Oil palm company 3F will be setting up a ₹250 crore integrated oil palm factory in Arunachal Pradesh.
It acquired 120 acres in February and obtained necessary approvals and statutory clearances pertaining to the land. The ground-breaking ceremony will be held on September 30 at Roing in Lower Dibang Valley, the Hyderabad-based 3F Oil Palm said on Tuesday.
The facility will be developed in two phases and the first, which is expected to generate employment for 300 people, is likely to be commissioned by September 2023.
The integrated oil palm project will comprise a state-of-the-art 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 setting up of the factory will supplement the existing operations of the company, which includes nursery, area expansion/ crop maintenance, FFB harvesting and collection and other ancillary farmer services, 3F said in a release.
The company said it was an early mover in oil palm development programme in Arunachal Pradesh and now has total oil palm area under planting of around 2,000 hectares spread across a base comprising 500 farmers. All the area is linked to satellite with 100% traceability. The company is the first in the State to import high quality hybrid variety imported seed sprout from select identified countries. It is also the first to be allotted a fertilizer distribution license, for timely and cost effective supply of fertilizers, to the farmers. It expects to add 5,000 hectares per year over the next five years.
“As the plantations are at a nascent stage, our factory will be running at extremely low capacity utilization. The primary reason for expediting the investment is to build farmer confidence so that they are encouraged to take up oil palm cultivation at a large scale,” CEO and MD Sanjay Goenka said.
