AGROSAVIA

The Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research (AGROSAVIA, from its name in Spanish, http://www.agrosavia.co/) is a joint public-private, decentralized, not-for-profit institution of scientific and technical nature. The Corporation´s purpose is generating scientific knowledge and developing agricultural technologies through research, technology adaptation and transfer, and technical assistance for improving production competitiveness, equitable distribution of the benefits of technology, and sustainable use of natural resources; strengthening Colombia´s scientific and technological capacities; and contributing to improving the population´s quality of life.

AGROSAVIA has 13 research centers located in the country´s different agricultural regions. These centers carry out research in vegetables, fruits, permanent crops, transitory crops, roots and tubers, cacao, and livestock (cattle and minor species).

Knowledge, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity for improved livelihoods, and productivity and sustainability of agricultural and livestock systems make up one of AGROSAVIA´s building blocks. This block is developed through the administration of Colombia´s Germplasm Bank System which includes three subsystems: animal, plants and microorganisms, in turn linked to three research lines: conservation of agricultural biodiversity, bioprospecting and search of attributes, and establishment of plant breeding strategic plans.

Another building block is research focused on generating new productive models for supporting sustainable development of the livestock sector; innovating current production systems to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions; strengthening efficient use of nutrients and water; improving productivity without increasing currently cultivated area; adapting these systems to climate change and mitigating its effects; using varieties with novel agronomic attributes, especially resistance to biotic and abiotic factors; and making the most of the enormous potential of genomes of plants, animals and other organisms to improve food quality and innocuousness, thus minimizing negative effects on human health and the environment.