Port Blair, Oct 27: A Senior Scientist at ICAR–Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CIARI), Port Blair has been conferred the prestigious title of Associate Fellow by the Society for Promotion of Horticulture (SPH), Bengaluru, during its Annual General Meeting.
SPH, headquartered at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru, is a premier national body that recognizes outstanding contributions to horticultural science.
Since joining the Agricultural Research Service in 2014, Dr. Ajit Arun Waman has been at the forefront of conserving and promoting native horticultural species of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. His achievements include identifying Piper Pendulispicum as a new species for India, developing the country’s first improved variety of Indian Bay Leaf, co-developing Malabar Tamarind varieties, and discovering superior spice germplasm suited to island ecosystems.
Beyond research, Dr. Waman has championed innovation—earning three design registrations, commercializing technologies for local entrepreneurs, and pioneering agro-eco-tourism and urban horticulture models in the Islands. He also established the Islands’ first commercial Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory and continues to train farmers, youth, and tribal communities through capacity-building initiatives.
Dr. Jai Sunder, Director (A), ICAR-CIARI, lauded Dr. Waman’s achievement, calling it “a proud moment that brings recognition not only to the Institute but to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands as a whole.”
