Hyderabad: Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao said the State government was initiating various steps to encourage farmers in a big way for the cultivation of oil palm and oil seed in the days to come.
Speaking at the global roundtable organised by the Indian Vegetable Oil Producers Association, Minister KT Rama Rao said the efforts are being made to convert 20 lakh acre of paddy fields into the oil palm in the next five years.
With this, the government can able to reduce the import dependence for edible oils and can also protect farmers from the glut in the paddy production, he said.
The State government has decided to increase the production of oil palm, groundnut, sunflower, soybean and other oil seeds.These will also contribute to the self-sufficiency of the nation and aid in cutting down the edible oil import bill. These will also serve as the raw materials for edible oil units that come up in the State, which successfully managed to increase its green cover to 31.7 percent from the earlier 24 percent, the Minister said.
Agriculture Minister Niranjan Reddy and others were present.
