Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)

What Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) does

Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) is a non-profit international agricultural research organization founded in 1967 in Palmira, Colombia, focused on advancing sustainable tropical agriculture worldwide. In 2020, CIAT merged with Bioversity International to form the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, operating within the CGIAR system, a global research partnership engaged in work on crops, agriculture, climate change, and nutrition.

CIAT's core offerings are research programs and open-access platforms rather than commercial software products. Key outputs include the Climate Resilience Platform (CRP 2.0), an open-access digital tool that helps agricultural stakeholders plan for and mitigate climate change impacts, expanded in October 2025 to cover two new crops and six new countries; the Climate-Smart Villages (CSV) community-level model enabling farmers to adopt climate-smart agriculture options; and research frameworks such as the "Actions to Transform Food Systems Under Climate Change" transformation report with 11 actionable recommendations. Research areas span climate-smart technologies and practices, low emissions development, climate services and safety nets, gender and social inclusion, and scaling climate-smart agriculture.

CIAT serves agricultural stakeholders including smallholder farmers, national agricultural research systems, governments, development organizations, and increasingly private-sector commodity companies (PepsiCo, Olam Agri, Bonsucro) across Latin America, East and West Africa, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The organization does not operate on a commercial pricing model; it is funded through research grants, institutional partnerships, donor contributions, and CGIAR Trust Fund support, and it does not have public revenue disclosures.

Name

Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)

Legal name

Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)

Website

https://ccafs.cgiar.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) is a non-profit agricultural research organization founded in 1967 in Colombia and operating within the CGIAR system as part of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. It develops open-access climate resilience platforms, climate-smart agriculture models, and food systems research for farmers, governments, and commodity companies across tropical regions globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Research Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Crop Production (11511)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Farm Data Management & Decision Support Services (FMIS Setup, Data Integration, Analytics) (AFACACAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Risk Management (BPADALAK)

Keywords

• Agricultural research services
• Climate-smart agriculture
• Climate resilience platforms
• Plant genetic resources
• Food systems research

Headquarters

HQ city

Cali

HQ country

Colombia

HQ region

Latin America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Core offering

CIAT conducts applied agricultural research on tropical crops, climate change adaptation, and food security, delivering open-access tools, improved crop varieties, and policy frameworks. Its main commercial-style offering is the Climate Resilience Platform (CRP 2.0), a free digital platform that helps agricultural stakeholders plan for climate impacts across rice, cotton, and other commodity supply chains. It also runs the Climate-Smart Villages research model and produces transformation reports for food systems.

Product overview

CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture), now part of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, operates as a CGIAR research center focused on sustainable tropical agriculture and climate resilience. The organization offers research programs and platforms rather than commercial software products. Key offerings include the Climate Resilience Platform (CRP 2.0), the Climate-Smart Villages model for community-level climate adaptation, and various research frameworks. CIAT's work spans Latin America, Africa, and Asia, focusing on climate-smart agriculture, low emissions development, and food systems transformation. As a research institution, CIAT does not offer commercial products with APIs or integrations in the traditional SaaS sense.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Climate Resilience Platform (CRP 2.0) An open-access digital platform designed to help agricultural stakeholders plan for and mitigate climate change impacts across crop supply chains including rice and cotton. Free to use by farmers, governments, researchers, and agribusinesses.
• Climate-Smart Villages (CSV) A community-level research model where farmers and researchers apply and evaluate climate-smart agriculture options and services for adaptation to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Used in tropical regions across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
• Actions to Transform Food Systems Under Climate Change A landmark transformation report with 11 actionable recommendations across four action areas (reroute, de-risk, reduce, realign) for transforming food systems under climate change, aimed at policy makers and research partners.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and major.

• PepsiCoflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 October 2025PepsiCo collaborated with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT to announce a major update to the Climate Resilience Platform (CRP 2.0), an open-access tool designed to help agricultural stakeholders plan for and mitigate climate change impacts.
• Alliance of Bioversity InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 October 2025CIAT operates in alliance with Bioversity International as 'The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT' under the CGIAR system, conducting joint research on climate change, agriculture, and food security.
• Olam AgrimajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 October 2025Olam Agri joined the Climate Resilience Platform as a new member, contributing funding and data to extend CRP's coverage to rice supply chains, helping agricultural stakeholders manage climate risks.
• BonsucromajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 October 2025Bonsucro joined the Climate Resilience Platform as a new member, contributing funding and data to extend CRP's coverage to cotton supply chains, supporting climate-resilient agricultural practices.

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center is a sister CGIAR research center focused on maize and wheat breeding and agronomy. Comparable as a peer CGIAR center delivering crop-improvement research and climate-resilient variety development for tropical and developing-region agriculture.
• IITA: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture is a sister CGIAR center focused on tropical African agriculture including cassava, banana, yam, maize and soybean. Comparable to CIAT in tropical crop mandate, CGIAR affiliation, and smallholder climate adaptation focus.
• ICRISAT: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics is a sister CGIAR center focused on dryland crops in Africa and Asia. Comparable to CIAT as a CGIAR peer delivering crop improvement and climate adaptation research for vulnerable smallholders.
• WorldFish: WorldFish Center is a sister CGIAR research center focused on aquatic food systems. Comparable to CIAT as a CGIAR peer delivering applied agricultural research with a focus on climate resilience and smallholder livelihoods in tropical geographies.
• IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institute is a sister CGIAR center focused on food policy and agricultural economics research. Comparable to CIAT as a CGIAR peer producing policy-relevant research used by governments and development organizations.
• CIP: International Potato Center is a sister CGIAR center focused on potato, sweetpotato, and Andean root and tuber crops. Comparable to CIAT as a CGIAR peer delivering genetic resources and climate-resilient crop research for tropical and developing regions.
• Bioversity International: Bioversity International merged with CIAT in 2020 to form The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. As CIAT's merged counterpart, it shares governance, donor base, and research infrastructure, making it the most structurally comparable peer.
• IRRI: International Rice Research Institute is a sister CGIAR center focused on rice research. Directly comparable as a CGIAR peer delivering climate-resilient rice varieties and agronomy; Olam Agri's CRP 2.0 rice focus links CIAT's work to IRRI's domain.

Broad incumbents

• FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization is a UN specialized agency addressing global food security and agriculture. Comparable as a broader incumbent that convenes governments and shapes international agricultural policy, overlapping with CIAT's climate-resilience and food-systems agenda but at a much larger global mandate.
• Bayer Climate FieldView: Climate FieldView (originally Climate Corporation) is Bayer's digital agriculture platform offering farm data management and decision-support tools. Comparable to CIAT's Climate Resilience Platform as a private-sector data-driven agronomy platform, though focused on commercial farmers rather than tropical smallholders.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)