The Agriculture Research Station at Anakkayam, near here, will be awarded Centre of Excellence status by the State government. A proposal in this regard was approved by the State Planning Board and the official declaration is expected soon. The station will get more opportunities to conduct research programmes once it gets the Centre of Excellence status while the special financial aid will support development plans. As a token grant for carrying out the initial development works, the government will sanction a financial aid of Rs 2 crore for the centre. The remaining fund will be sanctioned later. Centre Director Dr Rajendran said that the status would help the station achieve the standard of international research centres. The centre, which was started in 1963 as a cashew research station and functioning under the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), is celebrating its golden jubilee this year.