Over the past seven decades, ICAR-CAZRI has made pioneering contributions to the rehabilitation and productivity enhancement of dryland ecosystems. Its landmark technologies on sand dune stabilization and shelterbelt plantation have played a transformative role in controlling desertification, reducing soil erosion, and protecting agricultural landscapes. Through these interventions, nearly 0.44 million hectares of sand dunes have been stabilized, generating significant economic and environmental benefits. Building on these achievements, ICAR-CAZRI has developed integrated farming and agroforestry systems that combine trees, crops, and grasses to enhance soil fertility, improve water-use efficiency, and diversify livelihood opportunities for farming communities. Through sustained crop improvement programmes, the institute has developed high-yielding and stress-tolerant 11 crops varieties, 5 grass varieties and 7 improved varieties, which have significantly enhanced productivity and farmers’ income under low-rainfall conditions. ICAR-CAZRI has emerged as a national leader in climate-change adaptation, renewable energy applications, and digital natural resource management. The institute has also developed spectroradiometer-based rapid techniques for soil nutrient assessment, promoted protected cultivation technologies such as low-cost polyhouse farming, and developed year-round fodder production technologies suitable for arid environments. More than 50 entrepreneurs have been formally trained through CAZRI’s entrepreneurship programmes, while thousands of farmers across India’s arid regions have benefited from the institute’s innovations in protected cultivation and climate-resilient agriculture.