Oil palm growers seek remunerative price

Vijayawada: The oil palm farmers in the State are crying for the minimum support price (MSP) to meet the production cost. They feel that there is around Rs 4,000 difference between the price offered to them and the expenditure they incur on every fresh fruit bunch (FFB). The crop that was introduced in the State in 1990 with the government offering Rs 23,000 subsidy for hectare is now spread over 1.45 lakh hectares in all the 13 districts.

According to official estimate, Andhra Pradesh contributes 70 per cent of the oil palm cultivated in the country and the crop is mostly cultivated in Krishna and West Godavari districts where the farmers have converted their lands to suit this crop with drip irrigation and other facilities. “There has always been some difference between the expenditure we incur and the price we were paid but still we have been losing every year,” said Bobba Veera Raghava Rao, president of the Andhra Pradesh State Oil Palm Farmers’ Welfare Association.

“The Central government had requested us to take up oil palm cultivation in 1990 when the country faced severe oil crisis and when imports were costly,” Raghava Rao recalled. He said that the officials have held series of camps for the farmers and encouraged them to take up oil palm cultivation. “Finally, when we are into the cultivation for two decades the government is turning a blind eye to our problems,” he alleged.

The government had paid Rs 2,000 for one FFB (which is a tonne) in the year 2000 and after series of protests from the farmers, the price had gone up to Rs 8,441 an FFB in 2014, which had again come down to Rs 5,300 in 2015. With the farmers agitating for remunerative price every year, the government had asked the Director of Oil Palm Research (DOPR) at Pedavegi in West Godavari district to study the real expenditure incurred on oil palm and the price offered to them in the market.

After a careful study, the DOPR had recommended Rs 5,547 an FFB in 2007 and Rs 8,145 in 2010. “But this price was never honoured by the buyers and the price offered to us had always been very low,” Raghava Rao regretted. Even as the existing farmers are crying for remunerative price, the Central government is extending Rs 23,000 subsidy to the new farmers to take up oil palm cultivation. The existing farmers supply their FFBs to the 13 factories located in Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Nellore districts.

“The downward trend in the price has been causing distress among the farmers. Unless it is addressed now and the farmers are not supported, the day of the oil palm farmers committing suicides is not too far,” Raghava Rao feared. He further said that Karnataka, Goa and Gujarat where oil palm is cultivated were paying the remunerative price to the farmers for the FFBs.

He wanted the Andhra Pradesh government and the Central government to reduce the oil imports and spend the money to help the farmers by paying the remunerative price of Rs 9,500 a tonne FFB for the year 2016.