Telangana seeks higher import duty on palm oil, more fertiliser subsidy

New Delhi, Sept 3 (PTI) Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao on Wednesday demanded the Centre to raise import duty on crude palm oil to encourage domestic cultivation and increase subsidy for non-urea fertilisers.

Rao raised these demands in a meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the national capital.

In Telangana, 71,985 farmers are cultivating palm oil across 63,567 hectares, with efforts underway to bring another 50,000 acres under cultivation in 2025-26.

"In this context, import duty has become a problem," Rao said, appealing to the Union Minister to consider raising import duty on oil palm to 44 per cent to provide a minimum support price of Rs 25,000 per tonne for oil palm farmers.

"This will increase palm oil cultivation in the state and strengthen the rural economy," he said in a statement.

To maintain price balance between urea and non-urea fertilisers, the Telangana Minister demanded the central government increase subsidy on phosphorus and potassium under the Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme.

"This will be very beneficial for farmers and will provide an opportunity to protect the soil," the minister said.

Increasing the subsidy is the best way to protect farmers from the impact of international developments, he added.

He further demanded inclusion of Bhadradri Kothagudem, Narayanpet, Mulugu, Komurambheem Asifabad and Sangareddy districts under the recently launched Pradhan Mantri Dhan-Dhanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY) scheme.

Farmers in these districts are cultivating rain-fed crops and due to limited infrastructure, the yield is low.

"Including these districts in the PMDDKY scheme will increase agricultural production and benefit farmers," he said.

In the meeting, Rao told the Union Minister that 12 per cent GST on agricultural machinery is increasing the financial burden on Telangana farmers.

This has become particularly troublesome for small and marginal farmers, impacting micro irrigation equipment, tractors and other agricultural implements. "At a time when the use of modern agricultural methods and machinery should be encouraged, the high GST rate has become troublesome for farmers. Due to this, farmers will have to rely on traditional methods," he said, demanding waiver of 12 per cent GST on agricultural machinery and micro irrigation equipment. PTI LUX LUX DR DR