Presentation: The Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation, AGROSAVIA, is a scientific and technical entity that, in line with its higher purpose of “sustainably transforming the Colombian agricultural sector with the power of knowledge,” aims to develop and implement research, technology and field transfer activities to strengthen the productivity and competitiveness of small and medium-sized producers sustainably. As a mixed entity attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, its resources come from government and external funding.
With 30 years of history serving the countryside through research, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) divided its functions in 1992 and created Corpoica, its research partner. In 2018, Corpoica became AGROSAVIA, continuing its mission as a leading institution dedicated exclusively to research in the agricultural sector and the transfer of knowledge to producers. AGROSAVIA is present in 23 sites nationwide, including 13 Research Centers, 8 local offices and two experimental farms. These are in 19 departments and cover the country's five natural regions (Amazon, Andean, Caribbean, Orinoco and Pacific). It also has a network of laboratories comprising seven specialized units designed to strengthen the agricultural sector's productive and research systems. The Corporation has more than 1,900 employees, of which more than 360 are researchers (with master's and doctoral degrees) and about 360 are research support professionals with different knowledge specialties. It also has 22 research groups focused on discussing and exchanging technical-scientific and informative information in a disciplinary and interdisciplinary manner to generate knowledge products and services that contribute to technical change in the agricultural sector. There is a model of knowledge management in networks and a market, and client focus that facilitates inter- and transdisciplinary work, as well as the generation of effective alliances to better advance along the road to adoption and impact. The innovation networks cover vegetables, fruit, permanent crops, transitory and agro-industrial crops, roots and tubers, cocoa and livestock and minor species, covering the country's leading production chains. Since 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture has delegated to AGROSAVIA the administration of the nation's Germplasm Banks through Resolution 327 of 2018, guaranteeing their custody, conservation, and use in research and technology transfer processes for the agricultural sector. AGROSAVIA conserves and safeguards animal, plant and microorganism genetic material using different conservation systems, such as seed banks, pollen, vegetative or reproductive tissues, standing individuals, embryos, reproductive material, cells and spores.
