HYDERABAD: Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao urged Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to provide Rs 25,000 minimum support price (MSP) for oil palm. He also requested the Centre to enhance import duty on oil palm to 44 percent.
On Wednesday, Nageswara Rao met the Union minister in Delhi. During the meeting, he informed the Central minister that in the state, over 1.06 lakh acres of oil palm is being cultivated. 72 lakh farmers are dependent on this cultivation, he added. In this context, with the import duty reduced to 16.5 percent from 27.5 percent, farmers in Telangana are facing huge problems in selling their products domestically, he informed the Union minister.
The Telangana minister also asked the Centre to exempt agriculture machinery and equipment from GST.
Due to the 12 percent GST on such machinery and equipment, farmers are facing a huge financial burden, he added. The minister urged the Centre to give priority to Telangana in the recently launched Prime Minister Dhan Dhanya Krishi Yojana scheme.
He demanded the inclusion of Bhadradri Kothagudem, Narayanpet, Mulugu, Komurambheem Asifabad and Sangareddy districts under the scheme.