Bhubaneswar: The state government will shortly engage youngsters in palm cultivation in the state. Around 10 more primary societies would be revived under the aegis of Odisha Rajya Talgur Samabaya Sangha Limited (ORTSSL).

The ORTSSL has four production centres at Bahugram (Cuttack), Malud (Puri), Lubrising (Gajpati) and Podapada (Dhenkanal).

It was decided to open four more production centres and four more sales outlets during the current financial year. Chidananda Mishra of ORTSSL said they had sent samples of date-palmgur to Russia.

"Subject to their approval, they would be exporting the first consignment of talgur to Russia. We will also develop a brand name for the Odisha talgur for increasing its turnover and marketing," he said.

Rural youth will be encouraged to start enterprises for involving them in the production process.

"This will provide them with employability and the scope is huge," said L.N. Gupta, MSME additional chief secretary. Currently, they have 9,900 palm trees in their orchards and they have plans to plant at least 10,000 new ones during the current season. They have 32 active primary societies affiliated to it. In the meeting, it was decided to revive at least 10 more societies. The ORTSSL has a turnover of Rs.55.6 lakh.

"We have set a target to achieve turnover of Rs 1 crore at the end of the current financial year," said Gupta.

The state-level project steering committee recommended the Centre for setting up seven clusters including coir and dry fish for growth and development of the MSME sector in Odisha. The proposals received state nod at the committee meeting chaired by Gupta here recently.