The IFFCO’s “Neem Plantation campaign” has crossed the million mark with the MD of the cooperative giant congratulating one and all on social media for this spectacular performance. The target was achieved in less than a year, quipped a proud IFFCO cooperator.
Tweeting about achieving the milestone Dr U S Awasthi said “The campaign is going on in the entire country and so far 10.4 lakh neem trees have been planted.”
This campaign which started on a modest scale soon caught political leaders’ fancy as leaders one after another joined the campaign in their respective areas. If MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan planted neem trees in the presence of a large number of citizens in Madhya Pradesh, Radha Mohan Singh did not lag behind in doing so in Bihar.
Other notable leaders who joined this campaign included Union State Minister Santosh Gangwar and UP strongman and Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav.
IFFCO has so far touched several states including UP, MP, Bihar, Odisha, Karanataka, Andhra to name only a few.
Readers would recall that earlier in the IFFCO AGM it was announced that IFFCO would purchase neem fruits usually discarded as waste, at the rate of Rs 15 a kilo. Popularly known as nimori, farmers could visit any IFFCO office to sell their neem fruits, said MD on the occasion.
IFFCO last year signed a memorandum of understanding with the Forest Research of India on research and development for developing quality neem strains in the next three years.