30/09/2015 (Hindu Business Line) - Agitated over the poor processing facilities, a group of aggrieved oil palm growers allegedly set ablaze a few Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) in a symbolic protest during a demonstration held in front of the oil palm factory in Aswaraopeta on Tuesday.

Several oil palm growers from Aswaraopeta and Dammapeta mandals took part in the stir held under the aegis of the joint forum of various farmers’ organisations.

Addressing the demonstrators, the speakers deplored that the oil palm growers were incurring huge losses due to the failure of the management of the oil palm factory to process the harvested FFBs promptly.

They charged the officials concerned with citing the low crushing capacity of the processing unit and making the oil palm farmers to wait for long hours with the FFBs at the entrance of the factory, unmindful of the perishable nature of the FFBs.

They alleged that the inordinate delay on the part of the factory management in accepting the FFBs for crushing was resulting in damage of huge quantity of harvested FFBs daily.

They demanded that the government should make alternative arrangements to ensure prompt processing of the entire produce of oil palm growers.

A section of the aggrieved oil palm growers wanted the government to speed up the process of setting up the newly sanctioned oil palm factory in Dammapeta mandal.

The representatives of the joint forum Pullaiah, Prabhakar and others spoke.