Telangana Seeks Centre's Support for Oil Palm Price Protection Framework

Telangana's Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao is pushing for a joint appeal to the Centre, proposing an assured price of Rs 25,000 per tonne for Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) in oil palm cultivation.

The move aims to provide greater income security for farmers investing in the long-gestation crop. Oil palm cultivation requires substantial upfront investment, and farmers must wait several years before plantations begin generating meaningful returns.

Once production begins, farm incomes remain vulnerable to fluctuations in international crude palm oil and edible oil prices. 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, could provide growers with greater certainty over returns.

The proposal comes as Telangana accelerates oil palm cultivation under the National Mission on Edible Oils, Oil Palm. Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh remains one of India's leading oil palm-producing states.

Tummala argued that 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.