Work Experience

Dr. Ranjit Kumar started his professional career as ARS-Scientist at ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi in the year 2000 (72nd FOCARS). After serving for about 6.5 years, he joined ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science (IISS), Bhopal as Senior Scientist. In 2010, he joined (on transfer) ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad, when the Academy started PGDM in Agribusiness Management. In 2014, he joined ICRISAT (on deputation) and coordinated BMGF-funded project on ‘Village Dynamics studies in South Asia (VDSA)’. Later, he was selected and joined as the Head of Agribusiness Management Division at ICAR-NAARM during 2017-2022 (6 years). Currently, he is working as a Principal Scientist in the same Division at the Academy.
He has co-founded a-IDEA, the Technology Business Incubator centre of NAARM, helping agri-startups in ideation, business development and acceleration. He initiated training programmes at the Academy on ‘FPO management’ and ‘Entrepreneurial skill development for graduating students of SAUs/DUs’. Dr. Kumar has handled several multi-disciplinary research projects, sponsored by national and foreign agencies.
He received LBS Young Scientist Award in Social Sciences by ICAR, New Delhi; Best Faculty Award 2020 and Best Trainer Award 2021 by ICAR-NAARM; Best Paper Award by Agricultural Economics Research Association (India), New Delhi. He has been Member of Quinquennial Review Team (QRT) as well as Institute Management Committee (IMC) of different ICAR institutes, Member of Academic Council of PJTSAU, Member of Board of Studies (BoS) of RPCAU Samastipur, etc. He is member of Editorial Board of IJAE and IJAS and empaneled reviewer for several national and international journals.
Dr. Kumar attended training at IFPRI, Washington DC and participated in different scientific meetings in countries like Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, Thailand, USA, Zimbabwe. He has guided more than 20 PG students (MSc & PGDM) and published more than 75 research articles in peer reviewed national and international journals.

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_Kumar23
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lB4GIrgAAAAJ

Major Publications: (in last 10 years)

1. Ranjit Kumar (2023) Innovations, Access to Technology and Competitiveness of Markets. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol 78(1): 87-89.
2. 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. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13030647.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Anu SS, Azhar Abbas, Subhas PS, Sathyan AR, Vijayan D, Kaechele H, Ranjit Kumar and Muller K. (2021). Flood vulnerability and food security in eastern India: A threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol 66. Published online: 20 Sept 2021. P9. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281677
7. 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102589
8. 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.
9. 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101436.
10. Atul P Kulkarni, DB Rahut, Ranjit Kumar and P H Zaidi (2019). Value chain analysis of different types of maize hybrid seed: a comparative study of public and private sector in Bihar. Agricultural Economics Research Review, Vol 32(2): 187-198.
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. Journal of Development Policy and Practice, Vol 3(2): 155-178. https://doi.org/10.1177/2455133318772408.
14. Anu SS, Azhar Abbas, P Subhas, Kaechele H, Ranjit Kumar and Muller K. (2019). Linking food security with household’s adaptive capacity and drought risk: Implications for sustainable development. Social Indicators Research, Vol 142: 363-385. Published online: 15 May 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-018-1925-0.
15. 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. Agricultural Research, 7(3): 360-372. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-018-0321-y.
16. Meena PC, Ranjit Kumar, N Sivaramane, Sanjiv Kumar, K Srinivas, A Dhandapani and Elias Khan (2017). Non-Farm Income as an Instrument for Doubling Farmers’ Income: Evidences from Longitudinal Household Survey. Agricultural Economics Research Review, Vol. 30: 127-138.
17. 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. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-2911-6.
18. Meena PC, S Kumar, K Srinivas, Ranjit Kumar, BG Kumar, N Sivaramane and A Dhandapani (2016). Great Indian Food Paradox: Trends and Patterns. Agricultural Economics Research Review, Vol. 29: 31-42.
19. 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.
20. 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: 137-150.
21. 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.
22. 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.