Kolkata-based diversified group Emami today said it is scouting for palm oil plantation opportunities in Malaysia and Indonesia to augment its edible oil business.

The company, which already has a one lakh acre plantation in Ethiopia, is also investing around Rs 1,000 crore in setting up an extraction unit in the African country and two new edible oil refineries in India.

Two projects piloted by the Ministries of Scientific Research and Innovation and that of Industries, Mines and Technological Development seek to modernise activities.

A full-scale government action is on course to modernise oil palm production in the country with the purpose of maximising productivity and ensuring sufficiency both for family and industrial consumption. The Ministries of Scientific Research and Innovation and that of Industries, Mines and Technological Development have two giant projects, which upon completion, should move oil palm from the now rudimentary production, mostly at family scale, to a modern level.

The horticulture department has adopted new approaches for cultivating oil palm. This includes isolation and selection of new high yielding variety of seedlings. The department has introduced a new high yielding variety ‘Taraka’ developed in its laboratory at H D Kote in Mysore district. The new variety has proven itself with an average yield of 35 tonnes per annum over the last 15 years of research, he said.