Five scholars from the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) completed their PhDs over the past few months, despite restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shiuli Vanaja, Anthony Wenndt, Kathryn Merckel, Fatma Rekik, and Rohil Bhatnagar each earned their doctorates over the course of the spring and summer. “These five scholars—the most we’ve had graduate in a single year—have done…

Naveen Sunder, who graduated from Cornell University with his PhD in economics in May 2019, didn’t join the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) until midway through his graduate studies, but nearly a year after graduating, he is still contributing to TCI’s research work. Now an assistant professor of economics at Bentley University, Sunder…

Just one year after graduating with her PhD in applied economics and management, Vidya Vemireddy is continuing her research at one of India’s top universities. Vemireddy is an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), where she teaches MBA- and PhD-level courses on food and agribusiness. As a TCI scholar, Vemireddy’s research focused on how women’s…

Boosting rural economies by increasing the productivity of small-farms and expanding non-farm job opportunities can reduce the number of impoverished Indians who migrate from rural to urban areas in search of profitable employment after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new op-ed from Tata-Cornell Institute (TCI) director Prabhu Pingali and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics India…

In this blog post, TCI associate director Bhaskar Mittra discusses the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has created opportunities for innovation along India’s agricultural supply chains that can benefit farmers and consumers alike. The COVID-19 pandemic has opened new opportunities around agricultural markets, especially for fruits and vegetables. The most perishable agricultural products, fruits and…

The partnership between the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) and AguaClara Reach continues to bear fruit in India, where water disinfection systems were recently installed in two villages in Odisha. The new Hydrodoser systems were inaugurated in the villages of Patimul and Majhi Ukhura, providing safe drinking water to approximately 260 people. The Hydrodoser is a hydraulic chemical dosing…

With nearly 55% of rural Indian women suffering from anemia and 30% considered to be underweight, it is no surprise that researchers and policymakers alike are interested in ways to assess and improve women’s diets. In a newly published paper in the Food and Nutrition Bulletin, Tata-Cornell Institute (TCI) researchers compare household and women’s diet diversity…

Hundreds of people across the world tuned in to watch the launch of the Tata-Cornell Institute’s new report, Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition in India 2020: Leveraging Agriculture to Achieve Zero Hunger (FAN 2020), on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. The virtual event featured an expert panel composed of Trilochan Mohapatra, Indian Council of Agricultural Research; Ramesh Chand, NITI…

The Hindu, one of the largest English-language newspapers in South India, reported on the Tata-Cornell Institute’s latest report, a study of the impact of COVID-19 on Indian food prices. The study found that the prices of nutrient-rich foods like pulses increased as a result of the nationwide lockdown instituted in response to the pandemic, while the prices…

TCI scholar Jocelyn Boiteau presented her research on food loss in Indian tomato supply chains during the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Health Academy Week 2020, held virtually from June 30-July 2. Academy Week brings together the community of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working at the intersection of agriculture, nutrition, and health to foster knowledge exchange, innovation, and learning. A…