11. Technological Advancements in Coconut, Arecanut and Cocoa Research: A Century of Service to the Global Farming Community by the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod, Kerala State, India

The chapter summarises the technological advances with a farmer orientation made by the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) of India, Kasaragod, Kerala State, under the administrative control of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India, over the last one century, in the most important cash crops, such as, coconut, arecanut and cocoa. Starting from a very modest beginning in the early nineties, as a small research station in Nileshwar, in the northern hub of Malabar, in Kerala State, India, CPCRI has, over the last one century expanded into a mammoth research and development institute serving the farmer of the above named crops in the whole of South Asia. The chapter summarises the work done in all aspects pertaining to the three crops, with the greatest emphasis on coconut, as it is a principal foreign exchange earner for the country. Some of the salient aspects discussed in the chapter are the International Coconut Gene Bank, new vistas in coconut bio technology, coconut by products etc. And, it ventures to look at the future prospects of coconut as a very welcome health crop which has, already an international market, with new possibilities in the future, because of its important trait as a “healthy oil” producing crop from its tough nuts.