Special Events
Workshop 01

Prof. K.N.Selvaraj
The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Title: "The Impact of Agricultural Technological Changes on Farmers’ Income - Experiences so far from India and Future Innovative Strategies for Sustainability"
Prof. Selvaraj Joined in the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India on 17.1.1989 since then he has involved in teaching, research and outreach activities. He obtained post-doctoral FAO and World Bank Fellowships to undergo short time programme in Virginia Tech, USA and IIFT, New Delhi. Based on his expertise developed over the years on international trade, a new department of Trade and Intellectual Property was established in the University during April, 2010 and he was chairing the department for four years. He became Adjunct Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. He was nominated by the Honourable President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and Chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh as expert member for the selection committee in appointment of professors and associate professors in the department of Agricultural Economics. He participated several international and national conferences/ seminars as an invitee. He was instrumental in obtaining the Intellectual Property Award among the various institutes in India, 2013 to TNAU from the Ministry Commerce and Industry for filing inventions of social and environmental impact. A Ponni trade mark case was handled by him on behalf of TNAU in association with APEDA and he was instrumental in winning the Ponni rice trade mark for India. He completed more than 30 research projects during his tenure and received research grant to an extent of more than Rs.23 million from the various donors in the field of technology impact assessment, marketing, international trade and IP. Research projects resulted in publication of many research papers and research papers were referred and cited extensively as evident from my H index (12). Acted as one of the expert members for preparation of Agricultural Policy for Tamil Nadu, 11th and 12th Five Year Plans for Tamil Nadu State Government and 11th Five-year Plan for the Country. As a policy advocacy, price policy for pulses, state stand on special products under WTO, report on revised modalities for agriculture for discussion during WTO meeting, the likely impact of CEPA- A comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Canada were prepared by him and submitted to the government for policy decisions. He was one of expert invitees identified by PMO office on Trade and Export Promotion for doubling the Farmers’ income. He was instrumental in identification of Geographical Indications (GI) products for registration under GI. In association with FIEO, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, he organized several seminars/workshops/trainings on export opportunities of agro products for the benefit of farmers and exporters. Apart from contributing to policy directions, outcome of some of the research projects such as (i) adoption of select open pollinated varieties (OPVs) of TNAU and sources of seed procurement of eggplant varieties (ii) a study on the changing structure of supply of agricultural products and Tamil Nadu’s comparative advantage in agriculture, (iii) impact of DT rice varieties and (iv) research priority setting contributed to scientists to undertake breeding based on economically viable varieties of crops and prioritizing the resources allocation for R&D based comparative advantage crops. Outcome of Asian Development Bank funded project on Prioritizing Agricultural Research and Extension aided the government to increase allocation of funds for frontier research to various Agricultural Universities and TNAU is one of the beneficiaries. He served in several editorial boards of the reputed journals and member of several academic bodies (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Selvaraj-Kattery-Nanjundiah)
Workshop 02

Dr. Gary C. Pavlis
Agriculture & Natural Resources County Agent II (Eqv. to Assoc. Professor)
Cooperative Extension of Atlantic County
Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station
Title: "Nurturing Bountiful Harvests: Insights and Innovations in Blueberry and Grape Production for Thriving Agriculture"
Dr. Pavlis has been a professor and agricultural agent at Rutgers University for 28 years. His areas of expertise are blueberry and grape/wine production. His blueberry newsletter, ‘The Blueberry Bulletin’, has an international following. His research on blueberry fertilization has transformed the New Jersey industry. He has been instrumental in the expansion of the New Jersey wine industry by assisting would be grape growers through the production/marketing mine field. He has served nationally on the board of directors on the American Wine Society. Dr. Pavlis writes a wine article in edible jersey called Liquid Assets, regularly appears in print, on the radio and television educating the public on the intricacies of growing blueberries and grapes in New Jersey or touting the benefits of eating blueberries and drinking wine.
Workshop 03

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ian A. Navarrete
Deparment of Environmental Science
Southern Leyte State University-Hinunangan Campus
Title: "Sustainable Solutions for Thriving Agriculture: Combating Soil Degradation, Enhancing Plant Nutrition, and Mitigating Environmental Pollution"
Dr. Ian A. Navarrete is working an associate professor at Department of Environmental Science, College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, Southern Leyte State University-Hinunangan Campus Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ian A. Navarrete completed his PhD in Science of Bio production major in Soil Science, United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University, Japan and he has completed his Post-doctorate in Soil Science, Büesgen Institute Soil Science of Tropical & Subtropical Ecosystems, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany. He has worked as a university lecturer for more than 20 years at several universities.
He won the Asian Science Diplomat Award 2021. He was the SLSU Researcher of the Year, Southern Leyte State University, March 7, 2022. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Ecosystem Science and Eco-Governance, Caraga State University, Ampayun, Butuan City and the Associate Editor of Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology, Southern Leyte State University, Sogod, Southern Leyte.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OdISJ3YAAAAJ&hl=en
Workshop 04

Prof. Jillian Lenne
The Editor in Chief of the Journal Outlook on Agriculture
Workshop on "Publishing in an international scientific journal: dos and don’ts"
Prof Jillian has experience over 40 years in tropical agricultural research, management & development, including 15 years with CGIAR institutes (CIAT and ICRISAT) and 8 years with UK-based institutes, as well as including 17 years increasingly responsible experience as a consultant in project and programme review through short-term assignments in more than 30 countries in Latin America, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa; relevant experience in semi-arid cropping systems; horticultural especially vegetable systems; tropical rice systems; tropical fodder and crop/livestock systems; and tropical agro-biodiversity management.
Workshop 05

Assoc. Prof. Siva K. Balasundram
Workshop on "Tips on publishing in the domain of food security"
Assoc Prof Dr Siva K Balasundram currently heads the Department of Agriculture Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). He also serves as Country Representative of the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) and Executive Committee Member of the Asian Conference on Precision Agriculture (ACPA)
Siva earned his BS (Agronomy) and MS (Soil Chemistry) degrees from UPM in 1994 and 1997, respectively. In 1999, he was awarded a UPM scholarship to pursue a doctorate in Precision Agriculture at the University of Minnesota under the guidance of Prof Dr Pierre C Robert, who pioneered the development of Precision Agriculture in the USA and many other parts of the world. In September of 2003, he earned his PhD and began working as a Lecturer at the Department of Agriculture Technology, UPM. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2007 and to Associate Professor in 2012.
Siva is a passionate teacher and researcher. His work quality is reflected in his teaching and research engagements and outputs. He has received encouraging scores in teaching evaluation by students (3-year average of 4.83 out of 5.00). He has brought in research grants in the amount of RM1,068,202 from nine (9) different projects over the past 18 years. He has authored/co-authored a total of seventy three (73) journal articles, forty five (45) proceeding papers, seven (7) book chapters and five (5) articles in professional magazines. He currently registers an Google Scholar h-index of 21. Additionally, he has two (2) copyrights and one (1) patent to his credit. He has also led twelve (15) consultancies and built several industry linkages as a scientific advisor/resource person.
Siva specializes in Precision Agriculture and has expanded his research interests into Digital Agriculture and Smart Farming.
Organized By

- The International Institute of Knowledge Management
- #531/18, Kotte road, Pitakotte.
- +94 11 799 2022 / +94 76 573 3737
- isanka.gamage@tiikmedu.com
- www.tiikm.com