Welcome to Natural Resources Management Centre - NRMC

The Natural Resources Management Center (NRMC) is mandated to optimize the use of land and water resources on a scientific basis to sustainably increase national agricultural productivity. While changes in land-use patterns driven by population growth deplete land and water resources both quantitatively and qualitatively, climate change and its extreme conditions have exerted additional pressure on them. These factors have accelerated processes such as soil erosion, soil infertility, salinization, reduced water availability for agriculture, and the pollution of soil and water. Therefore, it has become an essential task to develop methods that allow for the sustainable conservation and intensive contribution of natural resources, including soil and water, toward development.
The NRMC conducts research and development programs covering various fields. The center’s primary research areas include:
• Land suitability evaluation.
• Agro-meteorology and climate change.
• Geo-informatics and remote sensing.
• Productivity enhancement.
• Assessment of soil and water quality.
• On-farm and off-farm soil and water management.
Its major development programs include the implementation of the Soil Conservation Act, maintaining the island's agro-meteorological observation network, technical extension services, and providing technical support and services for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) of various development projects.
History
The Natural Resources Management Center was established in 1974 as the Land and Water Management Research Center of the Department of Agriculture. It played a vital role in soil and water management, and its findings were extensively utilized for the country's agricultural development activities during the 1970s. Its activities and responsibilities expanded later in 1974 with the integration of the Soil Conservation Division of the Department of Agriculture. Following the restructuring of the Department of Agriculture in 1994, the Land and Water Management Research Center was renamed the Natural Resources Management Center (NRMC).
Since then, the NRMC has not only been involved in research on natural resource management but has also been entrusted with the responsibility of technical extension, providing technical support for the development of land and water resources in agriculture, and implementing the Soil Conservation Act.
The rapid degradation of natural resources affecting productivity—caused by land-use changes, population growth, and climate change—places extra pressure on limited resources. Therefore, assessing the current situation using modern tools and developing and disseminating new technologies to solve existing problems is extremely important for national food security. Developing technologies aimed at the judicial use of natural resources, particularly land and water, while conserving them is a critical task. The NRMC carries out these research and development activities across five divisions covering several disciplines.