Venuprasad Ramaiah
Head, International Rice Genebank, IRRI-AfricaRice; Milken-Motsepe Prize Winner
Venuprasad Ramaiah, PhD, is a senior scientist at the Institute for Rice Research Institute, where he currently leads the Fit-for-Future Genetic Resources cluster which aims to create and deliver the knowledge, material, and tools required to enable users of genetic resources to take full advantage of the naturally-occurring diversity of cultivated rice and its wild relatives. This will help create new and improved rice varieties that will address the dynamic needs of rice producers and consumers. He also oversees the operation of the International Rice Genebank - the world’s largest collection of rice genetic diversity which holds more than 132,000 available accessions. Before joining IRRI, he worked as a scientist of Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice). As a rainfed-lowland rice breeder for West and Central Africa, he was able to develop eight rice varieties that were officially released in Nigeria, Madagascar, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. He has over 18 years of work experience at International Agricultural Research Centers, worked in three regions – South Asia, South East Asia and West Africa, published over 40 internationally peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and has supervised over a dozen of post-graduate students.
