#116 Global Castor Conference - 23 to 24th February 2018, at Ahmedabad, Gujarat

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Welcome Address
ATUL CHATURVEDI
President
The Solvent Extractors' Association of India
Good morning friends and dignitaries on the Dias,
Welcome to this historical city of Ahmedabad for the 16th
Global Castor
Conference-2018 organised by SEA, and supporting Organisations
connected with Castor business both in India & abroad. Out of earlier 15
Conferences held till date 12 have been held in Ahmedabad, which shows
the importance of Ahmedabad and Gujarat on the Castor map of the
world.
We warmly welcome Shri Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Joint Secretary,
Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of
India, Dr. Ashok Gulati, Indian Agricultural Economist & Former Chairman
CACP, Dr. Ashok A. Patel, Vice Chancellor, S.D.A University, Gujarat, Mr.
Tavorn Tantipoganant, M.D., M/s. Thai Castor Oil Ind. Co. Ltd.,
Bangkok, Thailand and Mr. Vijay Sardana, Specialist, Agri Business, New
Delhi, for this august gathering. Their presence shows the importance of
Castor Oil in the Indian Economy.
We also extend a warm welcome to all our distinguished speakers and
delegates from India and abroad. This Conference has truly become
International and we have almost 50 delegates from all parts of the
world. We are sure the deliberations during the day would be interesting
and help in clearing a lot of cobwebs for the delegates.

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Friends, as you may know, India is the largest producer of Castor seed in
the World and meets nearly 90% of the castor oil requirement of the
world. Gujarat in turn contributes to production and export of over 80%
of the country’s castor oil and it’s derivatives. India is currently
exporting Castor oil & derivatives worth over Rs.6000 crores (US$ 950
million) per annum. The global Castor oil derivatives market is expanding
rapidly with China emerging as a major player over the last few years.
We are glad to inform you that as compared to other oilseeds, the yield
of Castor seeds in the country is much higher. Sustained efforts by Agri
scientists in successfully developing a large number of hybrid varieties
which can give 3000/5000 kgs. per hectare have borne fruit. However,
due to poor knowledge of good agricultural practices, average yield
continues to be low. In view of this, SEA last year launched SEA Castor
Yield Improvement Project 2017 in two districts of Gujarat and nearly 70
model farms were created. With its successful experience in raising the
productivity, this year the project was expanded to 5 districts of Gujarat
and we have created nearly 140 model farms this year. SEA provided to
these farmers, good quality seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and also
monitored these farms through highly experienced scientists and
motivators who continuously guided them on good agronomic practices.
Castor farmers were shown these model farms to show case how
productivity can be raised.
We are happy to mention that against normal productivity of 1500 kgs; in
these 140 model farms, the productivity is much higher at 4000/4500

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kgs. per hectare along with intercropping with groundnut and cotton
crop. We plan to extend this project next year to cover more districts of
Gujarat and Rajasthan to boost the overall productivity of castorseed and
thereby sustain the tempo of farmers to grow Castor seed. As a matter of
fact, we are showing to the farmers that doubling their income need not
be through higher prices alone but by improving productivity.
We would like to compliment Mr. Haresh Vyas, Project in-charge and Co-
Chairman SEA Castor Seed & Oil Promotion Council, Dr. B.V. Mehta,
Executive Director and Shri Bhavin Chhatrala, M.D. M/s. Girnar Industries,
for their excellent work and co-ordination with Sardarkrushinagar
Dantiwada Agricultural University, Scientists and farmers for this project
and particularly like to thank Shri Maganbhai Patel, Shri Kirtibhai Trivedi,
Shri Chirag Bhuva, Shri Jagdish Patel and Shri Dushyant Patel for their
active contribution and co-ordination with the farmers.
We are also happy to inform that the Association has started from this
year Shri Vithaldas G. Udeshi, ‘Castor Innovation Awards’ in memory of
one of the stalwarts of our Industry. We will be honouring Mr. Tavorn
Tantipoganant, Bangkok, with “Global Castor Oil Man of The Year” Award
in recognition of his outstanding contribution in promoting International
Trade & Commerce in field of Castor Oil and its Derivatives.
We would also be presenting a special Award to Dr. Ashok A. Patel, Vice
Chancellor, Sardar Krushinaagar Dantiwada Agricultural University,
Gujarat for his contribution in agriculture and pioneering work in Castor
seed production and productivity.

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We will be also presenting four Cash Awards and Certificates to Castor
Seed Progressive farmers for consistent high productivity in Castor seed
through good agronomic practices and they have shown that the
productivity can increase 3-4 times from the current level.
We congratulate all of them for their exemplary work in their respective
area.
Friends, we have been talking about increasing value added derivative
exports year after year. However, the progress on this front has been
rather slow. This is evident from the fact that India still exports more
than 80% of its castor oil production in its raw form. We would once again
urge Industry to look at this opportunity which is waiting to be exploited.
We are confident that the entrepreneurial zeal of the castor oil producers
coupled with scientific backing of the R & D institutions like IICT; India
would soon become a significant player in castor oil derivatives. We need
to move from Trade to Technology. We are happy to mention that today
we have with us Dr. RBN Prasad, Ex-Chief Scientist & Head, Centre of
Lipid Research, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology,
Hyderabad, who will be guiding us about the indigenous technology
available for various Castor Derivatives. Let’s utilise IICT knowledge for
production of Castor derivatives in India in line with ‘Make in India’ call
given by our Prime Minister.
Further, Castor meal is a natural organic fertilizer rich in the vital
elements. However, the local usage for organic fertilizer is still very
limited and we are compelled to export castor meal. With Organic

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Farming gaining prominence we should aggressively promote Castor Meal
as Organic Fertilizer to improve productivity.
Friends, for last few years we were noticing that the Crop estimations
given by Nielsen were way off the mark when compared with final
outcome. This may have resulted in lot of calculations going wrong. After
a lot of deliberations, we finally decided that we would change the
Agency for carrying out crop survey and also asked them to cross check
their numbers through Remote Sensing and crop cutting. This year’s
survey has been carried out by M/s. Indian Agri Business Systems Ltd.
(Agriwatch), a leading firm specialising in Crop Surveys and hopefully
their findings may be closer to actual final figures.
Lastly, I take this opportunity to compliment SEA Castor seed & Oil
Promotion Council headed by Mr. Abhay Udeshi & Mr. Haresh Vyas, as
Chairman & Co-Chairman and the entire Council members and Dr. B. V.
Mehta, ED & his team for the pains taken in organising this Global Castor
Conference. We also thank Shri Mayur Mehta, Editor-in-Chief, Commodity
for his continued support.
We look forward to an interesting day ahead.
Jai Hind!!
24th
February 2018