The Hindu Business Line : Godrej Agrovet seeks more land for palm plantation

Mumbai, Sept. 24 Godrej Agrovet (GAVL) has urged the State governments to allocate more land for palm plantation to achieve its target of one million hectares coverage under the crop.

Mr B.S. Yadav, Managing Director, Godrej Agrovet, said the Government had set out a plan to grow palm on one million hectares a decade ago, but even 15 years after the target was set the country has managed to cover only 1.25 lakh hectares.

The State governments had conceptualised a scheme to encourage farmers to grow palm trees with private companies providing farmers the technical know-how, besides importing seeds.

The Government allocates area to private companies which will encourage farmers to switch over to palm besides providing a subsidiary of about Rs 35,000 a hectare to farmers during the three-year gestation period. After the gestation period, farmers can earn between Rs 70,000 and Rs 1 lakh a hectare for the next 35 years.

“The expansion of area under plantation is limited by the subsidiary given by the Government. However, we are in touch with various State governments to allocate more land,” said Mr Yadav.

With the Government’s help, farmers can easily cover one million hectares in the next five to six years, producing about 3.5 million tonnes of crude palm oil and save on import bill.

Oil mill capacity

GAVL covers 35,000 hectares of palm plantations in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Orissa, Gujarat and Mizoram. The company recently invested Rs 20 crore to increase its capacity of oil mill from 20 tonnes to 40 tonnes at Eluru in Andhra Pradesh with a cogeneration capacity of 1.6 MW. “Currently, we have oil mills in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Goa. The company will invest about Rs 25 crore in three years to set up oil mills in other States once the plantations start yielding fruits,” said Mr Yadav.

The company produces about 40 tonnes crude palm oil an hour in its three oil mills and expects to raise it to 80 tonnes an hour in three years.

Micro irrigation

Oil palm requires about 300 litres of water everyday. Most of the Godrej’s palm plantation are under rain-fed areas or well irrigated regions, except for a small portion in Karnataka.

As rainfall last few years has become deficient, the company is promoting micro irrigation among farmers. “We are helping farmers to plan micro irrigation for their land on a long term basis so that they can save on cost,” said Mr Yadav.