The Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI)

The Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) is established in 1916 and later brought under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) during 1970. The initial mandate of the institute was on crop husbandry of coconut, arecanut, cocoa, oilpalm, cashew and spices. The restructuring process during VII and VIII Plan resulted in the establishment of separate Research Institute/Centres for Spices, Cashew and Oilpalm, but the institute continue to maintain strong linkage with these institutes. At present the Institute has a countrywide research network of four regional stations, four research centres and 17 Centres under AICRP on palms. Besides, the institute also hosts the headquarter of Indian Society of Plantation Crops.

The Coconut Research Station at Kasaragod in Kerala was initially established in 1916 by the then Government of Madras and subsequently it was taken over by the Indian Central Coconut Committee in 1948. Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) was established in 1970 as one of the agricultural research institutes in the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The Institute had the mandate to undertake research on coconut, arecanut, cocoa, cashew, oil palm and spices at the time of establishment. The research on cashew, oil palm and spices were later delinked from CPCRI to form separate institutes. The present mandate of the institute is to conduct research on coconut, arecanut and cocoa.