The international centers supported by the CGIAR are part of a global agricultural research system. The CGIAR functions as a guarantor to developing countries, ensuring that international scientific capacity is brought to bear on the problems of the world's disadvantaged peoples.
Programs carried out by CGIAR-supported centers fall into six broad categories:
Food productivity in developing countries has increased through the combined efforts of the CGIAR centers and their associates in developing countries. The same efforts have brought about a range of other benefits, such as increased farm income, reduced prices of food~ better food distribution systems, better nutrition, more rational policies, and stronger institutions.
Apartado Aereo 6713, Cali, Colombia. Founded 1967. To contribute to the alleviation of hunger and poverty in tropical countries by applying science to the generation of technology that will lead to lasting increases in agricultural output while preserving the natural resource base. Research in germplasm development in beans, cassava, tropical forages, and rice for Latin America; and research in resource management in humid agro-ecosystems in tropical America: hillsides, forest margins, and savannas.
CIFOR: Center for International Forestry Research
P.O. Box 161, Bogor 16001, Indonesia. Founded 1993. To promote the sustained well-being of people in developing countries, particularly in the tropics, through collaborative strategic and applied research in forest systems and forestry, and by promoting the adoption of improved technologies and management practices.
CIMMYT: Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo
Lisboa 27, P.O. Box 6-641, Mexico 06600, D.F., Mexico. Founded 1966. To help the poor by increasing the productivity of resources committed to maize and wheat in developing countries while protecting the environment, through agricultural research and in concert with national research systems.
CIP: Centro Internacional de la Papa
Apartado 5969, Lima, Peru. Founded 1970. To contribute to increased food production, the generation of sustainable and environmentally sensitive agricultural systems, and improved human welfare by conducting coordinated, multidisciplinary research programs on potato and sweetpotato, carrying out worldwide collaborative research and training, catalyzing collaboration among countries in solving common problems, and helping scientists worldwide to respond flexibly and successfully to changing demands in agriculture.
IBPGR: International Board for Plant Genetic Resources
Via delle Sette Chiese 142, 00145 Rome, Italy. Founded 1974. To encourage, support, and engage in activities to strengthen the conservation and use of plant genetic resources worldwide, with special emphasis on developing countries, by undertaking research and training and by providing scientific and technical information.
ICARDA: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria. Founded 1975. To meet the challenge posed by a harsh, stressful, and variable environment in which the productivity of winter rainfed agricultural systems must be increased to higher sustainable levels; in which soil degradation must be arrested and, possibly, reversed; and in which water use efficiency and the quality of the fragile environment need to be ensured.
ICLARM: International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management
MC P.O. Box 2631, Makati Central Post Office, 0718 Makati, Manila, Philippines. Founded 1977. To improve production and management of aquatic resources for sustainable benefits of present and future generations of low-income users (producers and consumers) in developing countries through international research and related activities and in partnership with national agricultural research systems by improving the biological, socioeconomic, and institutional management mechanisms for sustainable use of aquatic resource systems, by devising and improving production systems that will provide increasing yet sustainable yields, and by strengthening national programs to ensure sustainable development of aquatic resources.
ICRAF: International Centre for Research in Agroforestry
P.O. Box 30677, Nairobi, Kenya. Founded 1977. To mitigate tropical deforestation, land depletion, and rural poverty through improved agroforestry systems.
ICRISAT: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
Patancheru P.O., Andhra Pradesh 502 324, India. Founded 1972. To conduct research leading to enhanced sustainable food production in the harsh conditions of the semi-arid tropics. ICRISAT's main crops (sorghum, finger millet, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut) are not generally known in the world's more favorable agricultural regions, but they are vital to life for the one-sixth of the world's population that lives in the semi-arid tropics. ICRISAT research is conducted in partnership with the national agricultural systems. It encompasses the management of the region's limited natural resources to increase the productivity, stability, and sustainability of these and other crops.
IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institute
1200 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036-3006, USA. Founded 1975. To focus on identifying and analyzing policies for meeting food needs of developing countries, particularly the poorer groups within those countries. Research covers ways to achieve sustainable food production and land use, improve food consumption and income levels of the poor, enhance the links between agriculture and other sectors of the economy, and improve trade and macroeconomic conditions.
IIMI: International Irrigation Management Institute
P.O. Box 2075, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Founded 1984. To strengthen the development, dissemination, and adoption of lasting improvements in the performance of irrigated agriculture in developing countries.
IITA: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
PMB 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria. Founded 1967. To contribute to sustainable and increasing food production in the humid and subhumid tropics and thereby to improve the well-being of low-income people by conducting international agricultural research and outreach activities in partnership with African national agricultural research systems, particularly on maize, cassava, cowpea, plantain, soybean, and yam.
ILCA: International Livestock Centre for Africa
P.O. Box 5689, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Founded 1974. To strengthen the ability of national agricultural research systems to conduct technical and policy research in livestock-related fields, to develop technical packages for increasing livestock production and the contribution of livestock to sustainable agricultural production and income, and to contribute to scientific knowledge in a way conducive to solutions to livestock production problems.
ILRAD: International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases
P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya. Founded 1973. To serve as a world center for research on ways and means of conquering, as quickly as possible, major animal diseases (trypanosomiasis and tick-borne diseases) that seriously limit livestock industries in Africa and in many other parts of the world.
INIBAP: International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain
Parc Scientifique Agropolis, Bat 7-Boulevard de la Lironde, 34980 Montferrier-sur-Lez, France. Founded 1984. To increase the productivity and stability of banana and plantain grown on smallholdings by initiating, encouraging, supporting, conducting, and coordinating research; by strengthening national and regional programs and facilitating the interchange of improved and disease-free genetic material; by coordinating and supporting the collection and exchange of documentation and information; and by coordinating and supporting training for researchers and technicians from developing countries.
IRRI: International Rice Research Institute
P.O. Box 933, 1099 Manila, Philippines. Founded 1960. To improve the well-being of present and future generations of rice farmers and consumers, particularly those with low incomes, by generating and disseminating rice-related knowledge and technology of short- and long-term environmental, social, and economic benefit and by helping to enhance national rice research.
ISNAR: International Service for National Agricultural Research
P.O. Box 93375, 2509 AJ The Hague, The Netherlands. Founded 1979. To help developing countries bring about sustained improvements in the performance of their national agricultural research systems and organizations. ISNAR does this by supporting their efforts in institutional development, promoting appropriate policies and funding for agricultural research, developing or adapting improved research management techniques, and generating and disseminating relevant knowledge and information.
WARDA: West Africa Rice Development Association
01 B.P. 2551, Bouake 01, Cote d'Ivoire. Founded 1970. To conduct and promote research to improve the technical and economic options available to smallholder farm families in the upland inlandswamp continuum, the Sahel, and the mangrove swamp environments by developing improved rice varieties and production methods, by reducing post-harvest losses, by assessing and increasing the acceptability and impact of new technology, and by investigating issues affecting technology adoption and analyzing national policy options.