Biodiversity Conservation is a continuum ranging from in-situ conservation of wild biodiversity, wild relatives and progenitors of crop plants and domesticated animals extending into the use and traditional knowledge realm of tribal and rural societies to ex-situ collections maintained and used both by modern science and technology.

The work of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation falls in the band of domesticated crop plants and projected by the term community based conservation. MSSRF has built vast and varied expertise in the subject at different field locations: Jeypore in Odisha, Kolli Hills in Tamil Nadu and Wayanad in Kerala. The experiments and experience has been developed into the 4C Model, which pays concurrent attention to:

• Conservation
• Cultivation
• Consumption
• Commerce

A set of activities are undertaken under each head that contribute to the efforts of communities in the sustainable management of natural resources. The Gene-Seed-Grain Banks storing seeds of several local landraces backed by good seed selection form the scientific basis of the effort. Good nursery management, proper ploughing and use of adequate quantities of Farmyard Manure (FYM), line sowing or sow planting for ensuring optimal use of nutrients and light are some of the good cultivation practices promoted as part of the model. Households cultivating local landraces normally process them manually for consumption, an activity undertaken mostly by women and involve drudgery. Research studies from various locations across the globe indicate that such processing has been responsible for phasing out local landraces or crops. Small scale machinery has been arranged for promoting mechanical processing, concurrently paving the path for increasing consumption and commercialization of local landraces and varieites. Value addition through processing and production of diverse products, provides households with additional income. Efforts have been made for promoting large scale cultivation and marketing of landraces of paddy like Kalajeera, Assamchudi, and Umriachudi or product diversification millets like Vella Samai.