CIRAD and INRAE: ongoing pooling of resources on the international stage

In doing so, they have recognized the very positive results of the unit's five years of operations, following its creation in 2015 to enable the two organizations to respond better to the challenges posed by climate change, food and nutritional insecurity, changing food systems, and the multiplicity of demands on agriculture. More than ever, research is required to enlighten decisions and support change on both a local and a global level.

UMA-RI is tasked with pursuing the pooling of certain functions, such as backup for official overseas visits by French officials (President of the Republic or Ministers), hosting overseas delegations, cross-representation at workshops, and the drafting of tripartite agreements such as the one signed with FAO in 2018.

The agreement signed on 27 January also enables the two organizations to continue to benefit from international offices covering the entire world.

Messrs Eddi and Mauguin have agreed to strengthen, wherever appropriate, cross-participation in international instruments such as international laboratories, international research networks, platforms in partnership and international priority programmes.

They have also decided to set up an INRAE-CIRAD ad hoc working group, supported by UMA-RI, to reflect jointly on new partnership initiatives in Africa that could be proposed to their backstop ministries.

About CIRAD

CIRAD is the French agricultural research and international cooperation organization working for the sustainable development of tropical and Mediterranean regions. Along with its partners, it is convinced that agriculture has a central role in the major transitions required to guarantee a sustainable future for every country in the global South. Generating and sharing new knowledge, contributing to innovation processes and building the capacity and skills of stakeholders in those countries to support their sustainable development are the drivers of its operations. In particular, its activities centre on issues such as biodiversity, the agro-ecological transition, climate change, health (of plants, animals and ecosystems), the development of rural territories, and food systems. CIRAD works in some fifty countries on every continent, thanks to the expertise of its 1650 staff members, including 800 researchers, backed by a global network of partners.

About INRAE

INRAE, the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment , is a key research and innovation player created on 1 January 2020. It is a targeted research organization resulting from the merger of INRA and IRSTEA, and is a community of 12 000 people, with a little over 200 research units and some forty experimental units split between 18 centres throughout France. INRAE is a world leader in terms of agricultural and food science, and crop and animal science, and ranks 11th in the world for ecology-environment. INRAE intends to play a key role in the transitions required in response to the main global challenges. In the face of population growth, climate change, the increasing scarcity of resources, and declining biodiversity, the organization works to build solutions for multifunctional farming systems, quality food and sustainable resource and ecosystem management.