Many  gaps still exist in the available  results fro m  the d ifferent disciplines  whic h  form  coconut research . Efforts  are  being  made to close the gaps but th ey  remain  insufficient by lack  of  funds, of  qualified  person neland , most of  all, of  a firm  commitment of  the coconut industry . The most critical area is post-harvest technology  where  manual processing  of  th e  crop  is a severe constraint for  cost and  qua lity . The challenge  for research  programmes  and  institutions  is to  work  in close  cooperation  for filling  the  identified  gaps  with out wasting  scarc e  resources . A  muc h  bigger challenge  is to  transfer existing  technologies  to  th e  producers . The ma n  constraints  for this transfer are th e  weakness of  extensio n  services, the disorganization of producers  and  the  difficulty  for them  to accept th e  proposed  techniques. Huge  efforts  are necessary  fo r the practical demonstration  of  the  advantages  of  these  techniques outside  research  stations , for extension  staff  training  and  motivation , for producers  organization and, eventually , for the successful transfer  of  technologies  developed  by research  to the  coconut producers.