Telangana nudging farmers to shift to oil palm: Minister KT Rama Rao

Over the next five years, effort will be to convert 20 lakh acre paddy systemically towards oil palm with support and guidance from the Government, said IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao.

Hyderabad: Telangana Government is asking the farmers to move away from paddy cultivation and opt for oil palm and oil seed cultivation. This will help in reducing the import dependence for edible oils and also protect the farmers from the glut in the paddy production. Over the next five years, effort will be to convert 20 lakh acre paddy systemically towards oil palm with support and guidance from the Government, said IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao.

Speaking at the global roundtable organised by the Indian Vegetable Oil Producers Association, he said the State has worked meticulously on the Kaleshwaram project and this has added over 40 lakh acre command area (the extent of the area which can be reliably irrigated from an irrigation source). The area under cultivation more than doubled in Telangana in seven years. The paddy production has now touched 25.9 million metric tonne (MT) in the State from the earlier 6.8 million MT, recording a close to four-fold increase. The production has resulted in the Food Corporation of India expressing its helplessness in procuring additional stocks.

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The Telangana Government has decided to increase the production of oil palm, groundnut, sunflower, soybean and other oil seeds.These will also contribute to the self-sufficiency of the nation and aid in cutting down the edible oil import bill. These will also serve as the raw materials for edible oil units that come up in the State, which successfully managed to increase its green cover to 31.7% from the earlier 24%.

Increasing domestic production is more important than ever before as the world population has crossed 800 crore and India, after China, is the most populous nation. The consumption patterns will change with the increase in population, he said.

Pitching Telangana as an ideal investment destination to the members of the Vegetable Oil Producers Association, Rama Rao said the State will offer tailor-made incentives based on the investment proposals. The State has also earmarked about 10,000 acre for the special food processing zones that the State is planning. Telangana will meet or beat the offerings from other States. The industrial approvals in the State are through the single window system TS-iPASS, which so far has issued 20,000 approvals worth $ 35 billion and created employment to 16 lakh people.

Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said about 220 million tonne edible oil was needed every year to feed the global population. The demand in India was about 22 million tonne but the domestic production was about 10 to 12 million and the remaining deficit was met through imports. An estimated Rs 90,000-1,00,000 crore was spent by the country in importing the edible oils, of which palm oil accounted for about 67%.

The per capita consumption of edible oil was 19 kg. With a huge deficit in demand, it was important for the country to look for ways to be self-sufficient. Telangana identified the importance and potential of this and has drawn out a plan to support oil palm in about 20 lakh acre in the long term. About 40,000 acre has been achieved so far of the targeted 1.75 lakh acre this year. Contribution of Telangana will be significant at the national level aiding to cut the import bill. Agriculture and allied activities continue to provide large scale employment in the State.