Plans to supplement oil palm plantation in the state
Recently, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated Godrej Agrovet’s (GAVL) edible oil refinery at Chintalapudi, Eluru district. Set up at an estimated investment of Rs 100 Crore and with a capacity of 400 tonnes per day, this is GAVL’s first downstream project for value-added products in oil and fats. The facility near the company’s Crude Palm Oil Mills will help cater captive needs originating from the company’s oil palm work in the southern states along with demand from other crude palm oil players in the region.
Godrej Agrovet’s is a Mumbai-headquartered food and agri-business conglomerate that has 45,000 hectares of oil palm plantation area in Andhra Pradesh, and this new plant will have an extraction capacity of 400 tonnes per day.
Balram Singh Yadav, Managing Director, GAVL said, “GAVL is the largest oil palm processor in India and works directly with farmers for the entire lifecycle of their crop. Since the launch of the National Mission on Edible Oil – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), in August 2021, the company had established a goal to add 60,000 hectares of additional oil palm plantations over the course of the next five years to support the long-term sustainable development of oil palm in India.”
With the focus to provide knowledge and access to contemporary technologies, in January this year, GAVL introduced a ground-breaking initiative called Samadhan, a one-stop solution centre that would provide a comprehensive package of knowledge, tools, services, and solutions to oil palm farmers.