Telangana to promote oil palm with subsidies

Hyderabad: In the wake of growing demand for palm oil in the world market, the Telangana Government proposes to give a big push to oil palm cultivation in the State. It is likely to give huge incentives, including subsidies to the farmers.

This was decided at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. According to the CMO, a delegation of ministers and legislators would visit Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia to study the farming techniques adopted in the cultivation of the oil seeds.

The government proposes to promote oil palm farming in 20 lakh acres for 2022-23. The cabinet also approved providing Rs 26,000 subsidy per acre in the first year of the farming and Rs 5,000 each for second and third years. The main objective of extending subsidies to the farmers is to attract farmers to shift to oil palm cultivation. To ensure the availability of the oil palm plants at the village level, the government decided to set up palm nurseries in coordination with the Forest Development Corporation, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development departments.

All the industrial incentives would also be extended to those who set up oil palm processing units in the State. The guidelines prescribed under the Telangana State Industrial Development and Entrepreneur Advancement and Telangana Food Processing Zones would be applied to the oil palm industry.