The Hindu Business Line : ‘Oil palm needs price stability fund’

The Union Government should think about setting up a price stabilisation fund for oil palm, in order to promote and sustain cultivation on a large scale, according to Dr P. Rethinam, President of the Society for Promotion of Oil Palm Research and Development, and former Director of the National Research Centre for Oil Palm.

Dr Rethinam, who was here earlier this week to participate in a three-day conference on the crop, said in an interview that when prices crashed seven years ago, there was a lot of uprooting of oil palm in Andhra Pradesh and “the farmers are now regretting it. They could not at that time withstand the crisis. We cannot afford such setbacks. There needs to be a price stabilisation fund to withstand such vicissitudes.”

However, he said, the enterprising farmers of the State had come out of the crisis and there was a boom in cultivation now. “In fact, there has been such a boom during the past two years that there is a sudden shortfall of plant material. It takes at least one year to prepare the plant material and we should plan our cultivation in advance,” he said.

‘Crop of controversy’

Terming oil palm a crop of controversy from the beginning, Dr Rethinam said that since the start the sceptics were raising all sorts of doubts about the crop. “They used to say that it will not be possible to raise oil palm in irrigated conditions and that it will deplete water resources in the area. All these assumptions have been proved wrong. Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the number one State, with 75,000 hectares. But there is still a long way to go, as the potential is four lakh hectares in the State,” he said.

He said there was a need to follow a uniform pricing formula all over the country, as currently different states follow different formulas. “Of course, in Andhra Pradesh farmers are now getting a good price, more than Rs 5,000 per tonne of fresh fruit bunches. But there should be a uniform formula,” he opined.

Board needed

Dr Rethinam pointed out that he was also in favour of setting up a central authority, or board, for oil palm cultivation and for declaring it a plantation crop, to overcome the land ceiling problems. “These two steps should be seriously considered for rapid area expansion in the country,” he said.

There should also be comprehensive crop insurance for oil palm, he pleaded. “Above all, strong political will is required to give a tremendous boost to the crop. There is really no alternative for attaining edible oil security.”

More Stories on : Oilseeds & Edible Oil | Andhra Pradesh

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
JRG executes first steel futures delivery on Dubai bourse

Global meet to focus on emerging wheat scenario

Flour millers see no benefit from futures trade

Spot rubber stays steady

Back in business

Nabard sanctions Rs 144 cr to Kerala

‘Oil palm needs price stability fund’

More States may ban poultry traffic

Ministry pegs foodgrain output at record 219.32 mt