Work Experience

Dr. Ranjit Kumar started his career as an ARS Scientist at ICAR-IARI, N. Delhi in the year 2000. He is a distinguished academic leader in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management with over two decades of experience spanning research, policy analysis, and entrepreneurship. Currently serving as the Principal Scientist and CEO of a-IDEA, the Technology Business Incubator at ICAR-NAARM, he is a key figure in India’s agri-startup ecosystem, driving ideation and business acceleration.

Throughout his 25+ years of career at premier institutions like ICAR-IARI, ICAR-IISS, ICAR-NAARM, and ICRISAT, Dr. Kumar has been instrumental in shaping agribusiness education, notably serving as the Head of the Agribusiness Management Division at NAARM (2017–2022). His expertise covers agricultural marketing, value chain analysis, development of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), and promotion of innovation and agripreneurship in India.

Key Contributions & Academic Impact:

  
• Institution Building: Repositioning of PGDM-ABM of NAARM, establishing a-IDEA, designing and initiating training for FPOs and on entrepreneurship.
• Global Collaborations: Extensive research stints, consultations and collaboration with ICRISAT, IFPRI, and CIMMYT (Mexico).
• Professional Leadership: Students’ research guidance, Member in QRT & RAC of different ICAR institutes, Advisory board of different SAUs, Vice President of the Agricultural Economics Research Association (AERA), Editorial board of Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics (IJAE).
• Prolific Author: Over 75 peer-reviewed articles and influential policy papers on e-NAM, FPO, and Entrepreneurship.
• Recognized Excellence: Recipient of the LBS Young Scientist Award of ICAR, Fellow of AERA & BASA, NAARM’s Best Faculty and Best Trainer awards.

Dr. Kumar holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from IARI, New Delhi, and continues to bridge the gap between scientific research and entrepreneurial success in the agricultural sector.

Areas of Interest:

Rural/agricultural transformation, Producer Companies, Entrepreneurship development, Value chain analysis, Policy research, Risk management

Visit at:


https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ranjit-Kumar-7?ev=hdr_xprf

AWARDS and RECOGNITIONS

• Fellow, Agricultural Economics Research Association, New Delhi
• Fellow, Bihar Agricultural Science Academy (BASA), RPCAU, Pusa
• Best Trainer Award 2021 by ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad.
• Best Faculty Award 2020, 2024 by ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad.
• Dr NA Mazumdar Prize Award for Best Paper 2019 in 79th Annual Conference of Indian Society of Agricultural Economics.
• RT Doshi Second Best Paper Presentation Award 2015, 2010 & 2005 by Agricultural Economics Research Association.
• Lal Bahadur Shastri Young Scientist Award (2005-06) by ICAR, New Delhi for outstanding contribution in Social Science.
• Nominated for Best Teacher Award by the Post Graduate School of IARI, New Delhi for the year 2005 and 2006.
• Expert Member for the ‘Establishment of Centre of Policy Research & Advocacy on Sustainable Agriculture’ at PJTAU, Hyderabad (2024).
• Member of Quinquennnial Review Team (QRT) of ICAR- Indian Institute of Water Management (IIWM), Bhubaneswar; ICAR- Directorate of Floricultural Research (DFR), Pune; and ICAR- lndian lnstitute of Oil Palm Research, Pedavegi.
• Member, Institute Management Committee (IMC) of ICAR- Central Institute for Women in Agriculture (CIWA), Bhubaneswar and ICAR- National Institute of Agricultural Economics & Policy Research (NIAP), New Delhi.
• Member, Academic Council, PJTSAU, Hyderabad and Member, Board of Studies of Agri-Business Management at UAS, Bangalore
• Chairman, ARS Syllabus Revision Committee for Social Sciences, ASRB/ ICAR, New Delhi (2022)
• Expert Selection Committee for recruitment and assessment for promotion (CAS) in the discipline of Economics at different SAUs and ICAR institutes
• Member, Expert Committee for Agritech Initiatives, NITI Aayog, Govt. of India (2021-2022)

Major Publications: (in last 10 years)

