Both soil salinity and atmospheric and soil drought are becoming serious constraints in improving crop productivity and are resulting in growth rates in agricultural production falling below the growth rate in population. M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation over last one decade has undertaken an anticipatory research programme for developing location specific crop varieties offering tolerance/ resistance to coastal salinity and atmospheric drought. Significant leads have been obtained in this area of research. This programme has enabled to isolate and characterize a number of promising genes, and promoters with implications on abiotic stress tolerance and has also mobilized some of these genes into transgenic systems. Limited field trials of the transgenic rice varieties containing mangrove genes have been undertaken under contained conditions. The group has developed a reposiratory of a number of full-length genes isolated from the mangrove species, Avicennia marina; and a drought tolerant plant species Prosopis juliflora with practical implications for abiotic stress tolerance. Already eight patent applications have been filed.