One more palm oil crushing unit at Khammam soon

Khammam: In a bid to encourage farmers towards cultivating palm oil plantation to get more income as compared to other commercial crops, the State government is constructing one more palm oil crushing unit with a capacity of 25 tonnes at Kallurigudem village under the Vemsoor mandal of the distrcit.

The Telangana State Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation (TS OilFed) is spending over Rs 100 crore for the construction of the crushing unit. The land for the construction of the unit has been acquired and construction works had already begun.

The district already house two palm oil crushing units, one at Apparaopet in Dammapet mandal with a capacity of 60 tonnes and another at Aswaraopet with a capacity of 30 tonnes. The officials are planning to augment the existing crushing capacity of these units from existing 60 tonnes to 90 tonnes at Apparaopet and one more unit with 60 tonnes crushing capacity is being planned to be constructed at Aswaraopet.

The State government is planning to expand palm oil cultivation in Khammam and Bhadradri-Kothagudem districts and has already set a target of cultivating 1 lakh acres each in both the districts by end of next year. In Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, palm oil is being cultivated on around 52,115 acres, while in Khammam palm oil cultivation is being done over an area of 29,000 acres.

District Horticulture Officer J Mariyanna said, "We are encouraging farmers to cultivate palm oil crop which is more profitable as compared to other crops." He also said that the government is providing incentives in the form of cash and fertilizers to every palm oil farmer. He added the district's target was to cultivate palm oil on 16,800 acres this year, of which 13,000 acres have already cultivated.