Dr. C.D. Mayee, India’s renowned “Cotton Man,” has been honored with the ICAC Researcher of the Year 2025 award for his transformative contributions to cotton science and smallholder farming. His 54-year career shaped Bt cotton adoption, boosted yields, and improved farmer livelihoods. As a scientist, administrator, and mentor, Dr. Mayee reformed institutions, predicted epidemics, and championed farmer education.
India’s Cotton Scientist Dr Mayee Awarded “ICAC Researcher of the Year 2025”
Coinciding with the Government of India’s campaign “Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan” launched on 29th May 2025, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) proudly announces the ICAC Researchers of the Year 2025 award to Dr. CD Mayee, fondly known as the “Cotton Man of India”. This is a remarkable recognition to Dr Mayee who at the age of 80 years, continues his tireless journey for the welfare of cotton farmers, embodying a lifelong dedication to agricultural progress particularly in the dryland of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. His remarkable contributions to cotton research and smallholder cotton farmer empowerment are truly inspirational. This prestigious recognition is not just a tribute to Dr. Mayee’s legacy, but a powerful call to action for the entire agricultural scientific fraternity and young researchers working in various institutions of ICAR, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs) and State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) in India to rise, commit, and contribute towards building a technology led, vibrant and prosperous agricultural future ensuring food security to 1.4 billion people of our country.
While announcing the winner of the ICAC Researcher of the Year 2025 on 29th May 2025, the ICAC’s Chief Scientist congratulated Dr. Mayee on this well-deserved recognition. Moreover, ICAC recognizes that this prestigious award is a tribute to his outstanding contributions to cotton science and his lasting impact on the global agricultural community. The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), headquartered in Washington D.C., is an intergovernmental organization established in 1939 to serve as a global forum for cotton-producing, consuming, and trading countries. It provides objective, science-based analysis and policy advice to support the sustainable growth of the global cotton industry.
Writer Bhagirath Choudhary with Dr CD Mayee.
In a remarkable 54-year scientific odyssey that began in a modest village in Maharashtra, Dr Mayee has emerged as one of India’s most visionary agricultural scientists. From developing the country’s first disease-tolerant sunflower hybrid to steering the national approval of insect resistant cotton, Dr. Mayee’s journey has not only shaped policy and science but transformed the lives of millions of India’s smallholder farmers. “Science is not an ivory tower. It is a field experiment that ends with a farmer’s smile,” often says Dr. Mayee, who continues to work with grassroots organizations even after his retirement in 2011 as Chairman of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) of the Government of India.
The Man Behind India’s Cotton Revolution
As Vice Chancellor of MAU Parbhani, Dr Mayee pioneered mega-field experiments of cotton using Israeli high-input technology and another in Ashta village using low-input rainfed methods. Both models successfully showed dramatic gains, at that time in late 1990s significantly enhancing farmers income, improved yields and scalable models for resource-poor regions. His work then was cited by the Planning Commission in 1999 under “Guided Cotton Cultivation.”
At the turn of the millennium, India faced a cotton crisis with spiraling pesticide use, falling yields, and farmer distress. As Director of the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Dr. Mayee led the nationwide evaluation of insect-resistant Bt cotton for biosafety, efficacy, and performance through 55 public institutional trials between 2000 and 2003. His leadership was pivotal in securing the 2002 approval for Bt cotton’s commercial release in India. As Agriculture Commissioner, he further facilitated pan-India adoption of breakthrough cotton technology under the Technology Mission on Cotton launched in 2002. As a result, his efforts contributed enormously to revolutionizing cotton farming by reducing pesticide use, lowering costs, and increasing yields from 300 to over 500 kg per hectare, tripling national cotton production over two decades and making India a global cotton leader.
The Scientist Who Predicted Epidemics and Stopped Them
In an era when Indian agriculture was trapped by unpredictable weather and pestilence, Dr. Mayee’s groundbreaking research in his early scientific career on plant pathology, epidemiology and forecasting of crop diseases has brought scientific clarity to chaos. His models for disease prediction, first piloted on groundnut and dryland crops, became national tools, notably adopted by ICRISAT’s LAGOFTON program in the 1980s. Farmers in the rainfed regions of Marathwada and Vidarbha directly benefited, seeing a 20% increase in productivity and reduced costs. Moreover, it was Dr Mayee who first discovered sunflower downy mildew in India – a disease that threatened oilseed production and led the release of resistant hybrids now widely cultivated in Maharashtra.
From Teacher to Talent-Spotter: A Reformer at ASRB
As Chairman of the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB) from 2004–2011, Dr. Mayee undertook an institutional overhaul of agricultural scientist recruitments and examination in the country. He introduced online recruitment exams, a first in India’s scientific bureaucracy and recruited over 5,000 scientists with zero grievances. Dr. Mayee transformed the ASRB from a gatekeeper into a torchbearer of agricultural innovation by institutionalizing a fool-proof, transparent, and merit-based recruitment process.
Mega Demonstrations, Real-World Results
Even after retirement, Dr. Mayee has remained deeply involved in cotton research guiding scientists through various forums and spearheaded field-level scientific outreach through the South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC) tackling modern threats of invasive and endemic pests such as Fall Armyworm, Pink Bollworm, and Black Thrips in maize, cotton, and chilli.
He has played a pivotal role in guiding SABC to design and implement forward-looking strategies that train farmers across diverse domains, reducing their dependence on conventional crops and outdated practices. Over the past 14 years, he has championed the pillars of education, skilling, and empowerment, helping reshape the agricultural landscape of cotton production across North, Central and South cotton growing zones. Under his leadership, SABC has introduced innovative, science-based solutions such as area-wide implementation of mega field project on novel mating disruption PBKnot technology rigorously experimented over 1000 acres every year for last four consecutive years to tackle critical challenges of pink bollworm that has developed resistant to Bt cotton. Dr Mayee’s active involvement extends to Vidarbha’s annual mega agri-tech exhibition hosted by Agrovision Foundation, which attracts 3–4 lakh farmers and hosts over 30 thematic workshops. In addition, Dr Mayee continues to contribute to the advancement of science and technology in the region as a guiding force in the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation, Rajiv Gandhi Science and Technology Commission, and as Chairman of the Science and Technology Resource Centre at Gondwana University, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra.
ICAC honours Dr Mayee with the ICAC Researcher of the Year 2025 award
From his humble beginnings in Maharashtra to leading India’s cotton revolution, Dr. Mayee has been a transformative force in agricultural policy, biotechnology, and sustainable cotton farming. This global recognition of “ICAC researcher of the Year 2025” award, announced during India’s “Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan,” underscores his enduring impact as a scientist, reformer, and champion of smallholder farmers. The award will be presented at the 83rd ICAC Plenary Meeting “Leveraging Sustainable Cotton and Textile for Rural and Industrial Development” to be held in Mwanza, Tanzania in November 2025, represented by 35 to 40 cotton growing Governments.
It is the right time for the scientific and farming community of India to celebrate the life of Dr Mayee not just a researcher but a visionary leader and an able science administrator who will continue to inspire generations in the field of agricultural science, technology and cotton farming.
“A life of science is a life of service,” Dr. Mayee often says. And in his life’s bountiful harvest of innovation, institutions, and impact, ICAC has finally found one of its greatest agricultural heroes from India.
(The writer is Founder & Director, South Asia Biotechnology Centre, Jodhpur)
