Mahbubnagar to take up oil palm plantation in a big way

Mahbubnagar: The district administration has decided to encourage oil palm plantation in a big way among the farmers and had set a target of planting oil palm trees on 3,400 acres of in the district.

District Collector S Venkat Rao urged the farmers to go for oil palm plantation in a big way and advised them to take advantage of subsidies and other opportunities provided by the government under various schemes to promote the oil palm plantation.

"It is high time that the farmers take advantage of various encouraging aspects provided by the government for taking up plantation of oil palm in the district," the Collector said.

As the demand for edible oil is increasing many-fold, the best horticulture crop that is going to provided better incentives and profits in the long run is the oil palm plantation, he added.

"Therefore as per the directions of the government, we are also encouraging the farmers to take up oil palm plantations in a big way and take advantage of the incentives and concessions provided by the government for the farmers," said the Collector.

While taking part in a review meeting with the Agriculture and Horticulture departments' officials on Wednesday, he directed them to encourage more and more farmers to take up oil palm cultivation, as it is likely to bring more income and earn better profits for the farmers compared to other conventional crops.

Adding further, the Collector said that the Horticulture department must take proactive measures to encourage the farmers who are keen to take up oil palm plantation. He directed them to ensure such farmers be given priority for availing early concession in drip irrigation system and for ensuring financial assistance to the farmers for timely cultivation.

In Mahbubnagar, the district administration has targeted to plant oil palm plantation over an extent of 3,400 acres for the year 2021-22.

As against the above target, the district administration has decided to set a target of achieving plantation on over 350 acres and already 52 farmers have been identified and distributed the oil palm plants.

All these farmers have also been provided with drip irrigation systems and incentives for cultivation.

Similarly the Horticulture department has set a target of achieving plantation on over an extent of 800 acres in July this month.

For this the Collector directed the concerned officials to conduct awareness meetings at Rythu Vedikas with the farmers in villages and accordingly select interested farmers who are coming up for cultivation of the oil palm plantation and also provide awareness among them. As part of government incentive schemes, the authorities are providing oil palm plants worth Rs. 200 at only Rs. 25 per plant.

The Collector instructed the authorities of Horticulture and Agriculture departments to work in coordination and directed them to achieve the plantation target in the stipulated time period.