Shrikant Hiwale

Dr. S.S. Hiwale holds a brilliant academic career. He started as a Scientist at the IIHR Bangalore, where he later became a Principal Scientist in Horticulture. At present he is serving as a Principal Scientist at CHES in Vejalpur. He has worked on various semiarid fruits, examining aspects like germplasm conservation, evaluation and characterization; standardization of agro techniques for successful cultivation of these fruits under rainfed conditions. He has also worked on fruit-tree-based cropping system for semiarid rainfed areas and successfully developed cropping system models. He worked as a Lead Center Principal Investigator for the NATP Project “Develop Sustainable Agri-Horti-Pastoral System on Marginal Lands”. He is also Principal Investigator for the Project “Revolving Fund Scheme on Propagation Commercial Fruits”, which is intended to supply high-quality planting material. He is at present working as a Principal Investigator on the DST project “Enhancement of livelihood of tribal farm households of Panchmahals district in Gujarat through agricultural diversification”. He has also completed seven institutional projects and is now working on “value addition in semiarid fruits”. He has to his credit three new varieties, one each in Ber, Aonla and Pomegranate, and wrote a book entitled “The Pomegranate”. Apart from this he has guided four M.Sc. Agri (Horti) students and one Ph.D student. He has presented and published eleven lead papers at international/national symposium/seminars, seven research bulletins and five extension bulletins on various aspects of the cultivation of semiarid fruits, and has written ten book chapters on various aspects like breeding and agro techniques.