Work Experience

Dr P. Venkatesan is a distinguished Principal Scientist with over two decades of experience in agricultural extension, research, and capacity building. Currently serving at ICAR-NAARM, his career is marked by a steadfast commitment to strengthening India’s agricultural research and extension systems. He has held pivotal roles, as the Coordinator for the Field Experience Training (FET) for newly recruited ICAR scientists, an immersive program that has exposed over 1,000 probationers to grassroots realities across 130+ villages. His work is dedicated to bridging the gap between research and practice, making agricultural science more responsive to the needs of farmers.

Awards

• Fellow of Indian Ecology Society (2026)
• Fellow Mobilization Award (2026)
• Fellow of Extension Education (2025)
• Best Oral Presentation Award for oral presentation of paper titled “Farmer first programme: an approach to improve the rural economy” in Indian Society of Extension Education (ISEE) national seminar on transforming in Indian agriculture through floristic and innovative extension approaches for self-reliant India, organized by Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi during October 04 06, 2021.
• Outstanding Contribution to Academic Excellence award (2025) from IARI-Megavarsity
• Distinguished Alumni Award (2024) from Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram, Dindigul
• ICAR-JRF Fellowship and the IAF Benevolent Fellowship, setting a foundation for his path of excellence

Areas of Interest:

Expertise spans the entire spectrum of extension management. His core areas of interest include:

• Extension Policy, Planning, and Management
• Digital & ICT enabled Extension
• Participatory Approaches
• Farmer Empowerment
• Impact Assessment
• Communication Skills

 Recent Publications
1.Palanisamy Mooventhan, Purushothaman Venkatesan (Corresponding Author),, Uttam Singh, Hem Prakash Verma, Nilakandan Sivaramane, S. R. K. Singh, Ramanujam Venkattakumar, A. Boopathi Raja, Suresh Kumar Mojjada, Bommu Kalyani, Suman Singh, Boda Mahesh Naik, Gunjan Jha, Gopal Lal, A. Amarender Reddy and P. K. Rai (June, 2026). Digital interventions for climate-resilient crops: evaluating a mobile app’s role in enhancing Lathyrus production knowledge among tribal farmers. Agriculture & Food Security 15(29), https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-026-00611-1
2.Venkatesan P, Sivaramane N, Srinivasa Rao C, Venkattakumar R, Sivakumar S, Mooventhan P, Burman RR, Kalyani B and Challa LN, 2025, Confronting food insecurity through agricultural interventions: The Farmer FIRST Program in India. Front. Nutr. 11:1423599. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1423599
3.Naik, B. M., Singh, A. K., Venkatesan, P. (Corresponding Author), Maji, S., Sunil, J., & Naik, M. R.,2025, Assessing the contribution of climate resilient agricultural technologies in advancing sustainable development goals in Telangana, India. Discover Sustainability, 6(117). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-025-00870-1
4.Yamini, T., P. Venkatesan (Corresponding Author), V. Jyothi, M.R. Devy, V.S. Rao and K. Suseela ,2024, Social network analysis approach to identify agricultural key communicators. J. Environ. Biol., 45, 788-797. http://doi.org/10.22438/jeb/45/6/MRN-5366
5.Venkatesan, P., Sivaramane, N., Sontakki, B.S., Srinivasarao, Ch., Chahal, V.P., Singh, A.K., Sivakumar, P.S., Seetharman, P. & Kalyani, B., 2023, Aligning Agricultural Research and Extension for Sustainable Development Goals in India: A Case of Farmer FIRST Program. Sustainability, 15, 2463, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032463
6.Venkatesan P, N Sivaramane, BS Sontakki, RR Burman, Ch Srinivasa Rao, VP Chahal, AK Singh, P Sethuraman, JP Sharma, RN Padaria, S Chakravorty, N Sharma, N Patel, H Choudhary, G Mondal, R Singh, B Kalyani, S Sharma and R Kumar( 2022, Predicting adoption of agricultural technologies in Indo-Gangetic Region. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 92(6), 769–74.

Policy Paper:

• S.K.Soam and P.Venkatesan, 2015, State Agricultural Infrastructure Development Programme (SAID) Plan for Agricultural Reseerach & Extension through Strengthening of KVKs, Technology Resource Centers, ATMA and Kisan Call Centers under RKVY for XII plan funded by Department of Agriculture, Government of Telangana, 207 pages.
  Book published:
• Venkatesan and M.Sundaramari , Indigenous Tribal Agricultural Practices, AGROBIOS (INDIA), Jodhpur. 240 pages, 2015, ISBN 978-81-7754-571-5
• Venkatesan, ed.,(2017). Indigenous People, ISBN 978-953-51-3482-4,196 pages, Publisher: InTech, Croatia – EUROPEAN UNION Under CCBY 3.0 license, DOI: 10.5772/65629