Telangana draws up big plans for oil palm cultivation

Hyderabad: With the demand for palm oil increasing significantly, the Telangana government aims to increase oil palm cultivation in the State by over three-folds — from the existing 62,000 acres to two lakh acres by next February. For this, the government has allocated a Rs 1,000-crore outlay in the current budget. Currently, the Telangana State […]

Hyderabad: With the demand for palm oil increasing significantly, the Telangana government aims to increase oil palm cultivation in the State by over three-folds — from the existing 62,000 acres to two lakh acres by next February. For this, the government has allocated a Rs 1,000-crore outlay in the current budget.

Currently, the Telangana State Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation Limited (TSOILFED) is growing oil palm in 62,000 acres. With the government aiming to increase the cultivation, private agencies are being roped in to promote oil palm in several districts.

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The move comes in the wake of the success of the pilot project involving private agencies in cultivating oil palm in Nagarkurnool, Wanaparthy and Mahabubnagar, covering 1,000 acres. Consequently, measures have been taken to rope in more private agencies to increase the cultivation in other districts too. These agencies will take up the cultivation in 1.2 lakh acres and set up processing units.

Additionally, the Horticulture Department has floated tenders for taking up the exercise in Rangareddy, Medak, Sangareddy, Vikarabad and Medchal-Malkajigiri districts. As part of this project, the agencies will distribute seeds, grow saplings and guide farmers in cultivating the crop.

On its part, TSOILFED is gearing up to increase crop cultivation to 80,000 acres under its limits. The plantation of the sapling will commence next month and the exercise will be completed by February next year, an official from the TSOILFED said. The official said 1.2 lakh saplings had already been sown at different nurseries in the last one year. After four years, farmers can harvest the crops and reap good profits. During the four years, they can also take up inter-crop cultivation, the official explained.

The demand for palm oil has been on the rise in the country and India imports Rs 80,000 crore worth of palm oil annually. The State government is promoting oil palm cultivation as there is the availability of water and land. Further, there are no issues of pest attacks, monkey menace, or wild boar attacks.