Dr. Ashok S Alur is hails from Bevur village in Bagalkot district & received his earlier education in Bevur & completed his B.Sc.Agri; M.Sc.Agri and Ph.D. in Agriculture from Agricultural University Dharwad. He also holds a MBA & a Post Graduate Diploma in Agricultural Extension Management. He has undergone over 10 national & international EDP& MDP programs in India, USA, Germany & Kenya.
He has around 25 years of experience in Higher Education, Natural Resources Management, Agriculture, Horticulture, Rural Development, International Cooperation, Food Security, Policy Advocacy, Institutional Development, Entrepreneurship Development & Formation & Development of FPOs etc.
Dr. Ashok Alur is currently serving as the First Vice Cancellor of newly formed Kodagu University by Government of Karnataka and has the dream & responsibility of setting up of this new university.
He also served as the First Director of Centre of Excellence for Farmer Producer Organizations. He is instrumental in formulation of Karnataka state FPO policy-2018, Developing a common brand for FPOs, training of CBBOs & Resource Institutions. He guided the designing of innovative training programs & support mechanisms for 1200 FPOs in Karnataka covering over one million farming families of Karnataka.
He served as the First Vice Chancellor of Bharatiya Engineering, Science & Technology University at Anantapur & was instrumental in setting up of the new university in Rayalseema Region of Andra Pradesh.
He served as Special Officer at Horticultural University & played pivotal role in setting up of new Horticultural University & establishment of state of art infrastructure & over 10 advance research centres. He facilitated over 25 institutional collaborations with national & international organizations. He coordinated a team of experts for Land Resource Inventorization of 300 micro watersheds, development of resources atlas & Decision Support Systems for land & water management under World Bank assisted program in Karnataka.
In his capacity as Project Coordinator at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics(ICRISAT), he spear-headed an international joint initiative of ICRISAT-FAO-CFC for promoting value chain across cereals & millets in Asia & contributed for the development of innovative institutional model for the collaborative development of agriculture sector in Asian countries.
As Program Coordinator & Head, Sustainable Agriculture in Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation, Embassy of Switzerland, he was instrumental in implementing Indo-Swiss Participative Watershed Development program in Karnataka & Natural Resources Management Programs in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by promoting participative & collaborative approaches in Natural Resources Management & Watershed Development.
He also worked as a Team Member in Agriculture-Man-Ecology, a bilateral program of Govt. of Netherlands & India and contribute for Participative Technology Development in Agriculture.
He has served as Honorary Advisor & guided the Food Security Initiatives by Ministry of Science & Technology & Higher & Vocational Education of Government of Mozambique. He guided the establishment of Soil Health laboratories & popularization of concept of Custom Hiring Centres in African countries such as Mozambique & Swaziland. He is serving as member on various committees, missions & delegations of governments and international organizations such as UNDP, GEF, ICRISAT, FAO, World Bank etc.
He is recipient of more than 20 International Awards, 6 National Awards and 6 state awards. Important ones include, CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION &LOYALTY AWARD from ICRISAT; HONORARY RECOGNITION from Government of Thailand; HONORARY CREDENTIAL & SORGHUM RESEARCH INSTITUTE AWARD by Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences-Government of China; CERTIFICATE OF HONOUR from Government of Swaziland and CERTIFICATE OF HONOUR from Government of Mozambique in recognition of his contributions for Food Security initiatives. National awards such as DISTINGUISHED INDIAN AWARD and SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARDs. Important state awards from Government of Karnataka include, SARVOTTAM SEVA AWARD; SCIENCE COMMUNICATOR AWARD & INDEPENDENCE DAY HONOUR. Ministry of Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh has honoured him with STATE HONOUR for his services in agriculture and rural development.
He has served/been serving on several committees & missions/delegations. He has visited over 50 countries on several international missions, delegations, assignments & has delivered keynote speeches in over 50 national-international conferences. He has guided several students for PG & doctoral research. He has published over 50 books, 25 bulletins, over 50 technical- scientific papers, 250 soil and water resources atlas. He writes regular columns several journals, magazines and news papers. He has setup a target for himself to reach million farmers through Mission Million Farmers and promotion of millets.
He has served/been serving on several committees & missions/delegations. He has visited over 50 countries on several international missions, delegations, assignments & has delivered keynote speeches in over 50 national-international conferences. He has guided several students for PG & doctoral research. He has published over 50 books, 25 bulletins, over 50 technical- scientific papers, 250 soil and water resources atlas. He writes regular columns several journals, magazines and news papers. He has setup a target for himself to reach million farmers through Mission Million Farmers and promotion of millets.
