Malpractices under palm cultivation scheme cost state Rs 2.4 crore per year

Dammapet: Farmers from Andhra Pradesh are making use of F-code cards, which are meant for tenant farmers engaging in palm cultivation in the state, to sell their produce to the TS Oilfed (Telangana cooperative oil seeds growers’ federation) costing it Rs 2.4 crore annually, sources said.

With Telangana paying farmers Rs 2,000 more per tonne of palm, the practice has cropped up in factories of Apparaopet in Dammapet mandal and areas under Aswaraopet mandal, they said.

Around 1,200 F-code cards — 500 in Dammapet and 700 in Aswaraopet — were issued to AP-based farmers, but they have failed to take up palm cultivation in Telangana but are instead bringing in the produce from the neighbouring state due to a lack of checks.

Sources said there have been instances wherein a farmer with a tenancy agreement for a 10-acre land supplied 300 tonnes of palm fruit, which is abnormal produce.

N. Suresh, a palm cultivator in Sitanagaram of Chintalapudi mandal, a border village in Andhra Pradesh, said that the palm farmers were anticipating a drop of Rs 3000 per tonne, due to which those having F-code cards were selling the produce in Telangana.

While the crude palm oil price per tonne is Rs 20,421 in AP and Rs 20,267 in Telangana, the difference in the price set for procurement one month in advance is not recovered in the state, which AP does.

Farmers in Telangana repeatedly demanded that malpractices in the procurement be curbed. TS Oilfed chairman Ramakrishna Reddy promised action around eight months back, but there has been no action, farmers said.