Dr. Saikumar C. Bharamappanavara appointed as Economic Development Advisor – Regenerative Agriculture, Climate Impact & Rural Policy Innovation of Economic Transformation Council
- Economic Transformation Council - India
- Jul 22
- 2 min read
The Economic Transformation Council (ETC) proudly announces the appointment of Dr. Saikumar C. Bharamappanavara as Economic Development Advisor – Regenerative Agriculture, Climate Impact & Rural Policy Innovation under the Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB). His deep-rooted expertise in sustainable agriculture, climate resilience, and rural development policy will significantly enhance the Council’s capacity to design forward-looking frameworks and build sustainable development models that empower rural economy, restore ecosystems and innovation of agricultural policies, and modernize rural economies.
Dr. Saikumar holds a Doctorate in Philosophy with a specialization in the Economics of Agricultural Cooperatives from Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany with a DAAD Fellowship. He is also an Erasmus Mundus Scholar and alumnus of the prestigious International Master of Science in Rural Development (IMRD) programme from University of Ghent, Belgium. Prior to his international academic pursuits, Dr. Saikumar earned a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India, where he built a strong foundation in agricultural policy, development economics, and rural transformation.
With over 20 years of dynamic experience in agricultural economics, climate resilience, rural development policy, and sustainable innovation, Dr. Saikumar brings a wealth of expertise to the Council at a critical time of national and global transformation. Dr. Saikumar’s professional journey spans over different projects commissioned by World Bank, Rainforest Alliance, GIZ, UNEP, KfW, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He is presently coordinating and contributing to several nationally and internationally supported projects and his leadership roles in handling numerous large-scale projects—such as APCNF, RA landscape Project and SAPCC—demonstrated his ability to design and evaluate complex, multi-sectoral initiatives that address ecological and rural economic challenges at scale.
His core areas of expertise include, regenerative agriculture, sustainable value chain integration, climate change assessment & Bio-physical assessment, Market research, Monitoring, evaluation, and learning and rural economic policy. Since April 2021, Dr. Saikumar has been associated with Sambodhi Research and Communications Pvt. Ltd., currently serving as Agriculture Specialist and Team Leader for many Climate Resilient Agriculture and Verification, Impact assessment projects.
With over a decade of experience in monitoring, evaluation, innovation scaling, and climate-biophysical assessments, Dr. Saikumar is deeply passionate about strategic planning, client coordination, project management and implementation and designing robust MEL and verification frameworks to drive impactful, community-based development. As part of the Economic Development Advisory Board, he will contribute to regenerative and climate-smart agriculture policy frameworks, programme evaluation, strategic knowledge development, knowledge generation, research and outreach and foster partnerships to advance rural and ecological transformation. His presence on the Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB) reinforces ETC’s commitment to evidence-based policymaking, institutional innovation, and strategic partnerships across rural and ecological domains.
Author: Aparna Madhavan N Coordination and Communication Department
Economic Transformation Council For more details: support@etcmail.co.in