Tiruvannamalai to market groundnut oil under ‘Mahadeepam’ brand

In an initiative by Collector KS Kandasamy, the project stemmed from the fact that Tiruvannamalai is Tamil Nadu’s largest groundnut producer accounting for a marketable surplus of 1.04 lakh MT (metric tonnes) from the 1.18 lakh MT total district yield from a cultivable area of around 1.75 lakh acres.

Speaking to DT Next, Kandasamy said, “We used the Prime Minister’s One District One Product (ODOP) scheme which suited Tiruvannamalai.”

Though 15 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) and 10 Farmer Producer Groups (FPG) produce groundnut and gingelly oil, lack of brand support and publicity – which is prohibitively expensive – resulted in selling oil, made through wooden ghanis, only in their local areas. This resulted in manufacturing and selling only 430 litres per day against the installed capacity of 1,120 litres a day.

“It was then the idea of marketing groundnut oil in 1 ltr, 5 ltr and 10 ltr packs under the ‘Mahadeepam’ brand. Around Rs 2 crore was sought for the project’s basic and core infrastructure facilities and administrative expenditure,” he revealed.

Asked about marketing a new brand, the Collector said, “Presently we sell 5,000 litres of groundnut oil under non controlled items – public pay for non-controlled items - through the PDS. Mahadeepam oil could be sold through fair price shops. Tribal welfare, AD, BC and MBC hostels, noon-meal centres and ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) controlled anganwadis could also be asked to meet their oil needs with the Mahadeepam brand.”

An additional feature envisaged is to use profits for value addition expansion of FPOs and FPGs by giving it to them as a soft loan. Needless to say, the move has been welcomed by farmer members of FPGs and FPOs, who feel that this would go a long way in making agriculture profitable.