Oil palm farmers in Telangana, which has emerged as a key player in the edible crop space, have witnessed a whopping price growth over the last 15 months. The price, which used to be around ₹14,000 a tonne of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) in March 2024, has crossed the ₹21,000-mark, showing a growth of about 50 per cent.
The growth in prices was triggered by a surge in domestic demand following the Union Government’s decision to levy import duty on the import of crude palm oil.
Though the oil palm farmers are quite happy about the price increase, they said the plantation has been facing pests and diseases in several areas. They also wanted the Union Government to set up an Oil Palm Board on the lines of the Tobacco Board to take care of the issues in the sector.
Farmers, however, flag the challenge of decreasing yields due to the prevalence of pests and diseases.
Uma Maheswar Reddy, a farmer from Khammam, said that the increased susceptibility to these diseases is linked to the intermingling of palm tree populations of varying ages within the gardens. This mixture of younger and older plants seems to create conditions that favour the spread and impact of these diseases.
| Year | Production of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) in tonnes |
|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 1.98 lakhs |
| 2020-21 | 2.29 lakhs |
| 2021-22 | 2.64 lakhs |
| 2022-23 | 2.70 lakhs |
| 2023-24 | 2.27 lakhs |
Source: Farmers’ federation
Reddy estimates that the State is projected to yield about 3 lakh tonnes of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB), as against 2.20 lakhs last year. “This would result in the production of about 60,000 tonnes of crude palm oil. Currently, this locally produced crude palm oil is being sold to refineries situated in other states.
“We are happy about the increase in the price. Now we want processing facilities nearer to the plantation areas,” he said.
“We request you to constitute an Oil Palm Board and bring NMEO-OP operations under the board purview,” Uma Maheswar Reddy, President of Telangana Oil Fed Aswaraopet Zone Oil Palm Growers Federation, told businessline.
“To promote the oil palm sector, we need to bring the entire ecosystem, comprising farmers, oil palm companies, and research institutes. We need to monitor the production and sale of crude palm oil and better channelise government subsidies,” he said.
The Federation recently wrote a letter to Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, submitting a set of recommendations to promote the sector.
He said the government should set up branches to the Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research (IIOPR) to conduct studies and research on pests and diseases in different plantation areas.
The Federation wanted quality seedlings so that they could get healthy plantations. “There are some plantations of seven years of age not bearing any fruit bunches, and almost 20 to 40 per cent plants were genetically defective, and this was found mainly in plantations planted from 2016 to 2022,” a farmer alleged.