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 To celebrate its Centenary, ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, Kerala organized a unique event in which 216 farmers planted 108 coconut seedlings of 18 varieties simultaneously at Centenary Park within the campus on March 12, 2016. During the three-minute programme which started at 10.05 am, farmers from various parts of the country planted one-year old seedlings in previously dug pits of 1.5 cu m in the 0.70 hectare plot. CPCRI, established in 1916 as a Coconut Research Station, is a constituent of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) system. It spearheads the country’s research on coconut, arecanut and cocoa. The institute also serves as the headquarter of All India Co-ordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Palms and houses the International Coconut Gene Bank for South Asia.

To its credit, CPCRI holds a number of records:

  • First to demonstrate heterosis in coconut breeding and develop the first coconut hybrids in the world
  • First in the world to release hybrids in arecanut
  • First to develop embryo culture and pollen cryopreservation in coconut and arecanut tissue culture technologies
  • First to develop coconut leaf vermicompost, coir pith-poultry manure co-compost and coconut specific bio-inoculants
  • First to develop coconut production simulation model
  • First to develop ‘coco sap chiller’ technology to extract fresh sap
  • Holds largest coconut and arecanut germplasm in the world
  • Developed 20 varieties in coconut, eight in arecanut and seven in cocoa
  • Developed input use efficient and crop loss reduction technologies