TS government encourages farmers to grow oil palm: KTR

Hyderabad: IT Industry Minister KT Rama Rao said the state government has launched various measures in the coming days to encourage farmers to grow oil palm and oilseeds on a large scale.

At a global roundtable hosted by the Indian Vegetable Oil Producers Association, Minister KT Rama Rao said efforts were underway to convert 200,000 acres of paddy fields to oil palm over the next five years.

This will allow the government to reduce its dependence on imported cooking oil and also protect farmers from over-producing rice, he said.

The state government has decided to increase production of oil palms, groundnuts, sunflowers, soybeans and other oilseeds. They also contribute to the self-sufficiency of the country and help reduce the cost of importing cooking oil. They also serve as raw materials for the edible oil units coming up in the province, which has successfully increased the green space from 24% before to 31.7%, the minister said.

Agriculture Minister Niranjan Reddy was present.