M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation [MSSRF] was registered in 1988 as a non-profit Trust. The basic mandate of MSSRF is to impart a pro-nature, pro-poor and pro-women orientation to a job-led economic growth strategy in rural areas through harnessing science and technology for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development.



MSSRF is doing research in the following five areas: Coastal Systems Research, Biodiversity and Biotechnology, Ecotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture, Reaching the Unreached, and Education, Communication, Training and Capacity Building.



The Foundation operates through the following pathways to agricultural and rural development: conservation and enhancement of natural resources, promotion of sustainable livelihoods, gender equity and voicing the voiceless as well as information and skill empowerment. Through the Hindu Media Resource Centre the Foundation promotes public understanding of science through media practitioners.



The Foundation is known for its emphasis on bottom-up participatory approach, which places people before technology.