P.V. Vara Prasad is a University Distinguished Professor of Crop Ecophysiology and Director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification (SIIL) at Kansas State University funded by United States for Agency for International Development (USAID). His research focuses on understanding responses of food crops to climate change factors and developing crop, water and soil management strategies for efficient use of inputs and improve crop yields. He is committed to innovative and collaborative international research that improves livelihoods and provides food and nutritional security to smallholder farmers. He has active research and capacity building programs in several countries in Asia and Africa.
Dr. Prasad discussed sustainable intensification using a farming systems approach and focuses on increasing food production on existing farmland per unit area per unit time without damaging the environment. Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification (SIIL) supports research, knowledge sharing, and capacity building programs aimed at improving food and nutritional security of smallholder farmers. The SIIL supports several research projects in Africa and Asia including Geospatial and Farming Systems Research Consortium and the Appropriate Scale Mechanization Consortium.