Neelamraju Ganga Prasada Rao (5 September 1927 – 27 July 2016) was an Indian geneticist and plant breeder, known for his efforts in developing hybrid varieties of sorghum, which earned him the moniker, the Father of Hybrid Sorghum.
[citation needed] After completing his master's degree at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute with a first rank, he secured his PhD from Bihar University in 1958 after which Chandrasekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology awarded him the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc).
[5] His career started as a lecturer at Osmania University but later joined the Indian Agricultural Research Institute as a plant breeder for sorghum where he served for a number of years as a coordinator of All India Sorghum Improvement Project, head of IARI Hyderabad station and as a Professor of Eminence.
Later he also worked as a Sorghum breeder with International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in West Africa before serving as the vice chancellor of Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University, and was associated with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as a consultant.
Ranga Agricultural University has instituted an annual award in his honor, for recognizing academic excellence at graduate level courses.