For Belarus, where bogs and wetlands accounted for more than 40% of the territory, solving reclamation problems was and remains vital for economic development. Drainage amelioration has affected the economic growth and has had great social and aesthetic value. Due to recent changes, the center of gravity in the land reclamation activities of Belarus, instead of building new facilities and structures, has shifted towards the reconstruction and operation of existing systems.

Currently, the Institute for Land Reclamation is part of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Agriculture and provides scientific support for the use of over 4.5 million hectares of agricultural land, including 2.9 million hectares of drained land and 3 million hectares of hayfields and pastures, among which drained ones amount to 1.6 million hectares.

The main directions of scientific and technical activities:

• Development of highly efficient energy- and resource-saving technologies and design solutions for the construction, operation, repair and reconstruction of land-reclamation systems, water-air management of reclaimed land.
• Modeling and integrated monitoring of reclaimed areas and the environment using modern diagnostic methods, computer technologies of geographic information systems and databases for information support to support environmental and cost-effective decisions when planning and designing reclamation activities and the use of reclaimed land..
• The creation of highly efficient zonal farming systems on reclaimed land, ensuring the rational use of land resources and the sustainable functioning of natural systems.
• Development of economically and environmentally sound technologies to intensify the use of hayfields and pastures, including grass seed production.

The Institute carries out the development and implementation of technologies and tools for production. The most famous were such developments as the “Book of fields history” (introduced - Brest region, districts), “Complex of video diagnostic equipment for drainage KSD-160” (introduced - Gomel region, GPO Belmeliovodkhoz), Search devices PU-2 (introduced - Pinsk plant of tools small-scale mechanization), seeds of the elite and super elite of perennial grasses (introduced - PTOS, Vitebsk region, districts). In addition, the Institute develops technical regulations, rules, guidelines and recommendations in the field of land reclamation.

In addition to scientific departments, the Institute has a production branch in its structure: the Vitebsk Experimental Land Reclamation Station (Bogdanovo), which is engaged in the production of seeds of the elite and perennial grasses and agricultural activities.

RUE “Institute for Land Reclamation”, as the leading scientific institution in the country in the field of land reclamation and grassland, trains graduate students and applicants in the following specialties:

• 06.01.02 – amelioration, land reclamation and land protection 
  branch of science - technical and agricultural;
• 06.01.06 – grassland, fodder production. Medicinal and essential oil crops.
  branch of science - agricultural.

The Institute publishes the journal "Melioration", which is the successor of the scientific papers "Land Reclamation of Overmoisturized Lands" published since 1951. Registered in the Russian Science Citation Index, has an international standard number ISSN - 2070-4828, subscription index 74856, is included in the international abstract database of the Agris citation system since 1997.