The genesis of CRI dates back to the Gold Coast where it evolved from the specialists' branch of the Gold Coast Department of Agriculture.  In 1959 the Specialists' Branch and the Soil and Land Use Survey Department of Agriculture were merged  to form the Scientific Services division of the Ministry of Agriculture.  The Scientific  Services division was transferred  to the National Research Council in 1962 and then to the Ghana Academy of Sciences in 1963, and  was re-named  the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI.  In October 1963, the Ghana Academy of Sciences re-organised the ARI into two units - Crops Research Unit (CRU) and Soil Research Unit.
In 1964 the CRU became a full-fledged Institute and was renamed the Crops Research Institute (CRI).  When the Academy of Sciences was re-organised in 1968 into the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and the CSIR, CRI became one of the Institutes of the CSIR.