Hyderabad: Telangana Finance Minister Harish Rao along with Agriculture Minister Niranjan Reddy and OilFed Chairman Kancharla Ramakrishnareddy laid the foundation stone for the construction of a 60-acre palm oil factory at Narmatta village in the Nangunnur zone at a cost of Rs 300 crore.
Minister Harish Rao said that this was the first palm oil factory in the state to come up after the creation of a separate state of Telangana. He lauded chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and said that it was because of his efforts that water was being supplied by the mission Bagiratha and Kaleswaram lift irrigation scheme along with 24-hour electricity.
He said, “In an effort to increase the income of farmers in Siddipet, the area has been declared as an oil palm district with the help of Minister Niranjan Reddy. We will provide a subsidy of Rs 80,000 per acre. These subsidies have also been increased for drip companies.”
With this move, the minister said that the salary of a government employee and that of an oil palm farmer will be the same. “Our country imports palm oil worth lakhs of crores from other countries. Oil crops’ cultivation is low in the country and there is a good demand for palm oil,” he added.
He also urged farmers to plant these oil crops, adding that about 20,000 acres were ready for planting by July 2022. “3,000 acres have already been harvested,” he added.
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