Food and Agri Tech

Biography

Uma Lele was the first woman to receive a PhD in Applied Economics by Cornell University, at age 24. She has decades of experience in research, operations, policy analysis, and evaluation. She acquired significant part of her experience in developing regions, from a base at the World Bank, US universities and other international organizations. Currently she is affiliated with the Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi, India. In 2018 she was elected president-elect of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) and on August 31, 2021, became the first woman President in IAAE’s 92-year history. She organized the first-ever, all virtual 31st International Conference of Agricultural Economists during August 17 and August 31, 2021. Her co-authored book, Food for All: International Organizations and the Transformation of Agriculture, was published by Oxford University Press in October 2021.She was member of the Science Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Summit, held in October 2021. She has published extensively on agriculture and rural development, including independent evaluation reports from the World Bank, well over 130 book chapters, papers, articles, and other writings on food and agriculture, the environment, public health, science and technology, aid and finance, and evaluation in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In 2016, she co-chaired an inter-agency Food Security Information Network (FSIN) report with Professor William Masters on Measuring Food and Nutrition Security, and in 2000–2002, she co-chaired (with Professor Shen Gao Fang of the Chinese Academy of Engineering) the Task Force on Forests and Grasslands in the Development of the West, commissioned by the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED). Her honors include: Fellow of India’s National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS); American Agricultural & Applied Economic Association (AAEA, 1999); a Distinguished Alumnus of Cornell University (2008); Lifetime Achievement Award of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics (ISAE 2017); “Honorary Life Member” of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE); B. P. Pal Award (2015–2016) of India’s National Academy of Agricultural Sciences; the M. S. Swaminathan Award of the Trust for the Advancement of Agricultural Sciences, India (2017); the Clifton Wharton Award (Emerging Markets Program, Cornell University, 2018); Honorary Fellow by the African Association of Agricultural Economists in 2019; and an honorary Doctor of Agricultural Sciences at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, as “the leading rural development scholar of her generation.” The latter is yet to be received in person due to COVID. She has established three Mentorship Programs at the Agricultural & Applied Economic Association (AAEA) for students from developing countries, and an award for Best Research on Gender at the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE). At the IAEA, she is actively promoting women in the agricultural economics profession and expanding opportunities for their professional advancement.

Research Interest

Nutritious, Adequate Food for All