Telangana pushes oil palm to offset paddy woes

After promoting paddy in a big way over the last three years, the Telangana Government is attempting to convince farmers to look at alternative crops — it targets 12 lakh hectares of oil palm cultivation in the next few years, to reduce the area under paddy.

The area under paddy in the State increased to 40.45 lakh ha in 2020-21 from 14.6 lakh in 2015-16, leading to a problem of plenty. The Union Government has said it will not buy the paddy grown in the rabi season, while capping te kharif procurement at 46 lakh tonnes. Paddy farmers, who produced three crore tonnes last year, stare at a bleak future.

Even as the Union Government plans to bring about 28.5 lakh hectares under oil palm cultivation to achieve self-reliance in edible oils, the Telangana Government says it is targeting half of this on its own.

The State’s acreage is currently about 18,000 ha in five districts. However, it has identified 25 districts for oil palm cultivation based on the augmented irrigation facilities in the last 3-4 years.

Govt targets to achieve Aatmanirbhar in edible oil by increasing oil palm area: Tomar

Telangana Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy said, “We appeal to the Union Government to accept the State’s oil palm development plan under the National Mission of Edible Oils – Oil Palm, and allot funds for the same.”

He wants the Union Government to announce a support price of ₹15,000 a tonne of fresh fruit bunch (FFB).

Reddy and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar outlined the State’s strategy in a memorandum submitted to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar; this included a list of demands for the promotion of oil palm cultivation in the State.

Kumar said Telangana would emerge the largest oil-palm producing area in the country in the next three to four years.

“The State has set a target of five lakh hectares for 2022-23,” he said.

The State has placed an order for 3.24 crore seed sprouts and 1,045 hectares were procured for establishing nurseries.

Cost

The State estimates that ₹1.38 lakh would be required to cultivate one acre of oil palm over four years. The government would give a subsidy of ₹31,832 as part of the ₹4,800-crore plan to promote oil palm cultivation.

Besides meeting the edible oil requirement of the State, the Government sees a potential demand from neighbouring States. “While the State consumes about 3.66 lakh tonnes of palm oil, we are producing only 38,000 tonnes. To plug the gap, we need to grow the crop in at least 2.5 lakh acres,” said a senior official of the Agriculture Ministry.

Challenges

Farmers unions, however, sound a note of caution. They point to several outstanding issues they face.

“The yields are not very encouraging. We need to provide high-yielding plant material to farmers,” Ravi Kanneganti of Rythu Swarajya Vedika told Business Line .

“Small farmers, especially, are not showing interest because they won’t get any income in the first four years after planting the seedlings. Though the Government says it will give a subsidy, it is available only in the first year,” he said.

“Pests are another concern. The whitefly attack last year caused a yield loss of up to 68 per cent in some parts,” he said.

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