The agriculture and allied sectors have received over 10.5% of the total outlay of the budget for 2022-23 as the government has allocated ₹24,254 for agriculture sector and another ₹2,769 crore for allied sectors. Although the government has not proposed any new initiatives, it has allocated ₹1,000 crore for promotion of oil palm cultivation.
Rythu Bandhu (₹14,800 crore) and Rythu Bima (₹1,466 crore) scheme garner a lion’s share of the total outlay for agriculture sector. In his budget speech, Minister for Finance T. Harish Rao said the allocation of ₹1,000 crore was to encourage farmers to take up oil palm cultivation. It is being planned to be promoted in 2.5 lakh acres in 2022-23.
Telangana stands sixth in terms of oil palm area in the country with the plantation crop covered in 53,455 acres. However, it stands first in terms of productivity at 8 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches of oil palm per acre and also highest oil extraction rate of 19.22% in 2020-21. The production of crude palm oil in the State is about 0.45 lakh tonnes against the requirement of 3.66 lakh tonnes, according to the socio economic outlook.
