Prior to assuming her current position as Global Director, Agriculture and Food Global Practice at the World Bank, Shobha Shetty served as Agriculture and Food Practice Manager in the Africa region as well as South Asia. She also served as Practice Manager for Global Partnerships and Resource Mobilization in the Social, Urban, Rural, Resilience Global Practice.

Prior to this, Ms. Shetty has worked in the East Asia & Pacific and Middle East and North Africa regions. Her work and interests span irrigation and water resources management, digital agriculture, agribusiness development, women’s empowerment, nutrition sensitive agriculture, urban food systems, rural youth employment, climate resilience, and rural-urban linkages.

In 2015, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Tata-Cornell Agriculture and Nutrition Initiative (TCi) at Cornell University, NY. She has also been a Visiting Fellow at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

Ms. Shetty holds a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Anna University, Madras, India. She obtained her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics from Cornell University.