A CORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR: 3F Oil Palm Pvt. Ltd, a leading oil palm company in India, on Tuesday announced that it will kick off its investment in the Northeast by setting up an integrated oil palm factory in Arunachal Pradesh.
The factory ground-breaking ceremony will take place on September 30, 2022 at Roing in lower Dibang Valley. The company had already acquired 120 acres of land for the project in the month of February. All necessary approvals and statutory clearances pertaining to the land were also obtained.
The Integrated Oil Palm project will consist of a state-of-the-art oil palm factory (Palm Oil Processing and Refinery), a zero discharge effluent plant, a power plant based on palm waste, and other buildings and godowns for support functions. The addition of this factory will supplement the existing company operations that include Nursery,Area Expansion/ Crop Maintenance, FFB Harvesting and Collection and other ancillary farmer services.The factory is set to be developed in two phases and phase 1 is expected to be commissioned by September, 2023. Phase 1 of the project is expected to generate local employment to over 300 people.
The company is a front runner and pioneer in the Oil Palm Development programme in Arunachal Pradesh with total oil palm area under planting of around 2,000 hectares spread across a farmer base of 500 darmers. All the area under Oil Palm is linked to satellites with 100 per cent traceability. The company is the first in the state to import high quality hybrid variety imported seed sprouts from selected identified countries, for the benefit of the farmer. The company is also the first to be allotted a fertilizer distribution license for timely and cost effective supply of fertilizers to the farmers.
Both of these initiatives are expected to significantly increase farmer yields and promote ease of planting. With all of these firsts and the additional traction created by the Oil Palm Factory, the company is expected to add 5,000 Ha per year over the next 5 years.
The CEO-cum-MD of the company, Sanjay Goenka said they were delighted and excited about the upcoming integrated oil palm factory in Arunachal Pradesh. "Since the plantations are at a nascent stage, our factory will be running at extremely low capacity utilization. The primary reason for expediting this investment is to build farmer confidence so that they are encouraged to take up oil palm cultivation at a large scale. Due to the proactive leadership of the Government of Arunachal Pradesh and the newly formulated NMEO (OP) policy, we believe that the state can be at the forefront of the Prime Minister's vision of aatmanirbharta in edible oils," he said.
The company has a strong presence with contract plantations and factories in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat and has a very strong growth plan for the north-eastern region – Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
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