After completing his secondary education in Bhutan, Dr Yadunath Bajgai travelled to the United Kingdom for his bachelors. He graduated with BSc (Hons) in Agriculture from the University of Wales, Bangor in 1998 and returned to Bhutan to take up the role of an agriculture extension officer and later as a district agriculture officer under the Department of Agriculture (DoA), Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF). The professional field experiences were valuable in pursuit of his MSc and PhD studies. He obtained MSc in Agriculture from Chiang Mai University in Thailand and graduated with a PhD in Agriculture with specialization in soil science from the University of New England, Armidale, Australia in 2013.
Earning a PhD turned his career path to agricultural research at the Agriculture Research and Development Center at Bajo, DoA, MoAF in Wangdue, Bhutan in 2013. At this center he was responsible for management and administration of the research center as well as spearheading the soil fertility management and sustainable land use management component of the research center. At Bajo, he initiated several research and development projects including a major 5-year JICA project. In 2016, Dr Bajgai was transferred to the National Potato Program in Thimphu, which is now housed under the National Center for Organic Agriculture, Yusipang, DoA, MoAF. In Yusipang, headed the National Potato Program where he designed, coordinated, and conducted several multi-location on-station and on-farm research trials evaluating potato germplasm that successfully generated and notified three new potato varieties in Bhutan as a PI. In his career expanding over two decades in Bhutan, he has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications in national and international scientific fora, and presented at several conferences.
Recently, a new chapter has opened up in his career at CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (Lal Carbon Center), School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR), the Ohio State University (OSU) in the United States of America as a Research Scientist. He works for the Carbon Farming Alliance for Research and Management (C-FARM) project under the leadership of global icon Prof. Lal. Generally, the C-FARM project has dual purpose of enhancing carbon sequestration in croplands, rangelands and grasslands to improve soil health and resiliency as well as to mitigate global warming by way of reducing atmospheric CO2 concentration. He is interested in investigating the role of innovative and sustainable farming systems that enhance carbon capture, and to collaborate and contribute to generating knowledge toward making carbon sequestration a lucrative and resilient farming venture.