Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical
The Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical ( CIAT ; German International Center for Tropical Agriculture) is an international agricultural research center based in Palmira , Valle del Cauca , Colombia , and was founded in 1967. It is one of the 15 institutes of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research . Ruben Echeverría has been director since 2009.
The aim of the CIAT is non-profit application and basic research for sustainable agro-ecosystems of smallholder farms in the tropics with a focus on Latin America. The focus is on the provision of breeding improved seeds for small farmers. The contract also includes stable crop yields with fewer failures due to diseases and weather events, sustainable and erosion-resistant land and land use systems and innovations in rural areas. Thematically divided into agrobiodiversity and genetics , ecology and phytopathology , management of pests and plant diseases , soil ecology and improvement of land use , analysis of land use systems (Rural Spatial Information Systems ( RSIS )) and socio-economic studies.
The CIAT employs around 800 people, 120 of whom are agricultural scientists and biologists. The CIAT maintains the Agronatura Science Park , numerous laboratories, its own weather station and test fields .
The CIAT enjoys a high international reputation in the field of beans , cassava and tropical forage crops.
