In May 2015, the Government of India made it mandatory to neem coat 100% of urea. The rationale behind this initiative was to curb pilferage of urea allocated to farmers for industrial use. This is expected to reduce urea consumption by 10% and improve soil fertility of farm soil. In order to fulfil the policy mandate, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemical Limited (GNFC) initiated “The Neem Project”. As a part of the project, GNFC manufactures neem oil to meet its requirement for coating urea. The task of collecting neem seeds, used for manufacturing neem oil, is allocated to rural women and landless labourers. One of the key objectives of this initiative is women empowerment and uplifting of farmers and landless labourers by providing them opportunities to generate additional income. Under this project, neem seeds are collected by rural women and landless labourers across more than 4000 villages. Service Providing Partners (SPPs) carry out screening, weighing, bagging and arrange temporary storage and transportation of neem seeds to expeller/extraction unit for processing. Proper checks and balances are ensured right from collection to extraction through awareness and capacity development by GNFC and the entire process is monitored by more than 100 GNFC officials. The extracted neem oil... Read More