• Introduction

    Land and water are vital resources in urban, agricultural, and natural ecosystems. The Land and Water Management (LWM) Research Group provides highly visible leadership in research and development, consultancy and extension programs to improve the agricultural productivity, enhance water security, and protect and conserve natural resources. We work across the domains of land, water, and terrestrial plant ecosystems and communities to deliver outcome based focussed basic as well as applied research.

    Land and water are among the most important of all natural resources, hence maintaining soil and water resources are essential for sustainable development especially to sustain the agricultural productivity and protection and conservation of land and water resources. Under rapidly changing environment, sustainable water management through targeted research on each sphere of soil: plant: water continuum is essential and to increase food production through enhancing water productivity, identifying adaptation needs and addressing the challenges and research directions in water management in humid tropics are of great importance. R&D programs are designed to meet the changing needs of all our stakeholders at state, national and international levels with the following vision and mission.

    Vision

    The vision of the LWM research group is to be a global leader in advancing the scientific understanding of land and water resources management

    Mission

    The mission of the LWM research group is to provide knowledge and science based solutions for managing the soil health and water resources, to improve the agricultural productivity and protection of natural resources and environment in Kerala and the nation.

    Thrust Area

    Our research programs are focused to address land and water resources issues in a wide range of ecosystems, including: agricultural lands, forested lands, urban lands, wetlands, and shallow lakes and estuaries with a focus  and global significance in the areas of improving the agricultural productivity, enhancing the water use efficiency, ecosystem productivity, carbon sequestration, soil health management, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change, environmental services and ultimately ensuring water and food security.

    The management strategies involves investigations on soil, water, climate, crops and environment and hence, the activities of the group are inter-disciplinary, comprising of the experts in the disciplines of Agronomy,  Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Agricultural Meteorology and Statistics, Biotechnology, Plant Physiology, Remote sensing & GIS and Soil Science.

    In addition, LWM research group offers excellent research and educational opportunities for students / research scholars seeking careers in soil, water, plant and environmental sciences related to land and water resource management.