No hike in import duty: Union Budget gives oil palm growers of Telangana rude shock

The oil palm growers not only in the State, but in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and seveal other States were left disappointed as no attention was paid by the Centre to their pressing issues.

Hyderabad: Oil palm growers are deeply upset in Telangana as their pleas for an upward revision in the import duty on edible oils especially on palm oil was ignored by the Centre. The oil palm growers were all ears to the budget speech of union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, but there was no mention of any move to hike the import duty the State farmers were asking for quite some time.

The oil palm growers not only in the State, but in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and seveal other States were left disappointed as no attention was paid by the Centre to their pressing issues. Representations were made to the Centre involving elected representatives of the respective states well before the budget session. They pinned high hopes on the assurance they got from the Centre.

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Though the agriculture sector was accorded some importance in the budget priorities, oil palm farmers drew a blank. Telangana Oil Palm Growers Association president Alapati Ramachandra Prasad said lower import duties would mean cheaper imported palm oil. This had become a big blow for domestic growers who were facing a tough competition with growers in other countries for quite some time, resulting in a big drop in the oil palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB) prices. Literally the duty on the import of oil palm was zero as far as India was concerned.

As a result, the country has witnessed a big influx of cheaper imported palm oil and the threat of further dip in prices of domestically produced palm oil. This can render the activity of local growers non-remunerative. Import duty hikes expected in the union budget resulted in a surge in palm oil imports, which further saturated the market and put additional pressure on domestic prices.

Many growers rely heavily on the income from palm oil production. Lower prices and increased competition will seriously impact their livelihoods too as many small-scale farmers lured into oil palm cultivation were relying heavily on the income from their oil palm crops. In anticipation of an import duty hike, traders and refineries purchased a whopping 1.92 million metric tons of edible oils for July delivery, marking a 26 per cent jump from the previous month.

Seeking measures to bail out the oil palm growers in the State, representations were already made to the Centre. But as they failed to make any impact on the Centre, the Telangana Oil Palm Growers Association is trying to rope in organisations representing growers in AP also to mount pressure on the Centre once again. The Associations of Oil Palm Growers in AP had emerged more influential with the NDA coming to power in the State. A joint delegation of the farmers from the two Telugu States will meet the union Agriculture Minister very soon, Ramachandra Prasad said.