North East has Potential to Emerge as Largest Oil Palm Cultivator in the Country

Summary

* OPDPA, continues to request government to introduce structural and policy changes to fully leverage the potential of the crop for the benefit of farmers, employment generation, and reduced dependence on imports and economy at large 

* Region has the capacity to produce 1 billion dollars equivalent of Crude Oil Palm imports 

OPDPA (Oil Palm Developers And Processors Association), the Nodal Agency for Oil Palm Cultivation in India lauds the message by the PM Mr. Modi for recognising the need and importance of being self-reliant in edible oil, and asking Farmers and State Governments of North East to pursue Oil Palm cultivation. His message clearly underpins the benefits of Oil Palm cultivation to the overall Atmanirbhar Bharat agenda as well as its potential to help with the growth story of the region. 

The PM has recommended the State Governments of North East region to set up oil palm missions in their respective States to promote cultivation of the Oil Palm. The setting up of these missions will help boost the ecosystem as well increase focus for the adoption of the crop. Oil Palm cultivation in North East Regions can tremendously boost the economy of the region leading to large scale development and progress of the region. 

Commenting on the progressive step taken by the Government, Mr. Sanjay Goenka, President of OPDPA said, “The expanse of Oil Palm cultivation in the country is very negligible today as compared to the potential the crop possesses. We have seen the transformation this crop has brought about in the lives of farmer community in Andhra Pradesh and we hope to emulate the same in the Northeastern States as well. A strong and robust long term policy mechanism needs to be introduced to give this crop the required push across India. Given the Honorable Prime Minister’s Atmanirbharta vision, India can truly achieve its goal of self-sufficiency in Edible Oils by pushing for development in the Oil Palm Plantation sector 

In North East, the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam have tremendous scope for undertaking and increasing area under Oil Palm. The Agro-Climatic conditions of the region are extremely suitable for Oil Palm cultivation and therefore, the region has the potential to cover over 2,00,000 Acres. Equivalent to 1 billion dollars of imports can be prevented. 

Members of the OPDPA, Including 3F Oil Palm, have already set up base and are working closely with the state governments of NE to create awareness on the benefits of the crop. 3F Oil Palm, a pioneer in Oil Palm cultivation in the country, currently operates in Arunachal Pradesh and has already covered over 5000acres of Area under Oil Palm in the Lower Debang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh. Plans are in the pipeline to set up a state of the art Processing facility with a captive power plant.   

Oil Palm crop is a highly remunerative crop that has the potential to provide the highest return on investment per acre compared to other commercial crops. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh are a living testimony to the far-reaching benefits of this crop for their livelihoods and future. 

India is heavily dependent on imported edible oils, With nearly 15 million tonnes (or nearly 68 per cent) of edible oils getting imported to meet the country’s annual requirement of about 22 million tonnes. Of the total 15 million tonnes of import, about 9 million tonnes (or nearly 60 percent) is palm oils. 

“The  industry is in need of several reforms to maintain its viability and attract further investments in various states of India. OPDPA has been aggressively pursuing the agenda with the Government to bring in structural policy changes which will greatly propel the industry to new growth levels. With the policy changes proposed by us, we can truly achieve our Hon. PMs vision of Atmanirbharta in Edible Oils”, Mr. Sanjay Goenka added further. 

Some of the key asks by the association are: 

Stable pricing mechanism to be put in place for protecting the Indian Oil Palm farmer from fluctuations in price of the produce and continue to motivate him to grow the crop. A fixed MSP mechanism as suggested by the draft CACP report of 2018, will go a long way in this regard.  

A special package for the northeast will quickly help the country in bringing large areas under oil palm plantation (Including making available unutilized government land to Oil Palm companies for captive Oil Palm plantation). 

About OPDPA: 

The Oil Palm Developers and Processors Association (OPDPA) is a consortium of companies that include 3F Oil Palm Pvt. Ltd., Godrej Agrovet Ltd. Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd. etc, established to work towards the growth of the Oil Palm Industry. Despite a challenging policy and regulatory environment, over the last 2 decades the industry has grown from a ‘0’ hectares in oil palm then to a respectable 200,000 hectares across several states including the North East. The industry has a huge potential to help India bridge the country’s edible oil deficit, generate several thousand jobs and help in nation building. 

Make-or-break bet for Motorola as it takes on Android

Motorola Inc needs to spark some serious gadget lust next week when it unveils new phones to convince consumers and Wall Street that it's still a player in the global mobile industry, but the odds may be heavily stacked against it.

After losing market share for years, Motorola has made what is viewed as a make-or-break bet on Google Inc's Android mobile software, hoping the partnership with the giant Web company can help it win back customers.

Shares of the one-time market leader, now ranked fourth in global handset sales, jumped 11 percent earlier this week on investor hopes that the new phones could generate enough excitement to make Motorola's bat-wing logo famous again.

But while no one is expecting an iPhone-killer at the San Francisco unveiling on September 10, analysts say the risk is still that the new phones will not be unique enough to wow consumers, especially when other vendors also sell Android phones. "Early devices will not be significantly differentiated and could disappoint those playing the 9/10 launch," said Macquarie Research analyst Phil Cusick, who expects Motorola to display two new Android phones that day.

Motorola has given few details about the announcement, which will come during Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha's keynote at GigaOm's mobile conference. Jha first revealed his plans for creating Android phones in October.

