The CGIAR System Organization

What The CGIAR System Organization does

The CGIAR System Organization is the coordinating legal entity for the world's largest publicly funded agricultural research network, founded in 1971 and headquartered in Montpellier, France. It governs a global partnership of 13 international research centers (AfricaRice, CIFOR-ICRAF, CIP, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, CIMMYT, ICARDA, ICRISAT, IFPRI, IITA, ILRI, IRRI, IWMI, and WorldFish), employing approximately 9,000 scientists across 90 countries and conducting research activities in 89 countries with more than 150 field stations. The organization's 2025-2030 Research Portfolio spans 11 science programs and 3 accelerators addressing climate change, food insecurity, malnutrition, gender inequality, rural poverty, and environmental degradation, serving end users that include smallholder farmers (20 million reached in the 2022-2024 portfolio), national governments (315 policy changes influenced), National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES), UN agencies, humanitarian organizations, and private-sector partners.

CGIAR does not operate a commercial revenue model; it is funded through the CGIAR Trust Fund, a multi-donor pooled mechanism receiving contributions from governments, philanthropic foundations (notably the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), and multilateral development banks. Outputs—research findings, improved crop varieties, germplasm from 11 genebanks holding 700,000+ accessions across 3,000+ plant species, AI tools, FAIR datasets, and capacity-sharing programs—are disseminated at no cost through government and NARES partnerships, the 13 research centers, UN-agency collaborations, and scaling partners such as AIMforScale. Cumulative economic benefits from CGIAR crop technologies since the 1960s are estimated at US$1.34 trillion, with documented innovations adopted by 92 nations generating approximately US$47 billion in annual economic welfare.

The technology platform is anchored by the CGIAR AI Hub, launched in Abu Dhabi in December 2025 through the UAE-Gates Foundation AI Ecosystem for Global Agricultural Development, which converts 50+ years of agricultural science into AI products: AgriLLM (a domain-specific large language model trained on 200,000+ curated Q&A pairs from CGIAR and 15+ global partners, supporting 100+ local languages and benchmarked as 20% more accurate than general-purpose LLMs), Genebank AI (linking genetic, trait, and phenotypic data across 700,000+ accessions via Genesys, GRIN-Global, and GIGWA), Hydrology AI (including the Global Hydrological Foundation Model and Limpopo Water Copilot), Policy AI, and Livestock AI. The Digital Transformation Accelerator also houses the FAIR-compliant Fairgrounds federated data platform, computer-vision phenotyping models deployed on drones, smartphones, and the Google X "Mineral" rover, and a partnership with Ai2's OLMo Earth for geospatial AI.

Name

The CGIAR System Organization

Legal name

CGIAR System Organization

Website

https://cgiar.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1971

Operating status

Operating

Short description

CGIAR System Organization coordinates the world's largest publicly funded agricultural research network, operating 13 international research centers with 9,000 scientists across 90 countries. It delivers climate-resilient crop varieties, AI-powered agricultural tools, genebank germplasm, and evidence-based policy to governments, NARES, farmers, and researchers globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Research and Innovation

NAICS

Support Activities for Crop Production (11511)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Breeding & Bioinformatics Software (Breeding informatics, decision tools) (AFABALAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Decision Support & Agronomic Modeling (Yield, Irrigation, Pest/Disease Forecasting) (AFAAAFAF), Farm Technology Enablement & Data Integration Advisory (FMIS/ERP, IoT, Decision Support) (AFACAJAG), Remote Sensing & Imagery Analytics (Satellite, Drone, Aerial) (AFABAMAB)

Keywords

• Agricultural research
• Climate-resilient crops
• Food systems transformation
• Crop genetic resources
• Agricultural AI tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Montpellier

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. CGIAR Trust Fund: CGIAR is funded primarily through a multi-donor trust fund, receiving contributions from governments, foundations, and development banks worldwide. The CGIAR Trust Fund is the main pooled funding mechanism supporting CGIAR research programs and centers. CGIAR is described as the world's largest publicly funded agrifood research network.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The CGIAR System Organization coordinates a global agricultural research partnership that delivers improved crop varieties, evidence-based policy advice, climate adaptation science, capacity sharing, and AI-powered digital tools. Its outputs include 11 genebanks housing 700,000+ crop accessions, science across 13 international research Centers, and an emerging AI Hub producing domain-specific models for agriculture, hydrology, policy, livestock, and genebank data discovery.

