Plantation crops constitute a large group of crops. The important plantation crops include coconut, arecanut, oil palm, cashew, cocoa, tea, coffee, and rubber. Plantation crops are important crops of South-east and Central Asia, Pacific Islands, Latin America and Africa. They play an important role in view of their export potential as well as domestic requirements and in employment generation and poverty alleviation programs particularly in rural sector. Cultivation of plantation crops in many countries also has rich diversity and varied history with each crop having its own distinct historical and economic context of development. The economy associated with the major plantation crops has significant forward and backward linkages to a large number of other sectors. The vertical linkages by way of value addition and post-harvest processing for each crop increase the significance of the plantation crop sector. The International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) for the first time organising the International Symposium on Plantation Crops at Cairns, Australia from 20-25 November, 2016 for interaction between academia, researchers and extension and industry specialists to deliberate on a number of challenges facing plantation crops sector.