U S Singh,
Country Representative of IRRI for India and Nepal; Senior Scientist (II), South Asia Regional Project Coordinator – STRASA
Dr U S Singh is a plant pathologist, biotechnologist, and the South Asia Regional Coordinator of the Project Stress Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He is also the acting Country Representative for IRRI-India and -Nepal.
In STRASA, Dr Singh is primarily responsible for the coordination of seed multiplication and dissemination of stress-tolerant rice varieties in stress prone environment in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. He is also responsible for the development and facilitation of a network of partner organizations in India, Bangladesh and Nepal to implement the project; monitoring of the progress; track the dissemination of the varieties and impact assessment plus facilitate the seed policy changes in national systems to speed up the process of varietal release and dissemination; and help in capacity building of national partners.
Dr Singh introduced several innovations in his work, like targeted dissemination of stress-tolerant rice varieties using GIS and remote sensing and tracking of their diffusion through informal and formal seed sectors and ground surveys. His innovative approaches like pre-release varietal seed multiplication and promotion and linking of varietal dissemination with mega developmental schemes of government and other organizations helped achieve an unprecedented speed of seed multiplication and diffusion of stress-tolerant rice varieties in South Asia.
His area of expertise is Seed system, Targeted dissemination and varietal tracking, Management of biotic and abiotic stresses using microbes, Plant pathogen interaction, Fungal diseases.
Dr Singh completed his BSc in Biology from Delhi University, New Delhi, India (1975) followed by MSc in Plant Pathology, GBPUAT, Pantnagar, India (1977) and PhD in Plant Pathology from G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, India (1983). Thereafter, Dr Singh did his Post-doc fellowship from IRRI (1990-1992).
Dr Singh has been elected as President, Indian Phytopathological Society (2012); Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, India (2006). He has received many others awards and recognition and has published several publications to his credit.
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