Godrej Agrovet Ltd, the largest producer of palm oil in the country, has said it is seeing a lot of interest from farmers in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh (AP), Tamil Nadu and Odisha to take up oil palm cultivation. To meet the growing demand for oil palm seedlings, the company is tripling its nursery capacity to supply the imported seedlings sourced from countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Ivory Coast.

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“We are witnessing a strong demand for oil palm saplings for the past 12-15 months. However, the problem is that the domestic capacity to supply the oil palm sprouts/seedlings is limited. As a result, we have to import from companies in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Central America,” said Sougata Niyogi, CEO, Oil Palm, Godrej Agrovet Ltd.

However, global suppliers are also finding it tough to meet the surge in Indian demand. “We are hopeful that the situation will ease as these companies will increase their seed production capacity.”

Niyogi said imported sprouts of oil palm after customs and quarantine clearance, are checked and evaluated at the company’s nurseries for about an year before being distributed to farmers for planting. The imported germplasm has higher oil content and productivity, he said.

Nursery capacity doubled

Godrej has doubled its nursery capacity from around seven lakh saplings to about 14 lakh. The company is also in the process of raising the capacity to around 20 lakh sapling as it plans to expand nurseries in Telangana, AP and Tamil Nadu. Niyogi said about 150 saplings are required per hectare.

Godrej has total area of about 60,000 hectares under oil palm. It has added around 19,000 hectares in the past five years mainly in AP, Telangana, TN and Odisha. The fruit bearing area is around 35,000 hectares. The company has about 35,000 hectares under oil palm in Andhra, about 6,000 ha in Telangana, 3,000 ha in Tamil Nadu, 2,000 hecatare in Odisha and also in Mizoram.

“We are hopeful of adding about about 7,000 hectares every year and around 30,000-35,000 hectares in the next five years,” Niyogi said.

The Government’s focus on increasing edible oil production through the National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm is seen giving further impetus to the expansion of oil palm plantations. Besides focussing on area expansion, Niyogi said the company was working towards making the oil palm cultivation more sustainable through implementation of better practices among farmers. “Our focus is to improve farmers’ productivity with less use of water and nutrients,” he said.

Drip, micro irrigation

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it has a major area under oil palm, about 99 per cent of the cropped area is under drip and micro irrigation. “We are also encouraging farmers to use the drip irrigation to apply nutrients, which will help improve the fertiliser use efficiency,” he said.

Godrej revenues from oil palm business exceeded ₹1,075 crore in the first nine months of fiscal 2022, a 68 per cent growth over same period last year.

Commenting on the impact of Indonesian ban on palm oil exports, Niyogi said the refinery supplies are secured for May and there could be severe disruption beyond May, provided the ban continues. The surge in edible oil prices could prompt farmers to increase area under oilseeds such as groundnut and soyabean in the upcoming kharif cropping season, Niyogi said.

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