Dr. Monoranjan Mohanty

• Dr. Monoranjan Mohanty has a PhD in Soil Science from the University of Queensland, Australia. He has specialization in crop growth simulation and soil carbon modeling in agricultural systems.
• With a Master’s degree in Agricultural Sciences, specialization in Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry from the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Dr. Mohanty begun his career as a Scientist in 1999 at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal in soil science, soil physics, soil and water conservation, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. 
• Dr. Mohanty was instrumental in developing, and implementing various projects with national and international bodies and organizations in the following specialized fields.   

1.   Agricultural system modeling to assess environmental sustainability, crop growth and yield gaps, nutrient uptake, soil organic carbon dynamics and crop productivity as affected by climate variability and climate change.

2.   Soil properties estimation using Near Infra-Red (NIR) and Middle Infrared (MIR) Spectroscopic techniques.

3.   Estimation of soil quality using traditional as well as hyperspectral remote sensing (HSRS) approaches in black soils of India. 

4.  Conservation tillage and cropping systems effects on soil carbon sequestration, soil quality and sustainability of agricultural systems.

5.  Estimation of soil organic carbon sequestration potentials for different soils of Madhya Pradesh and India as affected by climate change. 

6.   Part of the team to develop and verify the low cost hand held sensors for nutrient estimation in soils. 

7.   Development of soil digital database and digital soil maps.

8.   Modeling water management strategies to improve water and nutrient use efficiency in crops and cropping systems in central India.

9.   Precision farming to improve input use in agriculture

• Dr. Mohanty has authored books, with some on Soil Science for NCERT standard 11 and 12 students. He has guided many Masters and PhD students in simulation modeling, spectroscopy, hyperspectral remote sensing, conservation agriculture, carbon sequestration and climate change.
• Dr. Mohanty has played an important role in conducting several capacity building programmes on agricultural system modeling, geoinformatics, and climate change courses which are important for scientists, academicians, students, and research fellows. He also developed software (SQI CAL)© on soil quality, required for soil health assessment in India.
• During his service tenure spanning over 23 years at ICAR, he has been involved in research for improving, and managing natural resources in agriculture.