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AGRO INDUSTRY
IN TAMIL NADU
Ujjagar Singh, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Agro Industries
Development Corporation, shares his views on the Agro industry
in Tamil Nadu…
Ujjagar Singh was conferred the Udyog Rattan Award by the
Institute of Economic Studies, New Delhi, for his contribution
to the field of Industrial Development and also in recognition of
his successfully spearheading the sales of the 'Sunola' brand
of Sunflower oil.
An overview of the industry…
 The
genesis of the edible oil industry in India has been that it originated
in the cottage industry. It came to the small-scale sector from
the cottage industry and how it is a large-scale industry. As to
why this particular industry is so segmented and unorganized all
through the country - thats because, for centuries, people in the
cottage sector have been crushing oilseed and supplying to nearby
markets.
When there are such a large number of people in the cottage sector,
the ideal set up would be that while the private sector and the
cottage industry continue to serve the country, the multi nationals
who have entered recently, should take up Research and Development
activities. If the industry is able to invest time and effort in
R & D then the opportunity is there to increase productivity of
the expellers, improve on the aroma, colour etc.
The industry is also looking to the government for more support.
More support will mean more control as well. The industry should
not look to the government as a body always available for its rescue.
The industry should learn to look after itself.
On the Oilseed processing status in Tamil
Nadu…
We are pioneers, not only in the cultivation of oilseed, but also
in processing of sunflower oil. We thought of sunflower oil processing
as far back as 22 years ago, when few people were speaking about
it. We set up a processing plant for oilseed processing. Today,
there is so much talk about the health-related aspects of sunflower
oil. We focused on this more than two decades ago.
There is also another aspect that has to be looked into. We are
in the rain shadow region of the monsoon. The monsoon is very erratic.
It either comes too late or comes heavily in a short time-span,
which causes flooding. Because of this and the large areas of dry
land available to us, we have to think of dry land cultivation.
Oilseed is the best crop for dry land cultivation because it needs
very little moisture and our experience with oilseed has been very
good.
| Photographs by Joseph Pradeep Raj R |
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