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(Alliance News) - Dekeloil Public Ltd on Tuesday said operations at its second oil palm plant nursery site in the Ivory Coast have begun.
The nursery is located in Dabou, near the agricultural company's second palm oil project in Guitry, and Dekeloil said it aligns with "the company's strategy to build a multi-project, multi-commodity agriculture business".
Operations at the new Dabou nursery will allow work in the Guitry area to start immediately while the next phase, an environmental, social, and health impact assessment, is completed.
Dekeloil has a two-year lease on the Dabou nursery site, with 5,000 palm oil seedlings already planted. With "minor investment", the current infrastructure is likely to support as many as 600,000 plans a year in two year cycles.
Dekeloil Executive Director Lincoln Moore said: "The nursery at Dabou promises to not only support the development of our second palm oil project at Guitry, it also has the potential to fast track our entry into new, high-value areas of the agriculture sector. Whilst we are at an early stage of reviewing options, having first right of refusal over 18,660 square metres of existing greenhouse infrastructure will enable us to move quickly should we elect to pursue one or more opportunities.
"Our stated objective is to build a diverse portfolio of agriculture projects and associated revenue streams. We have one producing palm oil project and a large cashew project which is due to be operational in 2020. With major backers such as AgDevCo Ltd, and now the nursery site at Dabou, we are well placed to add to our pipeline of new projects."
Shares in Dekeloil were down 1.1% at 2.72 pence in London on Tuesday.
