Speakers Bio & Abstract

BiographyDr. Saravanan Raj, is a Director (Agricultural Extension) in the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad, India (an apex level organisation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India) and heading the Centre for Agricultural Extension Innovations and Reforms. Before to this, he worked as an Associate Professor (Extension Education and Rural Sociology) in the Central Agricultural University, India and implemented research & extension programmes among the tribal farmers in most disadvantaged region of North-East India for nearly 14 years.
He is specialised in Agricultural Extension from India and having passionate interest in the area of e-Extension, social media, private extension, institutional innovations and reforms. He implemented innovative e-Extension projects such as e-Arik, e-Villages, e-AgriKiosk and m4agriNEI among the tribal farmers of North-East India.
He is the author of articles in the area of private extension, and ICTs for agricultural extension and four books including a book on Agricultural Extension: Worldwide Innovations (2008). He also contributed four GFRAS global good practice notes on e-Extension. He is one of the focal points for the Agricultural Extension in South Asia (AESA) Network and also heading the GFRAS Interest Group on ICTs for RAS (For more details: www.saravananraj.net).