Dr. V Praveen Rao, Manager, Agro-Knowledge Management Netafim Ltd (HQ) has had a brilliant academic career with distinction both in India and Israel. He is specialized in soil-water-plant relations, crop yield-water modeling, drip irrigation and fertigation of biofuel crops with particular reference to sugarcane, corn, Jatropha and oilseed crops.
Presently Dr. Rao is a member of Global sugarcane crop team & Manager, Agro-Knowledge Management in Netafim and is promoting drip irrigated sugarcane, corn & Jatropha crop’s production in several countries. Further he is a recipient of several scholarships and Awards. In 2004 he was bestowed with a “Leadership Award” for promotion of drip irrigation technology in India by the Soil Conservation Society of India.
Dr. Rao as a Technical Advisor to the Government on water issues proposed a mega scale project known as Andhra Pradesh Microirrigation Project in Andhra Pradesh, to cover an area of 250,000 ha in 3 years. The project went ahead and after the huge success of this project, the Gujarat Government launched a similar project (50,000 ha). Both the projects are now running successfully in both the states.
The APMIP has set a benchmark in the country concerning micro-irrigation technology and productivity improvements. The above two projects have resulted in a coverage of about 20,000 ha of sugarcane & 1000 ha of Jatropha under drip irrigation.
As Professor of Agronomy, Dr. Rao has two decades of teaching and research experience under diverse agro-climatic situations and guided 15 PG students and 4 Ph.D. students majoring in agronomy and irrigation management. He has to his credit more than 106 research publications articles in National & International Journals and authored 18 books, 11 Project documents covering different aspects
of water management with emphasis on irrigation scheduling, water-yield relations, drip irrigation and fertigation of tropical & biofuel crops.
JatrophaWorld 2008 Jakarta Speaker
Day 1 - Wednesday, 23rd January, 2008
11:15 JATROPHA: AGRO-TECHNICAL OPTIONS & ECONOMIC INDICES FOR SUSTAINABLE FEEDSTOCK PRODUCTION
The above mentioned expert shared his insights at JatrophaWorld Jakarta 2008, which was held on 23-24 January 2008 & welcomed over 350 Jatropha experts, industry players and entrepreneurs from 40 countries, making it the single largest Jatropha business forum in the world. JatrophaWorld Miami 2008, the second conference in the series will be held on 9-11 June 2008 in beautiful downtown Miami. Visit www.futureenergyevents.com/jatropha/attend to REGISTER TODAY for this exciting second conference in the series.
#1. michael nadel, February 20th, 2008
I wanted to find out some basic information concerning the difference in water consumption annually in flood irrigated sugarcane versus drip irrigation. I realize that this will vary depending upon rainfall and average heat units present during the growth cycle, however, are there any reliable statistics on the efficiency of drip with sugarcane? Thank you for your input.
Regards,
Michael Nadel
Danson Genetics, LLC
#2. Rajveer Singh Brar, March 8th, 2008
I am a farmer and doing surarcane farming from last many years,with flood irrigation. But now i wan to shift it to drip irri. So will u please spare some time for me to tell that how much it is viable (economical in long term) to shift from flood to drip irrigation. Regards Rajveer
#3. hugh mackey, April 10th, 2008
we intend to irrigate jatropha curcas in indonesia. Please advise us your opinion of both average and peak water demand? Thank you Hugh Mackey mackeyhc@northnet.com.au