Guwahati/Kolkata, Aug 22 (PTI) Leading diversified agribusiness company Godrej Agrovet on Monday announced it has signed MoUs with Assam, Manipur and Tripura governments for development and promotion of oil palm cultivation in the three states under the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm scheme.
India is a net importer of palm oil.
The MoUs are in line with Godrej Agrovet’s long-term strategy to be the catalyst in India’s oil mission through sustainable growth of the plant’s production and double farmer’s income, the company’s Managing Director Balram Singh Yadav said in a statement.
As per the MoU, the company will be allotted land in the three states for promotion and development of sustainable palm oil plantation in the region.
The collaboration will bring new opportunities and growth in building oil palm plantations in these three states and would help to provide the required support to the farmers, Yadav said.
“With more than thirty years of experience in the oil palm business, Godrej Agrovet has been working and educating farmers from the North East on sustainable palm oil plantation processes. Currently, we have around 65,000 hectares under palm oil cultivation across the country, which we plan to increase to one lakh hectares in the next few years,” he said.
The North-eastern states promise huge opportunities for growth and improving income of the farming household, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)-Oil Palm Sougata Niyogi said.
According to industry estimates, the NE states have utilised less than one per cent of their potential.
“With our processing plant in Mizoram, we are prepared to sustainably serve the demand of the northeast markets,” Niyogi said.
Godrej Agrovet’s palm oil is currently present in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Goa, Maharashtra, and Mizoram.
Its range of products, including crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake, are produced at its six oil palm mills spread across the country.
In August 2021, the government launched the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm scheme with a planned outlay of Rs 11,040 crore.
Under this mission, the government has envisaged to raise the area under cultivation of oil palm to 10 lakh hectares by 2025-26 and 16.7 lakh hectares by 2029-30 with special focus on the North East region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. PTI BSM/DG NN NN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.