Dr. Babu was educated at Agricultural Universities in Tamil Nadu, India (B.S. Agriculture; M.S. Agriculture) and at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (M.S. Economics and PhD Economics). Before joining IFPRI in 1992 as a Research Fellow, Dr. Babu was a Research Economist at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Between 1989 and 1994 he spent 5 years in Malawi, Southern Africa on various capacities. He was Senior Food Policy Advisor to the Malawi Ministry of Agriculture on developing a national level Food and Nutrition Information System; an Evaluation Economist for the UNICEF-Malawi working on designing food and nutrition intervention programs; Coordinator of UNICEF/IFPRI food security program in Malawi; and a Senior Lecturer at the Bunda College of Agriculture, Malawi developing and teaching computer-based policy-oriented post graduate courses.

• Learning and Capacity Strengthening Program (Program Leader)
• South Asia Initiative
• Member of Board of Advisors, World Agriculture Forum, Scientific Committee of Southern Africa Food Policy Network, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and IUCN's Commission on Ecosystem management, African Capacity Building Foundation.

• Bangladesh
• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• India
• Malawi
• Vietnam
• South and Central Asia
• Sub-Saharan Africa

• Policy Reforms and Agricultural development in Central Asia
  2006. Babu, S.C. and S. Djalalov (ed). Springer, New York.
• Nutrition Security - More Supportive Policies.
  Babu, S.C. Annual Survey of Indian Agriculture.2004. The Hindu Publications, Chennai.
• Food Policy Reforms in South Asia - Role of Trade and Technology.
  Babu, S. C. and A. Gulati (ed). 2005. Babu, S. C. and A. Gulati (ed). Haworth Press. New York
• Agricultural Technology Diffusion and Price Policy
  2002. Bongir, T, E. Gabre-Madhin, and S. C. Babu (ed). Proceedings of a Policy Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 2002.
• Food Systems for Human Nutrition
  2002. K. Pataki and Babu, S.C. (ed)Howarth Press New York.
• Future Opportunities for Rural Africa
  2002. Babu, S.C, P. Jagger, P. Hazell, A. Knox, and V. Rhoe (ed). Proceedings of a Conference Sponsored by USAID, Washington D.C. February 2002.
• The New Threat of Famine in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Crisis, Causes, and Solutions
  2003. Von Braun, J. and S. C. Babu. Human Development Report.
• Training and networking for faster agricultural growth and poverty reduction in Vietnam
  2003. Babu, S., V. Rhoe, and R. Swinkels. Share. Washington D.C.: World Bank.
• Global Food Security and Hunger
  2002. Babu, S.C. In World At Risk - A Source book of Global Issues. Washington, D.C. Congressional Press.