Gujarat allots land to Godrej Agrovet for oil palm cultivation

Delhi Delhi. Godrej Agrovet informed the stock exchanges that the Gujarat government has allotted area to it in three districts for expansion of oil palm cultivation under the Oil Palm Mission. The three districts are Vadodara, Surat and Tapi, the company said in a filing to the stock exchanges late Saturday night. The filing did not give detailed information about the land allotment. India is the world’s second largest consumer and number one vegetable oil importer, and it meets 60 per cent of its needs through imports. A large part of this is palm oil and its derivatives, which are imported from Indonesia and Malaysia.

Although oilseed production in India has increased in the last few years, production has lagged behind its consumption, resulting in continued dependence on imports. Godrej Agrovet Company has more than three decades of experience in the oil palm business. Last year, Godrej Agrovet was allotted about 47,000 acres of land in Sangareddy district of Telangana for oil palm plantation. Godrej Agrovet inaugurated an edible oil refinery at Chintalapudi in Eluru district.

The central government launched the National Mission for Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) in August 2021. The mission is committed to increasing oil palm cultivation and increasing crude palm oil production to 11.20 lakh tonnes by 2025-26. The scheme is currently operational in several states across the country, covering a potential area of ​​21.75 lakh hectares. The Oil Palm Mission is designed to promote oil palm in new geographies by providing end-to-end support to farmers to protect them from global price volatility in oil palm by providing assistance in planting material, assured buyback from the private players involved, and viability gap payments (VGP) to mitigate farmers’ risk.