The Institute of Agricultural Science for Southern Vietnam was established on the basis of the Institut des Recherches Agronomiques de l’Indochine (1925), Institute of Agriculture and Forestry Research for the South of Indochina (1937), the Directorate of Agriculture, Forestry and Animal Husbandry Research (1956), and the Institute of Agricultural Research (1968).

After the reunification of the country in 1975, the Institute was renamed the Institute of Agricultural Technology of the Southeast Vietnam. In 1981, the Institute was merged with the Sub-Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology in Ho Chi Minh City and was called Institute of Agricultural Technology of South Vietnam. From 1990 to 2005, the institute was known as Institute of Agricultural Science of South Vietnam.

Since 2005, the Institute has been called Institute of Agricultural Science for Southern Vietnam (IAS).