 to till date)
* He wrote the authorized biography of Dr. Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram, the 2014-World Food Prize laureate; “MR. GOLDEN GRAIN—The life and work of the MAHARAJA of WHEAT- Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram”.
He is currently the Secretary of the Centre for Research on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (CRSARD) at the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) Chennai, India.
He also serves as a Research Advisory Board Member of the Shri AMM Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre (MCRC), Taramani, Chennai-600 113, India.
*Until August 15, 2009, (from 2007 to 2009) served as the Water Management Communications and Knowledge-Sharing Specialist at the Integrated Water and Land Management Program (IWLMP) of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Aleppo, Syria.
As Japan Foundation Fellow, he worked as Visiting Researcher at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, studying family farming systems and other sustainable agriculture and rural development issues in Japan from June to December 2005.
* Served as the Agriculture Correspondent of “THE HINDU”, a leading national English daily published from Chennai: From September 1979 till May, 31, 2005.
* Served as a Visiting Fellow at the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, coordinating an FAO-sponsored program on Integrated Intensive Farming Systems (IIFS) in India and developing a multi-media database on CD-ROM of IIFS since April1994.
* Served as Consultant on Public Awareness and Media Relations at ICRISAT, Patancheru, Hyderabad, India, from February, 1997 to February 1998, December 12 to 17, 1999, June 01 to July 30, 2000.
* Served as a Visiting Editor in the Communications and Publications Department at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines from September to December 1986.
*Served as a Consultant for an eco-friendly international golf course near Chennai, India, since April 1994 to develop eco-technologies for raising turf and water harvesting and recycling.
At present, he is a Consultant on Organic farming/ ecological agriculture with several NGOs and progressive farmers in India.