To supplement the Telangana government’s efforts to expand oil palm cultivation to more than 10 lakh acres across the State, a group of employees of the Horticulture and Panchayat Raj departments with a flair for acting have made a short film titled ‘Telangana Kalpatharuvu’.
The 10-minute film directed by S. Vijaya Kumar, Superintendent, Office of the Horticulture Officer, Kothagudem, was released by Collector D. Anudeep in Kothagudem on Monday.
Several panchayat secretaries of Yellandu mandal apart from the horticulture department staff acted in the short film which highlights the potential of the edible oil crop to offer sustainable income to farmers.
Oil palm is being raised on about 37,000 acres in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district, considered as the State’s oil palm cultivation hub. The edible oil crop is being cultivated mainly in Dammapeta, Aswaraopeta and Mulakalapally mandals in the tribal majority district.
The district has two oil palm factories of the TSOILFED, one each in Aswaraopeta and Dammapeta mandals besides an oil palm nursery in Aswaraopeta mandal.
The short film is intended to motivate farmers to take up oil palm cultivation by availing subsidy to earn a sustainable income, said G. Marianna, District Horticulture and Sericulture Officer, Bhadradri-Kothagudem.
Bringing more area under oil palm cultivation will not only prove a boon to the farmers but also reduce the country’s dependence on importing edible oil, he noted saying the short film highlights the need for growing oil palm as an alternative crop as part of crop diversification as it is resistant to pests and remunerative.
As many as 238 mandals in the State have already been identified as suitable for oil palm cultivation due to favourable agro-climatic conditions, Mr Marianna said.
The awareness campaign will help buttress the State government’s efforts to expand oil palm cultivation to 30 lakh acres in the State in the next five years, he added.
Inspired by the success stories of several oil palm farmers in the district, farmers elsewhere in the State, including the old undivided Karimnagar and Adilabad districts, have embarked on oil palm cultivation in the recent past.
