Dr Ajay Panchbhai leads the Partnership and Capacity building work stream of the CGIAR Genetic Innovation’s “Seed Equal” initiative. He is also the Regional Breeding, Seed Systems and Product Management lead for the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Africa.
He brings a unique CGIAR and the private sector experience for around 23 years in the areas of seeds, technical partnerships, tech transfer, business development and regulatory affairs. Ajay has been with IRRI since 2016 and led IRRI Tech Transfer for South Asia and Indonesia before commencing his current Africa role. He has served private seed sector in the past that included a leading multi-national seed company DuPont Pioneer (now Corteva AgriSciences) and another renowned seed company, Mahyco, in various capacities.
