Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS)
Affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) was established in 1954 as the South China Tropical Forestry Science Institute in Guangzhou. Relocated to Danzhou, Hainan, in 1958, it was upgraded to the South China Academy of Tropical Crops in 1965 and renamed CATAS in 1994. As China’s leading comprehensive institution for tropical agricultural research, it focuses on 10 key industries, including natural rubber, cassava, sugarcane, bananas and tropical fruits, and operates six disciplinary clusters: tropical crop science; agricultural resources and environment; plant protection and biosecurity; animal science; agricultural engineering; and rural revitalization economics. With four campuses, 14 research institutes, and 69,900 mu of land, CATAS hosts 150 national- and ministerial-level innovation platforms, 12 academician innovation centres, and nine postdoctoral research stations.
Recent highlights
Remarkable achievements in talent development
CATAS has brought together 69 national-level talents (including academicians and “Shennong Elite” scholars) and 374 provincial- and ministerial-level experts, forming a high-calibre team dedicated to advancing tropical agricultural research.
Breakthroughs in scientific research
In 2023, CATAS was awarded the National Science and Technology Progress Award (Second Class) for developing cold- and wind-resistant rubber tree varieties, ending a decade-long gap in national awards for both Hainan Province and the academy. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, provincial- and ministerial-level first-class awards have increased by 56.25 percent. The academy has published 1,028 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) Q1 papers (including 86 with an impact factor of 10 or higher, 10.8 times higher than during the 13th Five-Year Plan period) and secured 2,226 patents. CATAS has bred 341 new crop varieties, with 30 designated as national or provincial leading varieties, and has led the formulation of two ISO international standards and 20 national standards.
Targeted services for tropical regions
CATAS has developed a “technology integration roadmap” for 10 tropical industries and launched the “one institute to one county” initiative across 44 cities and counties in Hainan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. It has established 10 technology demonstration villages and 191 demonstration sites for scientific and technological achievements, promoting 112 key technologies and 32 leading crop varieties. More than 100,000 rural talents have been trained, and 7 million people have participated in agricultural science outreach activities, supporting tropical industry development and rural transformation.
Expanding global collaboration
CATAS collaborates with more than 50 countries and 16 international organizations, operating eight joint laboratories and 13 overseas agricultural experimental stations. It has trained 7,366 professionals from Africa, Asia and Latin America and has been designated as an FAO Reference Centre for Tropical Agriculture Research and Training. In 2025, CATAS received FAO technical recognition for its contribution to South-South and Triangular Cooperation, further advancing the global sharing of tropical agricultural technologies.
Collaboration with FAO
The partnership between CATAS and FAO dates back to 1982, when FAO supported CATAS in acquiring equipment, introducing germplasm resources and training personnel abroad. This support led to the establishment of a coconut experimental station in Wenchang, Hainan, which later became the CATAS Coconut Research Institute and successfully bred the Wenchang series of new coconut varieties.
Since joining FAO’s Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) in 2012, the collaboration has expanded into a broad-based, multi-level strategic partnership covering high-level policy dialogue, personnel exchange and knowledge sharing. This partnership was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding in 2021, and CATAS received the FAO Award for Outstanding Contribution to South-South and Triangular Cooperation in 2025.
Key areas of cooperation include CATAS’s two-term designation as an FAO Reference Centre for Tropical Agriculture Research and Training (2014 and 2019), delivering training and degree education; active core membership in TAP, including hosting its 2013 launch event and contributing 47 articles; collaboration with the World Banana Forum since 2020 on Fusarium wilt control, including co-organizing an online training for Ecuador in 2022; deep involvement in the “One Country One Priority Product” (OCOP) Global Initiative since 2021, contributing to concept notes, action plans and country missions to Egypt, Bangladesh and Malawi, as well as 17 country and commodity reports, and seven chief experts attending the 2025 OCOP Global Launch Workshop in Rome; and various triangular cooperation projects, including the China–FAO–Sri Lanka South-South Cooperation Project (2025) on tropical fruit value chains, the FAO–IPPC project (2019–2021) on green pest control in Cambodia, and a cassava training course (2016) for Africa.
Areas of Expertise
- Tropical Agricultural
Categories: agricultural engineering , agricultural resources , animal science , banana , biosecurity , cassava , natural rubber , plant protection , rural revitalization economics , sugarcane , tropical agricultural research , tropical crop science , tropical fruits , environment