Several organisations, which had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the Government for palm plantation and setting up of palm oil processing plants in the State, now seem reluctant to set up units.
The status of the projects was recently reviewed by the Department of Agriculture which reveals tardy progress of projects, said official sources. At present, six companies are carrying out the palm plantation in 457 hectare of land.
Notably, palm plantation was carried out by laxmi Balaji in Nabarangpur, Koraput and Rayagada districts. Godrej cultivated palm in 155 hectare in Bargarh district, three of oil palm in Dhenkanal and Cuttack. Ruchi Soya cultivated in 245 hectare in Mayurbhanj district, one hectare in Bhadrak district and around 12 hectare in Baleswar.
Vaidehi Palm firm selected Nayagarh and Boudh for plantation while Ingran Biotech has expressed its interest in Subarnapur for cultivation.
The MoUs envisaged that the firms would set up processing units for palm oil production and furnished `25 lakh-bank guarantee while inking the pacts with the Government.
However, the companies barring laxmi Balaji, have shown little interest to set up processing units in the last four years. laxmi Balaji has decided to set up a processing unit in Attada of Rayagada district. A farmer was likely to get `30,000-`40,000 net profit from the palm plantation per hectare, the sources said.
The palm prices have fallen in the past few years, the sources said, adding that palm oil price, which was around `7,300 per tonne in July 2012-13, fell to `6,240 during 2015-16 while it sold at `6,963 in March this year. The Government has expressed concern over the low spending for creating drip irrigation facilities for palm cultivation.