Dr. B. Venkateswarlu holds a Doctorate in Soil Microbiology and is currently the Director of Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad, India. He is leading the national research programs of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on rainfed agriculture and climate change. His research experience is mainly on quantifying the impacts of abiotic stresses of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in legumes and understanding plant-microbe interactions in arid and semi arid ecosystems. Dr. Venkateswarlu published over 150 research papers on abiotic stress management and crop nutrition in drylands and authored six books. He has participated in several academic visits to US, UK, Canada, Australia and China and received many national awards for his work on rainfed farming and abiotic stress management. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences of India and serving on key committees set up by the Government in the areas of drought management, rainfed farming and climate change.