Product overview

The CGIAR System Organization operates a platform-plus-programs architecture centered on its 2025-2030 Research Portfolio comprising 11 science programs and 3 accelerators, with the Digital Transformation Accelerator and CGIAR AI Hub as the primary technology products. The CGIAR AI Hub (hosted in Abu Dhabi) serves as the flagship AI product, developing five core AI-powered products: AgriLLM (agriculture-specific LLM for advisory), Genebank AI (germplasm discovery), Hydrology AI (water resilience), Policy AI (policy modeling), and Livestock AI (breed guidance). These are complemented by Digital Transformation Accelerator modules (Data Ecosystem, Action Lab, Digital Futures, Enabling Environment) that provide the underlying data infrastructure and digital innovation capabilities. The broader portfolio includes science programs spanning breeding, climate action, nutrition, sustainable farming, and food systems transformation. CGIAR genebanks hold 700,000+ crop accessions as foundational data assets for AI products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CGIAR AI Hub: AI Hub hosted in Abu Dhabi that transforms CGIAR agricultural science into practical AI products for farmers, policymakers, and researchers.
• Digital Transformation Accelerator
• Food Frontiers and Security Program
• Climate Action Program

Products and services

• CGIAR AI Hub Global collaborative AI center hosted in Abu Dhabi that transforms CGIAR's 50+ years of agricultural research data into practical AI products, bridging research and real-world impact for agriculture, climate, and food systems decisions.
• AgriLLM Agriculture-specific large language model trained on 200,000+ curated Q&A pairs from CGIAR and 15+ global partners, supporting digital advisory tools in 100+ local languages with documented 20% higher accuracy than general LLMs.
• Genebank AI AI-powered platform linking genetic, trait, and phenotypic data across CGIAR's 11 genebanks and 700,000+ crop accessions, enabling breeders and researchers to find suitable, climate-resilient germplasm faster.
• Hydrology AI AI-driven tools for agriculture and water resilience drawing on near-real-time data and hydrological modeling, including the Global Hydrological Foundation Model and Limpopo Water Copilot for translating complex climate and water data into locally relevant insights.
• Policy AI AI tools that translate plain-language questions into policy and economic model inputs and explain results clearly, enabling faster policy analysis and easier access to complex models for policymakers and analysts.
• Livestock AI AI-generated summaries turning complex livestock data into practical guidance for farmers and extension workers, supporting local languages and contexts on breeds and strains.
• CGIAR Genebanks Network of 11 genebanks conserving and making available 700,000+ crop accessions across 3,000+ plant species, functioning as custodians of the world's most diverse publicly available crop collections to support resilient, sustainable, and productive farming worldwide.
• CGIAR Research Portfolio 2025-2030 Comprehensive research portfolio comprising 11 science programs and 3 accelerators (Better Diets and Nutrition; Breeding for Tomorrow; Capacity Sharing; Climate Action; Digital Transformation; Food Frontiers and Security; Gender Equality and Inclusion; Genebanks; Multifunctional Landscapes; Policy Innovations; Scaling for Impact; Sustainable Animal and Aquatic Foods; and Sustainable Farming) addressing climate change, gender inequality, poor diets, rural poverty, and environmental degradation.
• Digital Transformation Accelerator CGIAR accelerator program co-creating inclusive solutions using AI, machine learning, modeling, and big data analytics to drive improved decision-making, policies, and investments for food-land-water systems transformation. Home to the CGIAR AI Hub.

