The Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (The French Agricultural Research Center for International Development) is a French state-owned body which was created in 1984 by the merger of research institutes that specialised in agriculture, veterinary medicine, forestry and food technology.
CIRAD is a scientific organisation with a mandate to contribute to rural development in the tropics and subtropics through research, experimentation, training and dissemination.

Programmes

CIRAD is made up of seven research departments:

CA, annual crops (food crops, cotton and sugar cane);
CP, tree crops (coffee, cocoa, coconut, oil palm and rubber);
FLHOR, fruit and horticultural crops;
EMVT, animal production and veterinary medicine;
Forêt, forestry;
TERA, territories, environment and people;
AMIS, advanced methods for innovation in science.

Services

Training young research scientists through research is a top priority for CIRAD, which supervises graduate students working on theses, hosts students in its laboratories and organises training and educational courses.
The CIRAD database on agriculture in tropical regions records and incorporates the scientific and technical literature produced by its own research teams and those from its partner organisations.

Staff

CIRAD has a total of 1,800 staff. Of these, 900 senior scientific and technical staff (including 400 stationed overseas) are available for work on research and development projects. Staff operate from research centres and experimental stations in mainland France and French overseas territories, as well as in some 45 countries in the developing world. Its work is carried out in conjunction with national research and development bodies, international centres or in support of public or private sector projects. CIRAD is an associate member of CORAF in Africa.