Centre’s negligent attitude troubling oil palm growers: Farmer’s body

A delegation of Telangana Palm Oil Farmers Welfare Association and farmers from Aswaraopet, Dammapet and Sathupalli areas called on the TRS Lok Sabha floor leader and Khammam MP Nama Nageswara Rao here on Sunday and submitted a memorandum.

Khammam: Centre’s negligent attitude has been causing trouble to oil palm growers in the State, complained office bearers of Telangana Palm Oil Farmers Welfare Association.

A delegation of the association and farmers from Aswaraopet, Dammapet and Sathupalli areas called on the TRS Lok Sabha floor leader and Khammam MP Nama Nageswara Rao here on Sunday and submitted a memorandum.

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The MP told them that welfare of farmers was the first priority of the TRS government and their issues would be taken to the notice of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to find a suitable solution. The Chief Minister was promoting palm oil cultivation on a large scale in Telangana.

The State government has been supporting the farmers by giving many incentives to them along with measures to offer profitable prices, Nageswara Rao said, adding he would talk to the concerned union minister about the issues, which were within the purview of the Centre.

The farmers brought to the attention of the MP that due to fluctuations in the world market, they were not getting the support price and wanted the Centre to take steps to ensure proper support price. Due to fluctuations in the world market, the farmers were suffering losses.

The delegation asked the MP to talk to the Centre and take steps to ensure that the farmers would be given a support price between Rs.15,000 to 20,000 per tonne in a precise manner. Since the import duty was 48 percent, the farmers were not able to get a minimum support price. The import duty has to be increased to help farmers to get a support price.

The association members noted that the support provided by the Telangana government was helping a lot to increase the oil palm cultivation area. But the farmers were troubled by the Centre’s failure to fix a support price, they said.

The association president Allapati Prasad, leaders Purnachandra Reddy, JV Ramana Rao, Kasani Chandramohan, T Prasad and Ch Satyanarayana were among those who met the MP. Rythu Bandhu district convener Nallamala Venkateswara Rao was present.