Godrej Agrovet to add 9,000 ha under palm plantation

Godrej Agrovet (GAVL), a diversified agribusiness company, plans to add 8,000-9,000 hectares (ha) under palm plantation every year. The company is in talks with a number of farmers’ groups and individuals in several states to persuade them to take to palm farming.

“Our total potential is 2 lakh ha. However, we have covered just 37,000 ha under palm plantation, of which only 13,000 ha is yielding. Therefore immense potential lies ahead of us to increase the area under palm plantation,” said S Varadaraj, chief financial officer of the company.

The company is present in all states where climatic conditions are suitable for palm cultivation. But, it is planning to reach out to other states as well. At present, the company produces over 20,000 tonnes of palm seed and crushes the same in its own units. It supplies nearly 3,600 tonnes of crude palm oil to vegetable oil refineries for processing.

“Today, nearly 18,000 farmers are working with us. We supply palm sapling to them at the government offered subsidised rate,” said Varadaraj.

Considering that palm plants take three years to yield, Godrej does not encourage farmers to cultivate palm on the entire stretch of land in their posession, so that it does not affect their livelihood for those three years.

Over 70 per cent of India’s annual 9.5 million vegetable oil imports consists of crude palm oil for blending with other edible oils. Hence, an increase in plantation area in India will increase domestic source of edible oils.

Recently, Nadir Godrej, chairman of the company, had said that the company is scouting for higher palm oil production from domestic sources through increased plantation locally. The company is also looking to launch branded edible in future.

“There is no immediate plan to launch branded edible oil, but options are open for the future,” Varadaraj added.