Oil palm cultivation target to be scaled up to 1.76 lakh acres next year: Nirajan Reddy

Hyderabad: State Agriculture Minister S Nirajan Reddy said on Friday that the target of oil palm cultivation would be scaled up from the current 30,849 acres to 1.78 lakh acres by March 2023.

The minister reviewed the progress of the oil palm, oil seeds and status of the rabi crops along with agriculture secretary Raghunandan Rao and other officials here.

The minister said the State was aiming to establish a stable agriculture sector to increase income for farmers and create large-scale livelihoods from the sector. Accordingly, the State wants to encourage new varieties of crops considering the changes taking place in the sector.

Reddy said the government has given top priority to oil palm as part of encouraging oil seeds cultivation in Telangana. In all the State is targeting to grow oil palm on 20 lakh acres; It would not only yield thousands of crores in revenue to the State, but will also help in setting up industries for oil palm byproducts and to create jobs.

Due to unfavourable climate this year, the minister said, oil palm is grown only on 30,849 acres. The same would be expanded to 1.78 lakh acres by March next year. He asked officials to ensure all efforts are made to successfully cultivate oil palm for getting 100 per cent results. He asked the horticulture and agriculture officials to work in coordination with the designated agencies of each district.

Reddy clarified that the government has made funds available to encourage farmers to adopt oil palm cultivation and for tools needed for micro irrigation. He asked official to ensure that farmers receive the subsidy immediately and to hold meetings for ten days to discuss their problems in depth and finalise action plans. Reddy also asked them to inspect whether oil palm nurseries are grown as per rules.

The minister asked the companies to appoint one person for every 1,000 acres. Besides achieving the current year's target, the companies should also ensure supply of oil palm plants to farmers in a systematic manner for 2023-24 and 2024-25.