State Asks Centre for Minimum Guaranteed Price for Oil Palm
Telangana urges Centre to fix minimum guaranteed price for oil palm as state emerges India's top oil palm cultivator with 3.20 lakh acres.
The Telangana government on Wednesday urged the Centre to declare a minimum guaranteed price (MGP) for oil palm, with agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao informing the Assembly that Telangana had emerged as the number one state in the country in oil palm cultivation.
Responding to a slew of questions from MLAs on horticulture and agriculture-related topics, Nageswara Rao said 88,282 farmers in the state were currently cultivating oil palm on 3.20 lakh acres. Against a target of 85,000 acres for 2026-27, planting has so far been completed on 29,053 acres, he said.
The government, he said, is also providing incentives of up to ₹46,250 per acre for oil palm cultivation, covering planting material, drip irrigation, fertilisers for the first four years, intercropping and other components. “Farm ponds can be added at no cost to farmers through the VB-G RAM G employment generation scheme,” he added.
Even as the state is demanding that the Centre fix an MGP for oil palm, under the Oil Palm Act, 1993, every oil palm company allotted a factory zone must purchase oil palm bunches every month at the price fixed by the government. He said that the current price for oil palm bunches was Rs 24,025 per tonne.
He added that four oil palm processing mills are currently operating in the state. Three operated by Oilfed at Aswaraopeta, Apparaopeta and Narmetta, and one by Godrej at Anjanapuram. Construction of six more mills is under way at Kallurugudem, Incherla, Peddarathu, Regonda/Chinnapaka, Yacharam and Shankaramreddypalli. He said that for a factory to operate efficiently, it requires crop from 10,000 acres, and called on all MLAs to encourage oil palm cultivation in their constituencies.
