Kishan Reddy fact-checks TS palm oil subsidy claims

Hyderabad: Union Minister of Culture G Kishan Reddy has said that 15 per cent of land potential for cultivation of palm oil across the country is in Telangana and the Centrally-sponsored scheme of National Masson on Edible Oil- Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) will immensely benefit the State farmers.

His statement comes close on the heels of Finance Minister T Harish Rao announcing that the government is to provide Rs 1 lakh subsidy per acre for palm oil cultivation.

Reddy took to Twitter on Thursday explaining that under PM Narendra Modi's leadership, the government approved NMEO-OP for five years from 2021-2022.

He said the main objective of the scheme is to reduce dependency on foreign imports by increasing the area of oil palm cultivation to 10 lakh hectares from 3.5 lakh hectares during 2019-20 by 2025-26--an additional 6.50 lakh hectares.