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Suresh Chandra Babu

International Food Policy Research Institute, Iowa State University

ORCID iD 0000-0002-8706-2516
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About

Prof. Suresh Chandra Babu
Head, Capacity Strengthening, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington DC USA & Extraordinary Professor, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Dr. Suresh Babu is an international agricultural economist conducting policy research, capacity development, and policy advisory activities for more than 30 years in the Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and other developing regions. He joined IFPRI in 1992 and has served in several positions including the Coordinator of IFPRI’s Southern Africa Food Security Program (1992-1997), Coordinator of its Central Asia Program ( 1997-2002), and Coordinator of its South Asia Initiative and its Policy Analysis and Advisory Network (PAANSA) (2000 – 2007). As a Senior Research Fellow and Head of Capacity Strengthening at IFPRI, Dr. Babu is guiding IFPRI’s regional and country programs in their capacity development activities. In this leadership position, he has conducted many national dialogues leading to the development of national food security and agricultural policies of several developing countries in Africa including, Malawi, Ghana, and Nigeria and in Asia including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan. Dr. Babu has trained several senior policy researchers and policy makers in South Asian countries who are currently in leading policy making positions, directly influencing and shaping food and agricultural policies. He has been working on African Development issues for the past 30 years.
Before joining IFPRI, Dr. Babu was a research economist at Cornell University. He has published 20 books and monographs and more than 100 peer reviewed journal papers on food and agricultural policies in developing countries. Dr. Babu has held or currently holding visiting or honorary professorships at the University of Pretoria, American University, Washington, D.C. Indira Gandhi National Open University, India, University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, and Zhejiang University, China. He is a visiting professor of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CASS) and an Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NASS) in India. Dr. Babu has served or currently serves on the editorial boards of several leading academic Journals including, Food and Nutrition Bulletin; Food Security; Agricultural Economics Research Review; and African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. He completed his M.Sc. (Ag) in Agricultural Economics from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and B.Sc. (Ag) from Annamalai University, India. Dr. Babu received his Ph.D. and M.S. both in Economics from Iowa State University, where he was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award for his services to global development. Recent books and edited volumes are given below:
1. Davis, Kristin E., ed.; Babu, Suresh Chandra, ed.; and Ragasa, Catherine, ed. 2020. Agricultural extension: Global status and performance in selected countries. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/9780896293755
2. Babu, Suresh Chandra, ed.; and Joshi, Pramod Kumar, ed. 2019. Agricultural extension reforms in South Asia: Status, challenges, and policy options. London, UK; San Diego, CA, USA: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/C2018-0-03987-0
3. Debnath, Deepayan, ed.; and Babu, Suresh Chandra, ed. 2019. Biofuels, bioenergy and food security: Technology, institutions and policies. London, UK; San Diego, CA, USA: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/C2015-0-00851-6
4. Babu, S.C, Gajanan, Shailendra N. Hallam, and J. Arne. 2017. Nutrition Economics – Principles and Policy Applications, Academic Press – Elsevier Press, New York. https://www.elsevier.com/books/nutrition-economics/babu/978-0-12-800878-2
5. Jambor, Attila., and S.C Babu. 2016. Agricultural Competitiveness and Global Food Security, Springer, New York. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319448749

Employment

  • International Food Policy Research Institute Head, Senior Research Fellow, Research Fellow
    1992 - Present

Education

  • Iowa State University PhD MS
    1984 - 1989

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (8)