CIAT’s gene bank contains mostly unimproved farmer cultivars (landraces) and wild relatives of domesticated crops. These FAO designate holdings are available directly from CIAT’s Genetic Resources Unit (GRU).

In some instances, though, the Center also makes available recently improved materials (i.e., elite breeding lines) of its four mandated commodities: beans, cassava, forages, and rice. Requests for such advanced germplasm, which is not yet part of the FAO designate collection, should be made directly to the individual crop research projects.