Socio - Economic impact of oil palm development scheme on farmers in Gujarat (a study with reference to Surat district of Gujarat)

Abstract

In the present day, most of the countries of the world have been leaning towards palm oil farming. This has increased production, but many problems related to stability have also come up at the global level. As India is the populous country with a high growth rate in population, there has been a constant rise in demand for edible oils as one of their primary needs. India is the biggest consumer of in Palm oil in the world with an average rate of 16 kg. per person per annum. To respond to this constantly increasing demand, it is necessary to encourage farmers to take up oil palm production. An oil palm tree starts giving production after about 3-4 years; therefore farmers must be incentivised for inter-cropping to take up oil palm farming. Besides, the farmers also should be provided facilities for irrigation by way of submersible pumps, pipelines for a lifting of irrigation water, boar wells wherever necessary etc. In South Gujarat, lack of irrigation facilities hinders agricultural activities among small farmers. Besides the farmers also lack technical knowledge. It is, therefore, necessary that the Government should make some efforts in this direction also. The Horticulture Department should also see that the farmers get proper, adequate prices for their products. The government should take appropriate measures for encouraging oil palm farming, which will help address the issue of shortage of supply and simultaneously it will result in increased income for the farmers, bringing up their standard of living, meetings the needs of edible oil in the country and also saving of precious foreign exchange used in large scale imports.