Dr. Saravanan Raj is a Director (Agricultural Extension) at the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) (an  organisation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India) , Hyderabad, India.

Leading the MANAGE Centre for Innovation and Agripreneurship  to promote agri-startups (http://cia.manage.gov.in/). He is also a CEO/Principal Investigator of the Centre of Excellence in Agri-business Incubation as a Knowledge Partner for Implementing Assistance of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) scheme of DAC&FW, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.

  • Dr. Saravanan Raj, earlier worked as Head (i/c), School of Social Sciences and Senior faculty of Agricultural Extension, at Central Agricultural University (CAU-Imphal), Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh & Barapani (Umiam), Meghalaya, India. He was handling prime responsibility of B.Sc (Agriculture.)/(Horticulture)/ (Forestry), M.Sc (Agril.) & Ph.D in Agricultural Extension teaching and research in agricultural extension discipline and also co-ordinated field extension educational activities among the marginal and small land holding tribal farmers of North-East India, for almost one and half decade.
  • Has specialization in the area of ICTs for agricultural extension, social media, extension reforms, privatization, institutional pluralism and innovations, agripreneurship, agri-startups, and related policy issues.
  • In 2006, he was awarded “Netherlands Government Fellowship” and undergone the “Advanced Course in Up-scaling Participatory Approaches and Social Learning”, at Wageningen International, the Netherlands.
  • Participated as an “ICT and Agricultural Extension Specialist” for the World Bank mission on Ghana Solution Assessment for Managing Agricultural Risks during 2014 to provide solution assessment report and recommendation for improving farmer’s access to agricultural extension using modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and traditional extension systems in Ghana
  • His publications include four books on “Agricultural Extension: Worldwide Innovations” (2008) and “ICTs for Agricultural Extension: Global Experiments, Innovations and Experiences” (2010), ICT for Agriculture and Rural Development (2011), Mobile Phone for Agricultural Extension: Worldwide mAgri Innovations and Promise for Future (2014) and 45 articles in the referred scientific international and national journals, books, and proceedings.
  • He was successfully implemented four innovative e-Extension (ICTs for Agricultural Extension) projects; e-Arik (e-Agriculture), e-Village and e-AgriKiosk and m4agriNEI in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya states of North-East India during 2007-2016.

Present job responsibilities are:

  • Leading the MANAGE Centre for Agricultural Extension Innovations, Reforms and Agripreneurship (CAEIRA)
  • CEO, MANAGE -Centre for  Innovations and Agripreneurship (CIA)
  • Director, Centre for Agripreneurship Development (CAD) for the implementation of Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres (AC & ABC) across India (www.agriclinics.net)
  • Programme Director, Aqua-Clinics and Aquapreneurship Development Programme (AC&ADP)
  • Project Director for the NFDB supported 20 Aqua One Centres (AOCs) in 10 States of India
  • Heading the MANAGE AC&ABC Knowledge Incubation Centre
  • Project Director for Knowledge assessment and certification of Community Resource Persons (CRPs) of DAY-NRLM, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India
  • Director, MANAGE Internship Programme for M.Sc and Ph.D students.
  • Programme Director for the MANAGE Young Agricultural Extensionist Programme (MYAEP/ manage30)
  • Co-ordinator for the MANAGE-University alliance for advancing agricultural extension and advisory services.
  • Organizing training programmes on Agri-startups,  e-Extension, mExtension, Agricultural Innovation Systems and Agro-tourism, and also workshop for the capacity development of extension professionals
  • Director (PMU), Programme Management Unit (PMU), Feed The Future India Triangular Training (FTF ITT) program (April-August, 2018)
  • Editor of 100 Startups Agriprenurs and 200 Enterprising Agripreneurs in Rural India
  • Responsible for the editing and publication of “Extension NEXT”, and “Agripreneur” bulletins.
  • Editor for the “Journal of Agricultural Extension Management”