DR. DEVENDRA GAUCHAN

Brief Bio

Dr. Devendra Gauchan is an Agricultural Economist and Honorary Research Fellow at the Alliance of Bioversity International and International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)- a CGIAR center based in Rome, Italy. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Agricultural Economics at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (IAAS), Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. He has a PhD degree from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom specializing on Agricultural Economics and Agrobiodiversity Conservation. Dr. Gauchan has over 25 years of post-graduate research experience on agricultural economics focusing his research on market and value chain, technology evaluation, economics and policy dimension of agrobiodiversity, seed system, farming system and food security and natural resource management. He has worked as a Consultant, Co-Investigator and expert for various national, international and bilateral organizations in agricultural and natural resource management project evaluation, impact studies and formulation of national agricultural strategies, policies and plans. He was one of the core team members involved in drafting of Nepal’s 'National Seed Vision 2025' in 2012-13 and also lead coordinator in Agriculture theme in drafting of National Strategic Framework of Nature Conservation for Sustainable Development (NSFNCSD) of Nepal in 2013-14.

Previously, he served as a National Project Manager at Bioversity International (2015-2020) focusing on coordination, and management of agrobiodiversity related projects as well as research on value chain and marketing of traditional mountain crops in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal. Before joining Bioversity International, he was the Senior Scientist and Head of Socioeconomics & Agricultural Research Policy Division at Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) Kathmandu form 2005-2014. During his tenure at NARC, he played instrumental role in bringing social science and policy dimension in agricultural research by establishing and leading Socioeconomic and Policy Research in NARC, Nepal. He has also worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Agricultural Economics (2008-2011) at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines focusing his work on farmers’ livelihood and socioeconomic impact assessment of Stress-tolerant Rice Technologies for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) in South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Nepal) funded by Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation.

He was also a JIRCA Visiting Fellow at National Research Institute of Agricultural Economics (NRIAE) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (MAFF), Tokyo, Japan in 1997 for three months. He has also served as a Co-Principal Investigator in Nepal for Johns Hopkins University, USA led POSHAN (Policy Science, Health, Agriculture and Nutrition) project studies and scientific initiatives for linking Agriculture to Nutrition Pathways from 2012-2019. Since the last year (2020), he has been engaged as an international consultant for market and value chain assessment of fruit trees in Uzbekistan in the UNEP GEF project of the Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT. He is currently serving as a technical expert at National Planning Commission (NPC) of the Government of Nepal for the organization of the UN Food System Summit Dialogue in Nepal and also serving as a member of the technical advisory committee for Agrobiodiversity at Ministry of Agricultural and Livestock Development, Government of Nepal.

In the last two and half decades, Dr. Gauchan has been active in research for economics of agriculture R &D, natural resource management and food system with specific focus on marketing and value chain, evaluation of agricultural technologies, projects and programs and analysis of seed system, agrobiodiversity, food security and natural resource management policies with specific interest and professional work in the mountains. As an Adjunct Professor, Dr. Gauchan has been serving as a principal supervisor and co-supervisors of dozen graduate students (PhD and MSc) and external evaluator for some foreign students in agricultural economics, agricultural extension, food security, natural resource management and development studies. He has over 100 scientific publications to his credit published in national and international journals, books and proceedings. He is also currently serving as a reviewer of some international Journals (e.g., Agricultural System; Agriculture & Food Security) and one of the member of editorial board for few national Journals in Agriculture and allied fields. He is currently a General Secretary of the Nepalese Society of Agricultural Economist (NAES), Nepal.