Paresh Shirsath
Paresh B Shirsath is Science Officer for the CCAFS South Asia Regional Program. Paresh is an agriculture engineer by training and holds a PhD in Water Science and Technology. His main expertise is in the areas of adaptation prioritization, crop growth modeling, climate risk management, crop insurance and spatial analysis. He contributed in developing several tools and methodologies, which includes improved trigger design methodology for weather index insurance, Climate-Smart Agricultural Prioritization toolkit (CSAP) and Crop-loss Assessment Monitor (CAM).
Before joining the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), CIMMYT, as a CCAFS scientist, he worked with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). During his graduate studies, he worked on evaporation and evapotranspiration modelling, overland flow and solute transport in surface irrigation systems. He has published more than 20 research articles.
His key interests are early warning systems, crop insurance, climate change adaptation and land use allocation modelling. He is responsible for research and development activities on scaling out climate-smart technologies in South Asia.