1. Ranjit Kumar, Sanjiv Kumar, PC Meena and N Sivaramane (2025). Measuring Adoption and Effect of Insect Resistance Management (IRM) Practices for Managing Pink Bollworm in Cotton in India. Economic Affairs, Vol 70(04): 01-09.
2. Shana KK, Ranjit Kumar, K. Suhasini, K. Madhu Babu, and A. Dhandapani (2025). “Behavioural and Socio-Economic Determinants of Consumer Expenditure on Organic Millets: Evidence from Hyderabad, India”. Archives of Current Research International 25 (10):227–239. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-2911-6.
3. Ranjit Kumar (2023) Innovations, Access to Technology and Competitiveness of Markets. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol 78(1): 87-89.
4. Ranjit Kumar, Sanjiv Kumar, BS Yashavanth, N Venu, PC Meena, A Dhandapani, and Alok Kumar (2023) Natural Farming Practices for Chemical-free Agriculture: Implications on Crop Yield and Profitability. Agriculture, Vol 13, 647. 17pp.
5. Lindsay MJ, L Bliznashka, Peter Craig, Michael Eddleston, Alfred Gathorne-Hardy, Ranjit Kumar, Sailesh Mohan, John Norrie, Sheril Rajan, Aditi Roy, Bharath Yandrapu, Nikhil SV, and Poornima Prabhakaran (2023). Co-Benefits of Largescale Organic farming On huMan health (BLOOM): Protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled evaluation of the Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming programme in India. Plos One, Vol. 18(3); https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281677 , March 2, 2023. Pp26.
6. Ranjit Kumar, Ritambhara Singh and G Somashekhar (2022). Waste to Wealth: India’s case of Growing Consumption Demand for Mushrooms in Post-Pandemic Era. Agricultural Mechanization in Asia, Africa and Latin America; Vol 53(12): 11385-11401.
7. Sanjiv Kumar, Ranjit Kumar, K. Srinivas and Alok Kumar* (2022). Agritech Start-ups: Revolutionizing the Agricultural Value Chain in India. Journal of Community Mobilization and Sustainable Development, Vol 17(3): 701-706.
8. Nikhila VA and Ranjit Kumar (2021) Floriculture sector in India: Current status and export potential. The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, Vol 96(5): 673-680. Published online: 27 Mar 2021. P9.
9. Ranjit Kumar, Aditya Pandey, Sanjiv Kumar and N. Sivaramane (2020). Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for farmer producer companies in India. Indian Journal of Economics and Development, Vol 16 (4): 591-597.
10. Anu SS, Subash SP, Kaechele H, Ranjit Kumar and Muller K. (2020). Climate change, drought and rural communities: Understanding people’s perceptions and adaptations in rural eastern India. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol 44, Pp11.
11. Ranjit Kumar, Sanjiv Kumar, BS Yashavanth and PC Meena (2019). Natural Farming Practices in India: Its Adoption and Impact on Crop Yield and Farmers’ Income. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 74 (3): 420-432.
12. Jaiprakash Bisen and Ranjit Kumar (2018) Agricultural marketing reforms and e-national agricultural market (e-NAM) in India: a review. Agricultural Economics Research Review, Vol 31: 167-176.
13. Ranjit Kumar and KV Raju (2018). Leveraging Policies for Self Sufficiency in Pulses in India. SAGE-Journal of Development Policy and Practice, Vol 3(2): 155-178. DOI: 10.1177/2455133318772408.
14. Ranjit Kumar, V Surjit and P Elias Khan (2018). Complexity in technology choices and market access for pigeon pea growers in Semi-Arid Tropics of India. Springer-Agricultural Research, 7(3): 360-372. DOI 10.1007/s40003-018-0321-y.
15. Anu SS, Ranjit Kumar, Kaechele H and Muller K. (2017). Vulnerabilities to flood hazards among rural households in India. Springer- Natural Hazards, Vol. 88: 1133-1153.
16. Anu SS, Ranjit Kumar, Kaechele H and Muller K (2017). Quantifying household vulnerability triggered by drought: Evidences from rural India. Taylor & Francis- Climate and Development, Vol 9(7): 618-633.
17. Ranjit Kumar, Surjit V, Bantilan C, Lagesh MA and Yadav US (2015). Truncated Access to Institutional Agricultural Credit as a Major Constraint for Rural Transformation: Insights from Longitudinal Village Studies. Agricultural Economics Research Review, Vol. 28 (Conf No.): 137-150.
18. Ranjit Kumar, Uttam Deb, Cynthia Bantilan, N Nagaraj and M Bhattarai (2015) Economic growth and rural transformation in Eastern India: Strategies for Inclusive Growth. Indian Journal of Economics and Development, Vol. 11, No. 3: 779-797.
19. Ranjit Kumar, K Srinivas, NK Boiraju and PC Gedam (2014) Production performance of maize in India: Approaching an inflection point. International Journal of Agricultural and Statistical Sciences, 10(1): 241-248.
20. Ranjit Kumar, Khurshid Alam, Vijesh V Krishna and K Srinivas (2012) Value chain analysis of maize seed delivery system in public and private sectors in Bihar. Agricultural Economics Research Review, Vol. 25: 387-398.
21. Sinha RK and Ranjit Kumar (2010) Innovative Technologies, Institutions and Policies for Successful Value Chains for Tur Farmers: A Case Study of NCDEX Spot. Agricultural Economics Research Review, 21: 427-436.
22. Srivastava SK, Ranjit Kumar and RP Singh (2009) Extent of Groundwater Extraction and Irrigation Efficiency on Farms under Different Water-market Regimes in Central Uttar Pradesh. Agricultural Economics Research Review, 22(1): 87- 97.
23. Alka Singh, Ranjit Kumar and DK Das (2007) An economic evaluation of environmental risk of pesticides use: A case study of paddy, vegetables and cotton in irrigated eco-system. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 62(3): 492-502.
24. Hema M, Ranjit Kumar and NP Singh (2007) Volatile Price and Declining Profitability of Black Pepper in India: Disquieting Future. Agricultural Economics Research Review, 20(1): 61-76.
25. Ranjit Kumar, NP Singh, RP Singh and AK Vasisht (2006) Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Growth: Interdependence and Variability in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 61(3): 469-480.