Adoption of Oil Palm Package of Practices and Yield Obtained by the Farmers in Karnataka, India – A Survey

Oil Palm is a potential crop to meet the vegetable oil requirements in India, because of its highest productivity with more returns to the farmers than any other edible oil yielding crop. In Karnataka the area under oil palm cultivation is 4,464 ha, and there is a great scope to increase the area further. To know the adoption pattern and to enumerate various constraints in adopting the recommended package of practices, a survey was conducted among 102 respondents selected randomly. Majority of the oil palm growers were marginal (43 per cent) and small farmers. In Karnataka, introduction of oil palm (61 per cent) was done during the years 1993 to 1998. Most of the respondents (76 per cent) were practicing basin method of irrigation with fifteen days interval (30 per cent) to irrigate the palms. Fifty per cent of the farmers were applying farmyard manure. Most of the respondents were applying lower doses of nitrogen (56 per cent), higher doses of Phosphorus (per cent) and optimum level of potassium and majority of the farmers were not applying micronutrient fertilizers. Majority of the farmers (35 per cent) were applying fertilizers in 3 split doses. The major constraints perceived by respondents were lack of sufficient irrigation water and problems in harvesting of FFB. The major suggestions given by the respondents were to provide assured power supply, financial assistance from banks and increasing the subsidy for cultivation and in installation of drip system.