Outreach
Prabhu Pingali’s efforts as the Director of the Tata-Cornell Institute are focused on promoting policies and investments for improving agriculture and nutrition in India. A major part of that effort is through the TARINA (Technical Assistance and Research for Indian Nutrition and Agriculture) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This project helps to refocus agricultural policy for improved nutrition outcomes at both the national and state levels in India. A second major project that promotes policy change in India is the Walmart funded project for identifying and promoting models for aggregating small farms, such as Farmer Producer Organizations, in order to effectively access urban food value chains. In addition to work specifically on TARINA, his extension outreach includes frequent seminars, keynote addresses, and workshops aimed at influencing policy decisions in the area of food security.
In addition to the above, Prabhu is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Crops Research Institute for the semi-arid tropics (ICRISAT), which is an international agricultural research organization focused on developing and promoting technologies for the drylands of the developing world. These are the areas with the highest levels of rural poverty and malnutrition in the developing world. ICRISAT is headquartered in Hyderabad, India. He has also served as a member of Nestle’s Advisory Board for Creating Shared Value (CSV). The CEO of Nestle and several senior managers participate in the annual two day meeting of this Board. His membership on both boards allows him to provide evidence based advice on long term food demand and supply conditions, transformation of food systems, priority setting and impact assessment.
Prabhu Pingali is currently an Editor of the journal – Global Food Security. This journal publishes timely reviews and synthesis articles about research in the field of food security and related disciplines for a wide, less-technical audience. GFS is a major source of policy research dissemination for development practitioners and policy makers in the food and rural development policy space.