HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has decided to expand oil palm cultivation to another one lakh acres in the State. According to a recent survey, 206 mandals spread over 18 districts in the State were found suitable for the cultivation of the crop.
The extent of the suitable land is around 2.78 lakh hectares.
The State government had previously written to the Centre, requesting permission to raise oil palms in these new areas, apart from the four districts in which it was already being done.
Accordingly, a team visited the State on Thursday and will tour the districts till November 30 and submit a report to the Central government.
Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy held a review meeting with the visiting Central government officials here on Thursday, where he stated that the State has already taken farmers from Wanaparty, Gadwal, Narayanper, Nagarkurnool, Mahbubnagar, Nizamabad and Mahabubabad to Kothagudem to show them the oil palm factory being run by the TS Oilfed.
The Minister said that the country stood in fourth place in the world in the production of edible oils, whereas Telangana stood in second place in the country in oil palm production.
He also said that the consumption of palm oil was high in the country, as it is available at a reasonable price. But even though the country required 21 million tonnes of edible oil, the production was just seven million tonnes.
“The country has been exporting the remaining oil by spending Rs 75,000 crore,” the Minister said. Of the total edible oil being imported by the country, 60 per cent was oil palm only, he stated, adding that if the oil palm cultivation was extended to 28 lakh hectares more, the country could save foreign reserves on edible oil imports.
According to the statistics available in 2017-18, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Odisha were cultivating oil palm in 3.04 lakh hectares, with a production of 2.65 lakh tonnes of palm oil.
Telangana farmers were producing 15 to 25 tonnes of palm oil every year in 50,000 acres in Khammam, Kothagudem, Nalgonda and Suryapet districts. Telangana had been importing around 3 lakh tonnes of edible oil every year.
If the oil palm cultivation was increased to another one lakh acres, the import of palm oil could be stopped, said Niranjan Reddy. He also assured that oil palm companies would directly purchase the produce from the farmers.