Mission and Objectives
Conservation of the plant diversity and sustainable utilization of the plant resources of India, particularly of Kerala and the Western Ghats for the well-being of the people.
Advancing knowledge relating to plants, ensuring conservation of plants, conducting research in various fields of plant science and imparting these knowledge for the benefit and enlightenment of the public.
Objectives and Mandate
- Surveying of the economic plant wealth of Kerala and maintaining a comprehensive data.
- Conservation, preservation and sustainable utilization of the plant wealth of Kerala.
- Introduce, cultivating and culturing plants of India and those from other countries with comparable climatic condition for the economic benefit of Kerala and India.
- Carrying out botanical, horticultural and chemical research for the improvement of plant resources and their sustainable utilization.
- Offering facilities for the improvements of ornamental plants and propagating them in the larger context of establishing a nursery and flower-trade.
- Maintaining germplasm collections of economic plants of interest to the state of Kerala, in case, separate centers are not in existence for those species.
- Establishing a model production center for translating the outcomes of the research activities to the benefit of the people through scaling-up to industrial level.
- Arranging educational activities, to impart botanical knowledge to the general public to create an understanding of the value of the plants, the outcomes of the research and the importance of conserving our plant wealth.
- Establishing and maintaining an arboretum, in approximately half the area of the Garden, with representative specimens of trees from all over the state of Kerala and India, and trees of economic importance from other parts of the world.
- Establishing a garden consisting of medicinal plants, ornamental plants and various introduced plants of economic or aesthetic value.
- Establishing sophisticated and advanced laboratories for botanical and chemical research, for the improvement and utilization of medicinal and ornamental plants.
- Preparing and maintaining an up-to-date database on the flora of the state of Kerala.
- Establishing and maintaining a tissue culture facility quick and easy propagation of plant species with special reference to the improvement of propagules.
- Organizing breeding programmes for plant improvement and production of hybrid seeds, in case, such facilities for those species are lacking or inadequate.
- Continuously be engaged in planning of the garden, management and research.
- Serving as a resource for the supply of improved plants not readily available from other sources.
- Chemical screening of plants to elucidate and substantiate the potential and proposed medicinal value.
- Working in collaboration with similar institutes in India and abroad.
- Promoting and establishing modern research activities and undertaking development studies relating to plants of importance to India and to Kerala in particular.
- Survey inventory and documentation of Mushroom, leaf infectiing microfungi, lichem, ferns and other lycophytes in the Kerala part of western ghats
JNTBGRI, in this way, functions for the conservation and sustainable utilization of the plant wealth of India, particularly of Kerala and the Western Ghats through appropriate R&D efforts for the welfare of the state and the country, at large. Towards achieving this, JNTBGRI had framed certain time-bound programmes and projects with the financial aid and support from various national and international funding agencies. The following pages will reveal how far we have achieved our objectives and how much further we have to go on.