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UNITED NEWS OF INDIA
Surat, Apr 2: The deputy chairman of the state Planning Commission Suryakant Acharya claimed that oil palm cultivation had good potentiality in south Gujarat region so as to give an alternative to the present cash crop sugar cane.
Acharya who had a discussion with officials and representatives of Kalyan Khet Utpadan Mandali to explore the possibilities and infrastructure facilities needed for a large scale cultivation of oil palm said that he would submit a report to the state government shortly. South Gujarat's main cash crop at present is sugar cane and switch over to palm oil is necessary considering the changes in soil salinity. The oil palm cultivation in the southern states of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh yielded good results and started extracting oil from the seeds. He said that farmers could earn a minimum of Rs 50,000 per hectare from oil palm plantations. Acharya said that during 1993 the government had identified eight talukas of Surat, Valsad and Bharuch district for the palm oilcultivation. The seeds have already been planted in about 495 hectares of land in these areas.
However, he said that lack of coordination from the officials and government much success was not achieved in this field. He said that there was not a single mill in these areas where oil palm seeds can be processed.
He however said that government had taken initiative to start a mill so that oil could be extracted from palm seeds. He said that in this years state budget an amount of Rs 16 lakh was earmarked for palm cultivation. Acharya said that once the palm trees started giving fruit this will continue for another 25 years. However, infrastructure facilities should be put to proper use. He said that those plucked seeds should be processed within 24 to 36 hours period for the edible use purpose. If the crushing is carried out later the oil extracted can be useful only for industrial uses like making soaps and candles etc.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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