Dr Rajendra Uprety

Dr Rajendra Uprety is a senior agriculture development officer in the Department of Agriculture in Nepal, where he has been working since 1991. With years of experience working in the Nepalese District Agriculture Development Office, Rajendra has worked extensively in agricultural extension—with a focus on systems of rice intensification—throughout Nepal and abroad. He has published more than 15 field based research papers in different national and international journals, proceedings of international conferences, magazines. At present he is working as Irrigation Specialist (International UN Volunteer) in Zambia with UNDP and his main responsibility is to promote innovative Asian agriculture technology is Africa.

He is an agricultural professional and livelihood development professional with more than 25 years of work experiences in the fields of irrigation management, training, program planning, project management, climate change adaptation and many more within the Nepal and abroad. He is closely studying farmers and farming dynamics of diverse geographic and climatic situations. Further he has been working as a trainer of agriculture, production management, program planning, organic farming, seed production, FFS approach. Similarly he is involved in SRI testing, promotion and coordination activities since 2003.

He has long experiences of edit technical newsletter and run agriculture radio program. I am very interested to collaborate or co-work with individual and organizations on above mentioned areas within the Nepal, Zambia, Netherlands, Thailand, India, Australia, Vietnam, Laos, Belgium, France and Germany. His PhD thesis on the practice of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) cultivation methods in Nepal will provide new insights into the patterns of adoption and mechanisms driving adaptation of SRI. Dr Rajendra’s strength in his research has come from his ability to translate his long field experience and empathy with farmers into theoretically grounded empirical work, combining quantitative and qualitative analysis.

He was also the coordinator of Agriculture Extension/Agronomy program; Editor “Krishak ko Sathi” a monthly newsletter publish by DADO; Technical coordinator of weekly agriculture radio program “Krishak Ko Chautari” broadcasting from local FM radio; Small irrigation special program coordinator; Desk-officer of CGISP (Community Ground water Irrigation Sector Project) agriculture program; Farmers’ group formation and mobilization, Agricultural training coordination, Program planning, monitoring & evaluation and coordination of NGOs working with DADO, Morang etc. Besides this he has been actively involved in testing and promotion of SRI (System of Rice Intensification) method in Nepal since 2003.

Dr Uprety is a bold, committed and competent professional in the field of agriculture sector development. His specific focus and experience on System of Rice Intensification (SRI) would be of value addition to increase total factor productivity in the context where the land, water, labor and other related inputs are constrained. It will thus not only support in technological advancement but also of support in achieving food sufficiency and security. His research on agricultural intensification in Nepal, with special focus on practices of rice intensification, deals with an important issue for Nepal. In his research Dr Rajendra has shown the capacity to develop a broad view of the underlying issues, by regarding intensification in the framework of farmer family livelihoods, which combine agricultural activities with income-earning activities outside agriculture. He has also studied management strategies on individual fields, and analyzed relations between tenure status, distance from field to village, etc. in the framework of intensification and productivity increases. Due to his studies at Wageningen University, Dr Rajendra has deepened his reflexive skills, which should be very important on his current role as senior extension officer.