The Department of Horticulture is planning to set up a ‘centre for excellence’ at Bheemankolli in H.D. Kote taluk to promote oil palm cultivation in the State.
The centre, which is being established at a cost of Rs. 1.5 crore under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojane (RKVY), a Centrally sponsored scheme, will be equipped with facilities to hold demonstrations and training to help existing and potential oil palm growers.
Deputy Director of Horticulture H.M. Nagaraj told The Hindu that an oil palm garden had been set up on about 200 acres of land around Bheemakolli. With the purpose of expanding oil palm cultivation in the State, the centre for excellence was proposed to prepare growers to boost cultivation, he added. Mr. Nagaraj said oil palm was primarily encouraged in command areas of the State as it was a water-intensive crop. Each plant needed at least 200 litres a day. He said the oil palm garden at Taraka in the taluk, which was established about 20 years ago, was the State’s first garden. There is another such garden in the taluk. The hybrid oil palm variety developed at Taraka was named ‘Taraka’ and another hybrid variety produced there, ‘Tenara’, had been planted.
The department aims to grow over four lakh palm seedlings of ‘Tenara’ variety for distribution among growers, he disclosed. He said the Directorate of Palm Research was supporting the department to produce high-yielding palm seedlings. Mr. Nagaraj said oil palm was being cultivated on around 750 hectares in the district. In the State, it was being cultivated on around 25,000 hectares. He said Karnataka had fixed Rs. 8,000 a tonne for oil palm seeds under the market intervention scheme (MIS).
Sources in the department said the crop fetched good returns for growers, who could sell their produce to oil-producing mills. The growers could enter into a contract with the mills for the supply of produce. Some popular oil mills have proposed to establish their units in H.D. Kote and Nanjangud taluks to benefit the growers. Each palm plant starts bearing fruit from the third year and continues to yield fruits for around 35 years. About 8 to 10 tonnes of oil palm could be harvested from an acre.
