The four Co-Founders are highly experienced agricultural research-for-development (R4D) experts of international repute, who came together in 2015 to continue to serve the needs of agricultural research and development institutions and individuals.
Dr MJ Vasudeva Rao
(Indian, Plant Breeding/Biotechnology)
Has over five decades of work experience in ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), ICRISAT, Indian and international seed companies. He was President-Agriculture Technology at Metahelix Life Sciences Limited, a leading Agri-Biotechnology company at Bangalore, India. His expertise include using conventional and transgenic plant breeding, organization building and development, Technology and Techno-commercial Management, Systems Development, TQM & ISO certification, Intellectual Property Management, mentoring startups in agriculture domain and GMO management.
Dr SV Raghuram Shetty
(Indian, Agronomy)
Agronomist specialising in Weed Science and Natural Resources management. Has over five decades of global experience in agricultural research and development, and institutions building in Asia and Africa. Worked as Chief of Party of the West African Seed Alliance, and
earlier worked at ICRISAT, ICARDA (International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry areas), IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) and USAID (United States Agency for International Development). He was one of the pioneers of developing watershed- based farming systems at ICRISAT and extending those technologies through working with various
national programs Asia and Africa. He played a major role in building strong alliances and partnerships towards agricultural development and sustainable economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr V Ramanatha Rao
(Indian, Biodiversity)
began his career at AICRIP and later worked extensively on groundnut germplasm at ICRISAT. He then dedicated his global career to Bioversity International (formerly IBPGR/IPGRI), specializing in agrobiodiversity. His vast contributions include building crop collections, strengthening genebanks, advancing knowledge on genetic resource conservation, and assisting many Asian nations in establishing their National Plant Genetic Resources Programmes to secure food and livelihood security.
Dr CL Laxmipathi Gowda
(Indian, Plant Breeding/Research Management)
was formerly Deputy Director General-Research at ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), Hyderabad, India. He earlier worked as Director, Grain Legumes and Crop Improvement Programs. He also Coordinated the Cereals and Legumes Asia Network (CLAN), and has supported and strengthened the R&D capacity of 11 Asian countries. He was one of the pioneers who initiated the Public-Private Partnership for Hybrid Parents Research Consortium (HPRC) at ICRISAT, which has been emulated by many national and international research institutions.