Int’l Coconut Gene Bank will be retained in Kidu

Mangaluru: Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda and Dakshina Kannada member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel petitioned the minister for forest and environment Prakash Javadekar to retain CPCRI Research Centre and International Coconut Gene Bank for South Asia at Kidu in Kadaba taluk. The duo drew Prakash Javadekar’s attention to the confusion created over a purported move in this direction.
Set up initially at Subrahmanya in 1972 to develop high yielding varieties of coconuts, cocoa and cashew at Kidu under Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), the centre was developed as a seed bank and uprgraded as a research centre in 2001. The centre was subsequently shifted to 60 acres of forest land at Kidu a year later, and housed on its current location (see box) and started functioning there after it was formally inaugurated.
The centre was expanded on 60 acres of agricultural land the same year. The International Coconut Genetic Resources Network (COGENT) established the International Coconut Gene Bank for South Asia on this centre in 1998. Subsequently, the centre was renamed as CPCRI Research Centre and International Coconut Gene Bank for South Asia, and is presently home to 453 coconut germplasm spread across 95 varieties of coconuts from outside India.
The Kidu farm has coconuts planted on 95 hectares, arecanut on 7.5 hectares and cocoa grown on 2.5 hectares. Farmers from not just Karnataka, but other states too come here regularly for training, and the centre plays an important role in this regard. Students of various agricultural universities from outside Karnataka and researchers too come to Kidu for academics purposes, and are also dependent on it for research, the minister and MP told Javadekar.
The state government, through the forest department, has directed CPCRI to pay Rs 19.26 crore for using forest land for non-forest purposes. Javadekar who summoned C L Mishra, secretary, environment and forests, to his office, and directed him to get the fee sought by the forest department waived, and continue the CPCRI Research Centre and International Coconut Gene Bank for South Asia at Kidu itself, and not shift it from there for any reason.
About the centre
The centre is located in Kidu Reserve Forest, Bilinele village in Kadaba taluk of Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. It is located 9 km from Subrahmanya on the Subrahmanya-Uppinangadi road that connects NH-48 at Uppinangadi, and the temple town of Subrahmanya. It is 97-km and 105-km away from Mangaluru and Kasaragod, respectively.