Coimbatore: P. Govindaraj, a known plant breeder, assumed charge as the new Director of the ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore. Before that, he served as the head of the Crop Improvement Division in the same institute.
The academic career of Dr. Govindaraj started at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, where he did undergraduate, post-graduation and Ph.D. with a gold medal for meritorious performance. A member of the 1991 batch of the Agricultural Research Service, Dr. Govindaraj started his career as a scientist at ICAR-SBI. He later took on the role of scientist-in-charge at the institute’s research centre in Motipur, Bihar.
Dr. Govindaraj has more than three decades of experience in plant breeding, and his contributions to the field are very noteworthy. He developed the Co 0232 and Co 0233 varieties of sugarcane, which covered more than 70,000 hectares in 2018-19 and thus contributed 20% of the area under sugarcane in Bihar. Additionally, his Co 09004 variety spans over 50,000 hectares in Karnataka and Gujarat. He has also developed more 12 improved cane varieties.
Among his achievements, Dr. Govindaraj has also created more than 13 genetic stocks, including six climate-resilient varieties widely utilized by sugarcane breeders.
His expertise extends internationally; the Ministry of External Affairs deputed him as a ‘sugarcane expert’ to the Fiji Islands, where he designed and implemented the Fiji National Sugarcane Breeding Programme. Dr. Govindaraj has authored over 100 research papers and received numerous national-level awards, notably the ‘Sir T.S. Venkataraman Award for outstanding research in sugarcane agriculture.’
