State to fix oil palm price before season

Vijayawada: Minister for Agriculture Kakani Govardhana Reddy said oil palm price will be fixed before the commencement of the season. He said the price will be fixed in favour of both farmers and factories.

Addressing a review meeting with oil palm company representatives and farmers at the secretariat on Friday, the Minister said oil extraction ratio will be taken into consideration while fixing the price of oil palm. Best quality oil palm fruit is being produced in AP, pointed out B Veeraraghava Rao, president of State Oil Palm Cultivators Association. Oil palm company representatives KVS Prasad and Asis Goenka said farmers will get benefit if the government provides viability gap funding.

Horticulture Commissioner SS Sridhar, AP Oil Fed MD C Babu Rao, additional director K Balaji Naik and others were present.