Education: B. Tech. (Agril Engg.), PAU, Ludhiana (1992); M. Tech. (Soil and Water Engineering), PAU, Ludhiana (1995); Ph.D.(Soil and Water Engineering), PAU, Ludhiana (2008)

Positions held: Assistant Research Engineer, PAU Ludhiana (1996-2006), Research Engineer (2006-2010), Extension Specialist(2010-2012), Principal Scientist (2012-till date)

Field of Specialization: Irrigation Water Management

Research Interests:

1. Micro Irrigation
2. Protected Cultivation
3. Use of non-conventional energy resources in irrigation
4. Water Resources Management

Research Projects:

1. All India Coordinated Research Project on Plastic Engineering in Agricultural Structures and Environment Management (Chief Scientist)
2. Consortia Research Platforms on Precision Farming and Micro-irrigation Systems (Principal Investigator)
3. ICAR-NAHEP CAAST “School of Natural Resources Management for Sustainable Agriculture” (Co-Principal Investigator)
4. Centre of Excellence for cultivation of fruits and vegetables using brackish water, Project sponsored NHM, under Indo-Israel collaboration, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation Government of India(Co-Principal Investigator) ( Solar Powered Project)
5. Project under Indo-Egypt call titled” Use of Big Data Analytics for Mitigating Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources” sponsored by DST, India (Co-Principal Investigator)
6. Efficient Input Management system with emphasis on Resource Conservation, sponsored by Punjab State Government (Principal Investigator)

Selected Research Publications:

1. Saggi, Mandeep, Jain, Sushma, Bhatia AS, and Sharda Rakesh (2022) Proposition of new ensemble data-intelligence model for evapotranspiration process simulation. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-021-03636 (IF:7.31)
2. Naveen Garg, O.P. Choudhary, S. Thaman, Vikas Sharma, Harmanjeet Singh, Monika Vashistha, K.S. Sekhon, Rakesh Sharda, M.S. Dhaliwal (2022) Effects of irrigation water quality and NPK-fertigation levels on plant growth, yield and tuber size of potatoes in a sandy loam alluvial soil of semi-arid region of Indian Punjab Agricultural Water Management https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.202107 (IF:6.525)
3. Sidhu BS, Sharda R and Singh S (2021) Spatio-temporal assessment of groundwater depletion in Punjab, India Groundwater for Sustainable Development, Volume 12, 100498 (IF:6.27)
4. Sidhu BS, Sharda R and Singh S (2021) An assessment of water footprint for irrigated rice in Punjab Journal of Agrometeorology 23 (1), 21-29 (IF:0.548)
5. Goyal P, Sharda R, Siag M and Singh KG (2020) Development of an IoT based weighing type micro-lysimeter for soilless cultivation Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 90(10):1980-7 (IF:0.31)
6. Sharda R, Mahajan G, Siag M, Singh A and Chauhan BS (2017) Performance of drip- irrigated dry-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) in South Asia. Paddy and Water Environment ,.15(1):93-100 (IF:1.754)

Awards/Honours/Distinctions:

• • Member of the team which was awarded best poster presentation in the National Conference on Maize for Resource sustainability, Industrial growth and Farmers Prosperity held at MPUAT, Udaipur, India from Feb 23-25, 2022 and organized by Maize Technologists Association of India.
  • Appreciation letter by Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana, March 2019 recognizing the work.
  • Appreciation Letter by Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Egypt, on visit to Egypt under Indo- Egypt project, (2017).
  • Awarded Project by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India under Indo Egypt Call, 2016
  • Awarded Project by University Grants Commission under major Research project Grant, 2013.
  • Represented NCPAH Delhi at 6^th International Horti-Expo and 3^rd Indian Potato Expo 2014 at Chandigarh on 20-22 Feb. 2014 and won the ‘Excellent Display Award’ for technologies displayed at the stall by the PFDC in the Exhibition.
  • Appreciation letter from Executive Director, NCPAH for conducting a five day intensive training programme on Micro irrigation, fertigation & protected cultivation from April 21 -25, 2014 at PAU, Ludhiana.
  • Appreciation letter by Commissioner (Agriculture) Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation, Govt. of India to Dr. Rakesh Sharda and his team for conducting research on drip irrigation in September, 2014.
  • Invited to present research work on drip irrigation in paddy at International Rice Congress-2014 held at Bangkok, Thailand.
  • Awarded 2^nd prize for poster presentation under the theme natural resource conservation a key to sustainable agriculture in the “International Conference On Sustainable Agriculture For Food And Livelihood Security” held at PAU, Ludhiana (27-29 November, 2012).
  • Member of the team which was awarded first prize in the poster presentation at the National Symposium on “Enhancing Productivity and Sustainability” held from August 10-11, 2004 at CS&WCR&TI, Dehradun.

Technology Developed

• Design of the modified poly net house with better structural stability accepted by Farmer’s Commission, Punjab for subsidy.
• Developed irrigation and fertigation schedules for various crops such as potato, onion, green chilli, wheat, brinjal, pea,bitter gourd, pumpkin, spring maize and cotton, sugarcane, kinnow, guava, and soil less cultivation of cucumber and tomato. These recommendations are approved by the Punjab Agricultural University Research Evaluation Committee and have been published in the package and practices of the university.
• Recommended tractor-drawn bed former-cum-plastic mulching machine for the cultivation of vegetable crops.
• Recommended use of solar photovoltaic pumping system for drip irrigation in the Punjab State.
• Developed and conducted training programmes on drip irrigation fertigation and protected cultivation for Punjab's farmers and state government officials.