The State government has set in motion an ambitious plan to promote oil palm cultivation in the State in a big way by offering subsidies to farmers to help them earn sustainable income and transform Telangana into a hub of oil palm cultivation, said Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister E. Dayakar Rao.
The Minister along with around 200 farmers from the old undivided Warangal district visited an oil palm plantation at Allipalli and the TSOILFED’s oil palm factory at Apparaopeta in Dammapeta mandal and the oil palm nursery in Aswaraopeta mandal as part of a field visit on Thursday.
The field visit was organised to familiarise the farmers of the erstwhile composite Warangal district with the oil palm cultivation methods, processing of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) for extracting palm oil and the enormous potential of the edible oil plantation to ensure sustainable income for farmers, meet the country’s edible oil requirements and reduce dependence on imports for palm oil.
Speaking at an interactive session with the farmers at Allipalli village, the Minister said the State government has decided to set up oil palm factories at various places in the State at an estimated cost of ₹ 150 crore to boost oil palm cultivation, create requisite facilities to process FFBs and promote palm oil production.
An oil palm nursery will be set up in the old undivided Warangal district to encourage farmers take up oil palm cultivation on an extensive scale by availing the subsidies, the Minister said.
Aswaraopeta MLA M. Nageswara Rao, Station Ghanpur MLA T. Rajaiah and others accompanied the Minister.
