Cooking oil not sole benefit of palm tree: Experts
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, December 31 2024: Cooking oil is not the sole benefit of planting oil palm tree as remnants of oil palm factory after extracting oil can be used for generating electricity, while many profitable items could be produced from the fibre of palm trees, according to experts.

This disclosure pomes amid widespread environmental concerns over large scale oil palm plantation in the state.

During the recent oil palm tree cultivation exposure trip organised by the state's Agriculture Department to oil palm fields in Irulu district of Andhra Pradesh, a state delegation visited the oil palm mill of Godrej Agrovet Limited located in Chintampali village, Andhra Pradesh.

During an interaction with the state team led by director (agriculture), CEO (oil palm) of Godrej Agrovet Limited Diptansu Gupta said that fibre collected after extracting oil from oil palm are used as fuel.

The company generates a total of 8MW power daily at the oil palm mill with the surplus electricity sourced to power companies.

Accordingly, the company doesn't just purchase electricity for its own consumption; it also earns profit from selling power," he said.

According to Diptansu, remnant after oil extraction are used for feeding fish with the fruit bunch utilised for making ropes.

Fibre collected from fruit bunch is used in making mattress and other remnants as fertilizer by farmer.

Remnants of other factories may not be useful and cause environmental degradation but all the remnants from oil palm factory are useful from the very beginning till the end, Gupta added.

Principal scientist (agriculture extension) Dr MV Prasad of ICAR-IIOPR, Irulu also guided the state team to demonstration room, where many products made from oil palm trees are kept, and told the team that life span of oil palm tree is 25-30 years.

The felled oil palm trees are used in making wooden kitchen utensil items and decorative items.

The state team also met Patanjali Food Limited, Irulu manager Venkata Ramana.

Explaining the benefit of oil palm tree plantation, Venkata informed that oil palm plantation in other countries are done by profit-oriented industrialists and accordingly causes severe damage to fauna and flora.

However, oil palm tree plantations in India are done by farmers independently and hence do not cause environmental degradation, he defended.

Ramana also explained to the state team that oil palm is useful from the very beginning of planting trees till oil extraction.

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