MANGALURU: The coconut gene bank in Kidu, Puttur – one among the only five such gene banks in the world – is here to stay.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Central Plantation Crop Research Institute (ICAR - CPCRI), Kasargod has rubbished recent media reports in vernaculars that stated the station would be shut and shifted to Andhra Pradesh .

The gene bank functions under the ministry of agriculture and ICAR.

P Chowdappa, director, CPCRI said the reports were twisted to dent his image. He brushed aside media reports that stated the gene bank would be shifted to the Telugu speaking state as Chowdappa hailed from there.

Further clarifying this, he said the ICAR had approved another station in Andhra Pradesh on the lines of those at Vittal and Kasargod, and the gene bank at Kidu will be kept intact.

The coconut gene bank was set up on a sprawling 300-acre land of the forest department under a 30-year lease in 1970. As per the Supreme Court’s direction, efforts are on to return the land back to the forest department. The CPCRI has been asked to pay Rs 19crore to run the land on lease for another 30 years.

“We have three options to retain the gene bank. As both departments – agriculture and forest – are government bodies, we will urge the Central Empowered Committee to waive off the Rs 19crore lease amount. If that’s not feasible, we will seek funds from the ICAR. If these two measures fail, we will seek funds from international bodies during a gene bank meeting scheduled to be held in mid-August in Thailand ,” Chowdappa said. “We expect the lease amount to be waived off as the gene bank has been contributing in ways more than one,” he said.

The gene bank at Kidu is the only of its kind in South Asia. The other four banks are located in Brazil, Indonesia , Ivory Coast and Papa New Guinea.

The 300-acre gene bank has 453 varieties of coconut plants, including 95 imported from 56 countries.

“These saplings were imported during the first lease period. Various treaties on biodiversity signed thereafter restrict the import of such saplings. Hence, this gene bank is of immense value and we will leave no stone unturned to preserve and nurture it,” Chowdappa said.

