About
Prabhu Pingali is a Professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, with a joint appointment in both the Division of Nutritional Sciences and Department of Global Development, as well as the Founding Director of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI). Prabhu has four decades of experience working on food and agricultural policy, technology change and impact assessment across the developing world. He has had on-the-ground research experience in South and Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. His current research is focused on the nexus of agriculture, food systems and nutrition. As Director of TCI, Prabhu has been charged with developing and managing a multidisciplinary action-research program that is focused on the chronic problems of rural poverty and malnutrition and the role of agriculture in alleviating the problems. The program is designed to make a difference to the lives of rural communities through policy advice and extension while ensuring outstanding academic rigor in its scholastic work. Under Prabhu’s direction, TCI has experienced rapid growth since its inception in 2013. TCI's research team consists of 14 Ph.D. students from six departments across Cornell, as well as four master's students, three postdoctoral associates, three research associates, and six faculty fellows.
Prior to joining Cornell in 2013, Prabhu worked with some of the leading international agricultural development organizations as a research economist, development practitioner and senior manager. He was the Deputy Director, Agricultural Development Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, from 2008-2013. Prabhu was director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Agriculture and Development Economics Division from 2002-2007 and worked with the CGIAR for 15 years from 1987-2002, first with IRRI in the Philippines and then with CIMMYT in Mexico. He started his career working for the World Bank’s Agricultural Development Department from 1982-87.
Prabhu is a member in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, an AAEA Fellow, and was recently elected as a Prevasi (Foreign) Fellow in the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences in India. At Cornell, he is a Faculty Fellow in both the Cornell Institute for Food Systems and David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. In addition, he is an Editor for Global Food Security, the Chair-Elect for the Governing Board of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), and is on Nestle’s Advisory Council on Creating Shared Value. Prabhu has been awarded the Outstanding Alumnus Award from both the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, as well as North Carolina State University.
He has written 13 books and over 120 refereed journal articles and book chapters on food, agriculture and nutrition policy.
Interests
Food and Nutrition Policy
International Agricultural Development
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
