Telangana seeks Centre’s support for oil palm price protection framework
Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao urged Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to seek a minimum assured price of ₹25,000 per tonne for oil palm FFBs. The proposal aims to protect farmers from global price volatility, improve income security and encourage domestic oil palm cultivation.
Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao has called for a coordinated effort with Andhra Pradesh to urge the Centre to establish a minimum assured price of Rs 25,000 per tonne for oil palm Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs), seeking greater income security for farmers investing in the long-gestation crop.
The proposal comes as Telangana accelerates oil palm cultivation under the National Mission on Edible Oils–Oil Palm, while neighbouring Andhra Pradesh remains one of India’s leading oil palm-producing states. Tummala said greater coordination among oil palm-growing states would be critical to building a more stable and sustainable ecosystem for the crop.
Oil palm cultivation requires substantial upfront investment, while farmers must wait several years before plantations begin generating meaningful returns. Once production begins, however, farm incomes remain vulnerable to fluctuations in international crude palm oil and edible oil prices, exposing growers to volatility beyond their control.
Tummala proposed a minimum assured price of Rs 25,000 per tonne for FFBs, supported by a mechanism for periodic revisions based on changes in cultivation costs. Such a framework, he argued, could provide growers with greater certainty over returns while insulating them from sharp swings in global commodity markets.
The move could also help strengthen farmer confidence and encourage further expansion of oil palm cultivation at a time when India is seeking to reduce its dependence on imported edible oils. A more predictable pricing framework, combined with coordinated policy support from oil palm-growing states, could play an important role in balancing the country’s ambitions for domestic edible oil production with the economics of cultivation at the farm level.
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Source : Agro Spectrum
