Hyderabad: City-based 3F Oil Palm on Tuesday said it will invest Rs 250 crore to set up an integrated oil palm factory in Arunachal Pradesh.

The company has already acquired 120 acres of land in Arunachal Pradesh for the project in February, 3F Oil Palm in a statement said, adding that all necessary approvals and statutory clearances pertaining to this acquisition were also obtained.

The factory is set to be developed in two phases, phase one is expected to be commissioned by September 2023 and is likely to generate local employment for over 300 people. This integrated oil palm project will consist of a 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. In addition, this factory will supplement the existing company operations that include nursery, crop maintenance, FFB harvesting and collection and other ancillary farmer services.

The company further stated that in Arunachal Pradesh, 3F Oil Palm has an area of around 2,000 hectares of oil palm area. "We are delighted and excited about our upcoming integrated oil palm factory in Arunachal Pradesh with an investment of Rs 250 crore. Since the plantations are at a nascent stage, our factory will be running at extremely low capacity utilisation.

"The primary reason for expediting this investment is to build farmer confidence so that they are encouraged to take up oil palm cultivation at a large scale," 3F Oil Palm CEO and Managing Director Sanjay Goenka said.

3F Oil Palm has a presence with contract plantations and factories in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat and growth plans for Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.

The primary reason for expediting this investment is to build farmer confidence so that they are encouraged to take up oil palm cultivation at a large scale

- Sanjay Goenka, MD, 3F Oil Palm