In a nutshell
CIRAD is a French research centre that works with developing countries to tackle international agricultural and development issues
Status
CIRAD is a public industrial and commercial enterprise (EPIC) under the joint authority of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.
Mandate
CIRAD works with the whole range of developing countries to generate and pass on new knowledge, support agricultural development and fuel the debate on the main global issues concerning agriculture.
CIRAD is a targeted research organization, and bases its operations on development needs, from field to laboratory and from a local to a global scale.
Activities
CIRAD's activities involve the life sciences, social sciences and engineering sciences, applied to agriculture, food and rural territories.
CIRAD works hand-in-hand with local people and the local environment, on complex, ever-changing issues: food security, ecological intensification, emerging diseases, the future of agriculture in developing countries, etc.
Scientific strategy
CIRAD's operations centre on six priority lines of research.
It has 25 joint research platforms worldwide, and seven scientific platforms with a regional vocation in the French overseas regions.
Partnerships
CIRAD has a global network of partners and of twelve regional offices, from which it conducts joint operations with more than 90 countries. Its bilateral partnerships fit in with multilateral operations of regional interest.
In metropolitan France, it provides the national and global scientific communities with extensive research and training facilities, primarily in Montpellier.
CIRAD is a founding member of Agreenium , the national consortium for agriculture, food, animal health and the environment, and a member of the Alliance nationale de coordination de la recherche pour l’énergie.
CIRAD in figures
- A staff of 1800, including 800 researchers.
- Joint operations with more than 90 countries.
- Three scientific departments: Biological Systems (BIOS), Performance of Tropical Production and Processing Systems (PERSYST), and Environment and Societies (ES).
- 52 research units.
- Twelve regional offices in metropolitan France, the French overseas regions and other countries.
- Around thirty collective research tools accessible to partners from developing countries.
- More than 1.8 million euros spent on PhD courses; 800 researchers and technicians from all over the world received and trained each year.
- A budget of 203 million euros in 2008.