Oil palm growers take to coconut farming
The oil palm growers, who minted money till a few years ago in both the Telugu-speaking States, are now seriously contemplating to take up coconut farming, which is relatively lucrative, instead of sustaining losses in the absence of remunerative price and support from the government.
Severe losses and absence of remunerative price for oil palm force farmers to embrace coconut farming
Hyderabad: The oil palm growers, who minted money till a few years ago in both the Telugu-speaking States, are now seriously contemplating to take up coconut farming, which is relatively lucrative, instead of sustaining losses in the absence of remunerative price and support from the government.
The oil palm farmers are now barely getting an income of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per acre annually. At an average, the farmers get a yield of around 12 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) per acre every year. With current price of the FFBs hovering around Rs 5,700 per tonne, farmers are hardly making Rs 40,000 a year.
Against this backdrop, the coconut farming appears to be a lucrative one for farmers with the availability of some superior quality seed nut and seedlings of hybrid coconut varieties like Ganga, Malayan Orange, Yellow Dwarf and Chowghat Orange Dwarf. Each acre that accommodates 60 to 70 coconut trees is expected to give a yield of over 10,000 nuts per annum, according to a conservative estimate. Based on the demand for tender coconut in the country, farmers will get anywhere between Rs 10 and Rs 12 per each nut.
As of now, the demand for acquiring coconut farms is more in the district with per acre being leased out at a price of Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 per annum. The crop will come to bearing between two and three years. The other advantage of coconut farming is that the nut is not perishable like the oil palm FFBs, which have to be processed within 48 hours of harvesting.
Oil Palm Farmers Association president (Nava Bharat Zone) Achanta Suryanarayana, who cultivates oil palm at Makkinavarigudem village under T Narasapuram mandal in West Godavari district said, “Of late, farmers started to prefer coconut over oil palm cultivation as the pricing of the latter was not remunerative.” The phenomenon is similar in Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Krishna and both Godavari districts, he added.
Dammapet (Khammam district) Oil Palm Rythu Seva Sangham president Dara Tata Rao said, “With government not ready to bail out the oil palm growers by providing Rs 9,000 per tonne to FFBs, quite a number of farmers are already mulling to switch over to coconut farming.
With conditions suited well for the intercropping of coconut, which gives an additional income of at least Rs 20,000 per acre, farmers are likely to shift to coconut farming.” Speaking to The Hans India, Horticulture Assistant Director, Khammam, K Suryanarayana said: “Of late, there was an increase in coconut farming in the district, especially in Dammapet and Aswaraopet mandals.
In all, coconut farming is being carried out in over 5,000 hectares, whereas the oil palm cultivation is in around 13,500 hectares in the district.” The government is offering a subsidy of Rs 6,250 per hectare to those farmers who take up coconut cultivation, he said.
By Adepu Mahender
