The crop that is raising farm incomes — and eyebrows in Telangana Premium

From a symbolic sapling to a sustainable plantation, Telangana's oil palm journey faces challenges and opportunities for economic transformation.

In Pedavegi, a non-descript dot on the map of West Godavari district in what was then undivided Andhra Pradesh, an act of symbolism took root, literally, way back in 1986. Then Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao knelt on a patch of farmland and planted a palm sapling. At that point, it may have seemed like just another photo op. But that simple act would outgrow its moment in history, rooting itself into the soil, and the future, of two States.

Four decades later, that one sapling has morphed into a sweeping oil palm culture that now sustains thousands of farmers across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

What started in the lush delta districts of West and East Godavari soon crept into Krishna, before leaping across the newly-drawn State borders into Telangana. Khammam was the first to embrace it, followed by Adilabad and Nalgonda, where farmers looked westward for inspiration, and returns too.

Among the early adopters was Gutta Venkatarama Rao, a farmer from Malkaram village in Dammapeta mandal, now in Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district. He vividly remembers the early 1990s, not just for the gamble he took, but also for what it gave back.

“It was N.T. Rama Rao’s vision of promoting oil palm cultivation that lit the spark,” says the 69-year-old. “He wanted farmers to have a stable income and the country to become self-reliant in edible oil. That is what pushed me to plant oil palm in 1994.”

And that decision paid off. For over two decades, oil palm gave him what few crops could: predictability, prosperity and peace of mind. His success did not go unnoticed. Soon, other farmers in Dammapeta followed, turning the region into a hub for oil palm cultivation.

It wasn’t long before word spread beyond Dammapeta and Aswaraopeta, also in the same district. Farmers from across the State began travelling to these mandals to see the transformation firsthand. Among them was V. Veerya, a tribal farmer from Singaram village in Mahabubabad district.