Institut de recherches agronomiques tropicales, Paris

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The Research Institute for Tropical Agriculture and Food Crops was created in 1960 as an independent organisation for technical assistance and cooperation in the field of tropical agricultural research. It has its headquarters in Paris and some laboratories in Nogent, in the suburbs. There can be found not only its administrative staff, but also a group of agronomists specially prepared and trained for overseas work; they spend most of their time travelling to the different countries where I.R.A.T. has been asked to work by and for the governments concerned, giving advice to their fellow agronomists on problems in which they have specialised, or following for several months a particularly interesting study. But, of course, most agronomists are permanently assigned to the different stations where the assistance of I.R.A.T. has also been requested officially. Some of these are quite important centres—for instance, Bambey (Senegal), Ambatobé, near Tananative (Madagascar), and Boukoko (Central African Republic), with more than 20 scientists at work in each. But in several other countries, only two or three people are working in a station, and it is here that more help is needed from the central scientific team.