Ryots take to oil palm cultivation in Mancherial

Many farmers in Mancherial district are shifting to alternative crops as advised by the State government in the wake of the Centre’s disinterest to procure paddy.

Mancherial: In a welcoming sign, many farmers in Mancherial district are shifting to alternative crops as advised by the State government in the wake of the Centre’s disinterest to procure paddy. They are now venturing into cultivation of oil palm trees, considering a slew of merits including ample scope for profits, incentives by the government and lack of damage caused by monkeys and wild boars.

Farmers in the district, traditionally, are known for growing paddy, cotton and lentils. But now, they are exploring alternative crops such as oil palm trees. They are cultivating the trees in 800 acres this year as against 221 acres in 2021. A target of 2,442 acres has been set for the district with the State promoting the trees, according to horticulture officials.

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“Farmers belonging to Chennur, Kotapalli, Jaipur, Bheemaram, Jaipur, Hajipur and Luxettipet mandals are coming forward to grow the oil crop. They are provided with saplings and drip irrigation equipment at subsidized rates. Besides, they are offered an incentive of Rs 4,200 for maintenance per annum for four years. Efforts are on to reach the target given to the district soon,” In-charge District Horticulture Officer K Sahaja told ‘Telangana Today.’

According to horticulture officials, the growers need to pay Rs 20 per sapling towards oil palm risk mitigation. The government is contributing Rs 193 per each sapling as a measure to promote the crop. Similarly, it is extending drip irrigation facility for 100 per cent subsidy to farmers from SC, ST communities, while 90 per cent of discount is given to farmers from BC community.

A farmer can register yield of 12 tonnes of seeds per acre for a period of 35 years if he follows prescribed steps. They can make huge revenues as the oil palm seed is sold for Rs 10,000 per quintal. They don’t need to be worried about the damage of the crop caused by monkeys, wild boars, birds and natural calamities.

Madishetti Kalavati, a progress farmer from Dandepalli said that she was growing the trees in her 2 acres of land since 2021. She stated that she was earlier raising the cotton crop but shifted to the oil seeds taking the advantages into consideration. She added that authorities of the Horticulture department were giving insights and guiding her in cultivating the cash crop.

Adilabad suitable for growing oil palm trees: Experts

A team of experts belonging to Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research surveyed the district for finding suitable mandals of Adilabad, Nirmal, Mancherial and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts for growing the trees in 2020. The team assessed that the potential area of cultivation of the oil palm trees was 73,000 hectares in the erstwhile Adilabad district.

As per the findings of the survey, 33,520 hectares of Nirmal, 15,000 hectares in Adilabad was suitable for growing the trees, while 12,800 hectares in Mancherial and 12,221 hectares from Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts were conducive to raise the oil palm trees. Incidentally, Chennur MLA Balka Suman is promoting the cultivation by regularly conducting awareness programmes.