Siddipet: Former minister T Harish Rao on Sunday demanded that the Central government increase the customs duty on palm oil imports from the current 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent to get better prices to palm oil farmers in the country. He said that palm oil farmers are barely getting Rs 13,000 for one tonne of palm oil harvested. He said that the Congress government in the State is not giving Rs 4,200 per year for crop management, which was started by the BRS government. He demanded the immediate release of six months’ arrears. He said that the State government is also not continuing the drip system to palm oil farmers. After starting palm oil harvesting at Akkenapalli Village in Nanganur Mandal on Sunday, Harish Rao said that India is still dependent on imports from other countries for 60 per cent of palm oil. He said that there is a lot of potential for palm oil cultivation in the country. Rao said that the previous BRS government had set a target of increasing palm oil cultivation to 20 lakh acres in the State. Now, oil palm is cultivated in 40,000 acres in the state. He urged the Congress government to make similar efforts to increase and support oil palm cultivation in the state.
Speaking about how farmers in Khammam district are getting rich profits by cultivating cocoa as an internal crop in oil palm fields, Harish Rao said he has spoken to a leading chocolate company, which is already supporting Khammam farmers, to help Siddipet farmers also adopt cocoa as an internal crop. Cocoa farmers in Khammam are getting huge profits, as the price of a kg of cocoa has increased from Rs 250 to Rs 900. Farmers here can double their income by cultivating cocoa. He said the chocolate company will support cocoa cultivation in Siddipet soon after opening an office here, adding that an oil palm crushing company will also be opened in Narmetta by April 2025. Meanwhile, Rao demanded the Telangana government to implement the promise of Rs 500 bonus for all varieties of paddy.
Siddipet oil palm farmers prepare for first harvest:
Palm oil farmers in Siddipet district are celebrating the first harvest of their efforts in a relatively new area. The first farmers to celebrate were those in Akkenapalli village in Nanganur mandal on Sunday. Former minister T Harish Rao had laid a lot of focus on encouraging farmers in the district to take up oil palm cultivation, with the previous BRS government making oil palm one of the priority crops and launching several initiatives to encourage farmers to take up this crop. Following Harish Rao’s encouragement, 26 farmers from Akkenapalli village cultivated 168 acres three years ago (2021-22). Tippani Nagendra was one of these 26 farmers. As Nagendra’s crop was ready for harvesting, he invited Harish Rao on Sunday and got the first harvest harvested from his hands. The harvested crop will be transported to Kothagudem district for crushing. Oil palm cultivation was started in 2021-22 when farmers of Akkenapalli were the first to come forward on the call of the then government. Since then, the area under oil palm cultivation in the district has increased to 11,105 acres. 3,339 farmers cultivated it. Oil palm cultivation is spread across Siddipet, Gajwel, Dubbak, Husnabad and Jangaon constituencies in the district. Speaking to Telangana Today, Nagendra said he was happy to harvest the first crop in the district. He said he had invited Harish Rao to his farm in honour of his efforts in encouraging people to take up farming, adding that several subsidies were given to support him. The farmers will harvest in 416 acres by December this year. The crop begins to be harvested in the fourth year of planting. This year, 3 to 4 tonnes of crop is expected and in the 10th year, it can reach 12-14 tonnes, which will gradually increase year after year. It is said that this crop will keep yielding for 30 years. Farmers are expected to earn a profit of Rs 1.80 lakh from the 10th year to the 30th year. This profit is many times more than the profit farmers get from cultivating cotton, paddy and other traditional crops. Agriculture officials said that farmers can also grow other internal crops to earn additional income every year.