Quantifiable outcome

• 20 million farmers reached with CGIAR innovations (2022-2024 portfolio)
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability10 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2026IRRI, one of CGIAR's 13 research Centers, organized the Methane MRV workshop in the Philippines alongside GGGI, Clean Air Asia, and UP Los Baños. IRRI contributes expertise on reducing agricultural methane emissions from rice cultivation, with Dr. Reiner Wassmann pioneering low-emission rice technologies that reduce methane by up to 65%.
• Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2026GGGI co-organized the Methane MRV workshop in the Philippines with IRRI, GGGI leads the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation for Methane Mitigation (AKCMM) initiative ($20 million, 2024-2027), and supports methane reduction work across Southeast Asia.
• Clean Air AsiaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2026Clean Air Asia co-organized the Methane MRV workshop in the Philippines alongside IRRI, GGGI, and UP Los Baños, contributing to capacity building for methane measurement in the rice and waste sectors.
• University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology (CEAT)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2026CEAT co-organized the Methane MRV workshop in the Philippines alongside IRRI, GGGI, and Clean Air Asia, contributing academic expertise on methane measurement and agricultural engineering for the rice sector.
• Philippine National Government Agencies (CCC, DENR, DA, DOE, DOST, NIA)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2026Philippine national agencies participated in the Methane MRV workshop led by IRRI, including the Climate Change Commission (CCC), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and National Irrigation Administration (NIA).
• Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026CGIAR researchers contributed evidence and policy insights to the GCTF's Nairobi Toolkit on Addressing the Nexus between Climate Change and Violent Extremism. CGIAR's Climate Security team provided expertise on compound risk dynamics linking climate change and violent extremism in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
• Google (Google.org)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 March 2026CGIAR joined the Google.org AI Collaborative: Food Security partnership to develop AI-powered phenotyping models. Google provides AI infrastructure, expertise in designing/prototyping/scaling AI solutions, and access to advanced tools for managing large complex datasets (imagery, field trial results). The partnership aims to standardize data across CGIAR's global network and build a food security monitoring and predictive model for 60 countries.
• National Breeding Programs (NARES)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026CGIAR partners with national breeding programs globally (including IITA, Alliance, ICRISAT, CIP, IRRI, CIMMYT) to strengthen research and operational capacities through enabling data platforms, infrastructure, standardized data, and AI tools for breeding decisions across crops and regions.
• Abu Dhabi's AI Ecosystem for Global Agricultural Development (UAE)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2025A unified partnership connecting CGIAR's scientific heritage with UAE's world-leading AI infrastructure. Launched through the UAE–Gates Foundation partnership, this ecosystem gives the CGIAR AI Hub the capacity to scale AI products rapidly across food, land, and water systems. It connects CGIAR science with advanced AI capabilities through key AI partners.
• Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 November 2025MBZUAI provides advanced AI research capabilities to the CGIAR AI Hub ecosystem. Through its Institute (IA/AI), MBZUAI contributes cutting-edge AI research to develop products like AgriLLM, Genebank AI, and Hydrology AI for CGIAR's agricultural science applications.
• AI71coreTechnology or Integration · 1 November 2025AI71 delivers engineering expertise to develop and deploy CGIAR AI Hub products. AI71's engineering teams developed AgriLLM and are contributing to Genebank AI and other AI Hub products. AI71's specialized AI engineering capabilities accelerate the translation of CGIAR science into practical digital tools.
• AIMforScaleminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 November 2025AIMforScale is a scaling partner within the CGIAR AI Hub ecosystem, working to support adoption and use of AI products by real users. AIMforScale bridges the gap between AI product development and end-user deployment.
• UK-CGIAR CentreminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024The UK-CGIAR Centre enables collaboration in science and innovation, supporting CGIAR scientists to apply AI models for agricultural research. Co-funded by UK Government and Gates Foundation, it strengthens CGIAR's capacity in AI-accelerated breeding and digital transformation.
• Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Embrapa is listed as a data partner for AgriLLM, contributing agricultural data alongside CGIAR, World Bank, and other global agricultural data sources for the development of the agriculture-specific language model.

Scale indicators18 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations): The UN's specialized agency for food and agriculture, coordinating global policy, statistics, and standards across 194 member states. Highly comparable to CGIAR as a globally mandated agricultural coordination and policy organization, though FAO focuses on policy/standards while CGIAR focuses on breeding science and field innovations.
• World Bank Agriculture and Food Global Practice: Major financier of agricultural development globally with food security, climate, and rural development portfolios. Complements CGIAR operationally (data partner for AgriLLM) and competes for influence over the agricultural development funding agenda — a key counterpart institution in the global agrifood ecosystem.
• USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS): The U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief in-house research agency operating 90+ research locations with thousands of scientists. Comparable as a large publicly funded agricultural research network, though national in scope and focused on U.S. agricultural challenges rather than Global South priorities.
• IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development): UN specialized agency and international financial institution financing rural development and smallholder agriculture in developing countries. Operates alongside CGIAR in similar geographies and donor ecosystem, providing investment financing while CGIAR provides the science — making it both a complement and a potential funding mechanism.

Direct peers

• EMBRAPA (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation): Brazil's state-owned agricultural research corporation, similar in mission to CGIAR — generating tropical crop breeding innovations, genebank curation, and climate-resilient farming technologies. Already a CGIAR data partner for AgriLLM. Most comparable peer for genomics, breeding informatics, and tropical crop research at national scale.
• INRAE (Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement): France's national public research institute for agriculture, food, and environment — a major publicly funded agricultural research organization with deep expertise in breeding, agronomy, food systems, and digital agriculture. Directly comparable as a publicly funded research organization operating in the same host country (France) as CGIAR HQ in Montpellier.
• CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International): An international not-for-profit organization providing scientific expertise, pest/disease management, and digital agriculture knowledge products across 50+ countries. Comparable in mission to bridge agricultural science and on-the-ground application, with similar member-state partnership and applied research focus.
• Crop Trust (Global Crop Diversity Trust): International non-profit dedicated to conserving crop diversity in genebanks worldwide, including co-funding of CGIAR's genebanks via the Crop Diversity Endowment Fund. Most directly comparable peer in the genetic resource conservation and crop diversity mission space, with strong institutional overlap.
• CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation): Australia's national science agency with major agriculture and food research portfolio, including breeding, crop improvement, and digital agriculture programs. Comparable as a publicly funded mission-oriented research organization translating science for industry and government.
• AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa): Africa-focused partnership organization working on smallholder farmer productivity, seed systems, and policy across the continent. Comparable as a public-good agricultural development organization partnering with CGIAR Centers; overlaps significantly on smallholder farmer outcomes and donor relationships.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CGIAR
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCYuSEwWKAsoNwg6MJEI-qeA
• Facebookfacebook.com/onecgiar
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/3279391
• Instagraminstagram.com/onecgiar

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The CGIAR System Organization