He has said the new phones will be integrated with popular online social networks; but rivals such as Apple Inc, Research in Motion Ltd, HTC Corp and Palm Inc already have features for services like Facebook.

Shareholders have been impressed enough with Jha that they have more than doubled Motorola's share price since May. Still, the stock is down 70 percent from its 2006 peak of $26 and has been trading below $8 per share. "It's going to be extremely significant to the company's future," said Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart. "If the phone does well, they live to fight another day."

Comparisons will inevitably be drawn to Palm's Pre phone unveiling, which was also seen as a last chance for that company. Pre reception was good and caused Palm's share price to quadruple, in part on the perception that the company has become a more attractive takeover target.

Should the initial reaction to Motorola's devices be as strong, the company could have a good chance of luring back consumers, investors and mobile service providers, analysts say.

PRETTY HARDWARE

Motorola turned to Google for phone software because its own strength has been in hardware. This was demonstrated by the Razr, whose slim form inspired imitations for two years before it started to fall out of favor in late 2006.

Analysts expect Motorola's new phones to have stylish enough hardware to secure distribution by mobile carriers, but the question is whether the software will be different enough to spur holiday season sales -- especially when the bar has been set very high by Apple's iPhone and the thousands of apps available for download from Apple's online store.

"Short-term, Motorola needs to win the purchase decision of specific carriers," Greengart said. "Long-term, they're going to need to do something more than selling pretty hardware running an operating system other competitors have access to."

Motorola's Jha has said several times that carriers were impressed with the Android phones. He told Reuters in a recent interview that he was encouraged when one operator executive told him "bat-wings are back."

Analysts expect Motorola Android phones to be sold by Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, and by T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG. But Verizon said it is not involved in Motorola's announcement next week. T-Mobile said it will launch new Android phones this year but declined to give details.

Even if carriers did back the phone, some of Motorola's former shareholders say they would be wary of betting on the company unless it started to show sustainable improvements.

"I wouldn't touch the stock until they've launched three, four or five phones and they've gained market share for at least a year," said Jane Snorek, an analyst for First American Funds, which manages $35 billion in equities that used to include Motorola shares.

Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff said he is impressed by Jha but agreed that investors should look beyond September 10. "If you get to several phones and they're all disappointing, then you have to start writing the obituary. I don't see that," said Modoff. He said he will focus on the reaction from young consumers who crave cool gadgets: "We'll see what the 20-year-olds think. That's what really matters."

Agencies

Apple,Palm battle it for the smartphone market

Palm Inc has fired another volley at Apple Inc in their smartphone war, as the two rivals tussle over whether iTunes should be compatible with Palm's new Pre smartphone.

Palm, whose executive ranks include former Apple brass, released a software update for the Pre this week that allows it to sync again with Apple's iTunes media management software.

The move comes after Apple last week issued its own software update to close a loophole in iTunes that had allowed it to sync with the Pre. ITunes is designed to work with Apple's iPod and iPhone products.

Palm mimicks Steve Jobs

Palm announced the software update in a blog post that mimicked Steve Jobs' signature catchphrase "Oh, and one more thing," which the Apple chief executive has often used to announce a brand new product.

"Oh, and one more thing: Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync. That's right -- you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1)," said Palm's blog posted late on Thursday.

It was not immediately clear when Apple may issue another software patch to counter Palm's move. When asked for comment, an Apple spokesman said, "As we've said before, newer versions of Apple's iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players.

$200 Pre was launched in June

The $200 Pre launched in early June as a competitor to Apple Inc.'s iPhone, became the first non-Apple device that could connect directly to iTunes. Palm launched the Pre to good reviews, seeking to win a slice of the touch screen smartphone market now dominated by Apple's iPhone. Prior to the launch, Palm had touted that the Pre "synchronizes seamlessly with iTunes."

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky estimates Palm has sold 325,000 to 375,000 Pre phones so far, ahead of expectations. In comparison, Apple sold more than a million iPhone 3GS units in the first three days on the market.

While analysts and the Pre's carrier, Sprint Nextel Corp, have said it's too soon to know if the phone will be a real hit, it has already sparked a huge rally in Palm shares this year.

War with Apple generating plenty of drama

Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton said the war with Apple is generating plenty of drama, even though few Pre users bought their phone with the intention of syncing with iTunes.

"There's a lot of hype around it," he said, noting that some senior Palm personnel formerly worked at Apple, making the rivalry between the two companies seem that much sharper even if the dispute will likely have a limited economic impact.

Palm Chief Executive Jon Rubinstein had helped create the iPod, and senior vice president of product development Mike Bell also used to work at Apple.

Rubinstein was brought in as Palm's executive chairman from Apple

Rubinstein was brought in as Palm's executive chairman when private equity firm Elevation Partners bought a stake in the company in 2007, and he was named CEO last month. Elevation's co-founders include tech investor Roger McNamee, former Apple Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson and singer Bono.

Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu called Palm's move a "modest negative" for the company.

"While we acknowledge this is a short-term fix, frankly, we would have preferred Palm respond in a more professional and mature fashion," he wrote in a research note. "We do not believe hacking third-party software to work with one's hardware is a viable long-term business model, especially for a publicly traded company."

Palm was a pioneer of handheld devices

Palm was a pioneer of handheld devices, but has fallen well behind competitors like Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd.

"Palm believes that openness and interoperability offer better experiences for users by allowing them the freedom to use the content that they own without interference across devices and services," Palm spokeswoman Leslie Letts said.

Indiatimes