Subscribe

Back

Who we are

With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Elodie Becquey

Elodie Becquey is a Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit, based in IFPRI’s West and Central Africa office in Senegal. She has over 15 years of research experience in diet, nutrition, and food security in Africa, including countries such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, and Tanzania.

Back

What we do

Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

Research topics

Projects and impact

Modeling tools

Project microsites

AI search assistant

What’s new

Where we work

Back

Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

IFPRI Regional Programs

IFPRI Country Programs

Research by country and region

Subscribe

experts

Innovation Policy and Scaling

Mahalingam Govindaraj

Senior Scientist

Follow

Mahalingam

at:

ORCiD

Bio

Mahalingam Govindaraj is a Senior Scientist in the HarvestPlus program, Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit. As a crop development specialist, he manages the biofortification crop development research network and builds research capacities for biofortification mainstreaming. His efforts and more than 14 years of experience in crop improvement have been instrumental in building the public-private partnership on millet and research for development (R4D) biofortification. Govindaraj is experienced in pre-breeding, quantitative genetics, population improvement, hybrid breeding, breeding for disease/insect/end-use quality traits, advanced phenomics, and product testing. Before joining IFPRI, he led ICRISAT’s millet biofortification program in India, West Africa, and Central Africa, coordinated the Asia sorghum breeding program, and developed and disseminated 12 biofortified cultivars in India and Africa. In India, he established minimum standards on iron and zinc for the national pearl millet cultivar release policy.

Govindraj is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications and has supervised the dissertation research of several master’s and PhD students. His work has been recognized by a variety of individual and team awards, including the International Plant Nutrition Institute’s International Scholar Award (2009), MS Swaminathan Best Scientist Award (2018), and the Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application (2022), awarded by the World Food Prize Foundation. He holds a PhD in plant breeding and genetics from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India.

Google Scholar Citations

Award Announcement – CGIAR

HarvestPlus

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Exploring rancidity in pearl millet flour: A lipidomic and biochemical approach

2025
Aher, Rasika Rajendra; Bhunia, Rupam Kumar; Kaur, Simranjit; Sanivarapu, Hemalatha; Palakolanu, Sudhakar Reddy; Taleon, Victor; Sharma, Kiran Kumar; Gupta, S.K.; Mahalingam, Govindaraj; Mazumdar, Saikat Datta
…more Bhatnagar-Mathur, Pooja
Details

Exploring rancidity in pearl millet flour: A lipidomic and biochemical approach

Year published

2025

Authors

Aher, Rasika Rajendra; Bhunia, Rupam Kumar; Kaur, Simranjit; Sanivarapu, Hemalatha; Palakolanu, Sudhakar Reddy; Taleon, Victor; Sharma, Kiran Kumar; Gupta, S.K.; Mahalingam, Govindaraj; Mazumdar, Saikat Datta; Bhatnagar-Mathur, Pooja

Citation

Aher, Rasika Rajendra; Bhunia, Rupam Kumar; Kaur, Simranjit; Sanivarapu, Hemalatha; Palakolanu, Sudhakar Reddy; et al. 2025. Exploring rancidity in pearl millet flour: A lipidomic and biochemical approach. Journal of Cereal Science 126(November 2025): 104320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2025.104320

Keywords

Rancidity; Deterioration; Pearl Millet; Lipids; Biochemical Analysis; Iron; Storage

Language

English

Access/Licence

Limited Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2025.104320 Source record

Record type

Journal Article

Resource thumbnail

Manual

Protocol for management of weedy rice (Red Rice) in biofortified rice production systems

2025Hurtado Rivas, Ivan Mauricio; Mahalingam, Govindaraj; Alvarez, Maria Fernanda; Bartholomé, Jerome; Herrera, Cristian Camilo
Details

Protocol for management of weedy rice (Red Rice) in biofortified rice production systems

Year published

2025

Authors

Hurtado Rivas, Ivan Mauricio; Mahalingam, Govindaraj; Alvarez, Maria Fernanda; Bartholomé, Jerome; Herrera, Cristian Camilo

Citation

Hurtado Rivas, I.M.; Mahalingam, G.; Alvarez, M.F.; Bartholomé, J.; Herrera, C.C. (2025) Protocol for management of weedy rice (Red Rice) in biofortified rice production systems. Cali (Colombia): Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) / Washington, D.C. (USA): International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 27 p.

Country/Region

Colombia

Keywords

Americas; South America; Latin America and the Caribbean; Rice; Weed Control

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Record type

Manual

Resource thumbnail

Journal Article

Genetic control of seed iron and zinc concentration in Rwandan common bean population revealed by the Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS)

2025
Mukamuhirwa, Floride; Shirasawa, Kenta; Naito, Ken; Rurangwa, Edouard; Ndayizeye, Viateur; Nyombayire, Alphonse; Muhire, Jean Pierre; Govindaraj, Mahalingam; Ohtake, Norikuni; Okazaki, Keiichi
…more Okada, Moeko; Fukai, Eigo
Details

Genetic control of seed iron and zinc concentration in Rwandan common bean population revealed by the Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS)

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most abundantly consumed legume crops as foods worldwide. In many African countries, this crop is an important staple food because of its rich nutrients. The Great Lakes region of Central Africa, which includes Rwanda, the nation with the highest per capita consumption of common beans worldwide, is known to be a center of common bean diversity in Africa. Increasing the amount of iron and zinc in common bean for biofortification has been a key breeding goal in Rwanda and other countries. In this study, using 192 accessions, including local landraces from Rwanda, breeding materials, released varieties, and others, we performed genome wide association studies (GWAS) to determine the loci governing those traits in addition to other agronomic traits. We identified a locus that was strongly associated with seed zinc concentration and candidate genes. The information might be a great help for marker-assisted breeding of this trait in common bean.

Year published

2025

Authors

Mukamuhirwa, Floride; Shirasawa, Kenta; Naito, Ken; Rurangwa, Edouard; Ndayizeye, Viateur; Nyombayire, Alphonse; Muhire, Jean Pierre; Govindaraj, Mahalingam; Ohtake, Norikuni; Okazaki, Keiichi; Okada, Moeko; Fukai, Eigo

Citation

Mukamuhirwa, Floride; Shirasawa, Kenta; Naito, Ken; Rurangwa, Edouard; Ndayizeye, Viateur; Nyombayire, Alphonse; et al. 2025. Genetic control of seed iron and zinc concentration in Rwandan common bean population revealed by the Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS). Breeding Science 75(3): 187-199. https://doi.org/10.1270/jsbbs.24087

Country/Region

Rwanda

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Biofortification; Common Beans; Genomes; Iron; Zinc

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1270/jsbbs.24087 Source record

Record type

Journal Article