Admitting that the Mettur dam could not be opened in time for irrigation this year too, due to meagre storage (23.68 feet against 120 feet), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister ‘Edappadi’ K Palaniswami on Monday announced special measures worth Rs 56.92 crore to ensure kuruvai cultivation to the maximum extent possible in delta areas.
The measures include supply of three-phase power for 12 hours per day, as has been given during the past five years, and distribution of bio-fertilisers and micro-nutrients free of cost to the farmers. Besides, pulse cultivation will be encouraged to cope with the water shortage. Decisions to this effect were taken at a high-level meeting held at the Secretariat. The Chief Minister also said that with the available water resources, paddy cultivation could be taken up only on 1.60 lakh acres, and as an alternative, pulses would be cultivated on 1.32 lakh acres.
With a view to complete transplantation of paddy saplings in time and to simplify weeding operations, Rs 4,000 per acre would be given for undertaking mechanised transplantation. Besides, to improve the soil quality and to increase the yield, Rs 520 per acre would be provided for applying zinc sulphate and bio-fertilisers, while Rs 200 per acre would be given for applying micronutrients.
Further, to encourage cultivation of pulses among the delta farmers, Rs 960 per acre would be given towards getting quality pulse seeds. Also, Rs 640 per acre would be given for applying bio-fertilisers.
Besides these measures, Rs 500 per acre would be given for commencing basic agricultural operations for Kuruvai crop and 1,300 units of PVC pipes would be given. For each pipe, Rs 21,000 would be given as grant. Further, Rs 1,200 per acre would be provided as grant for improving soil quality in Vennar region, the tail-end area of Cauvery delta.
Generally, during Kuruvai season, paddy cultivation is taken up in 3.15 lakh acres in six delta districts apart from Karur and Pudukkottai, while pulse varieties are cultivated in 30,000 acres in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts. To cope with the shortage of water, encouraging pulse cultivation have become a necessity.
But farmers are not very forthcoming on Kuruvai cultivation, with many citing poor storage levels of Mettur dam. With the State government continuing its Kuruvai special package for yet another year, farmers in groundwater-friendly blocks in delta region are likely to take up the short term crop.
“Kuruvai is still a risky prospect considering the circumstances. Since drilling a bore well costs Rs 1 to 2 lakh, the special package should have included subsidy for bore wells in areas where groundwater is abundant. Since paddy is a water-intensive crop, the government should have carried out a survey of ground water levels and persuaded farmers to take up alternate crop,” said Ayilai Sivasuriyan, district secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam.
Like last year, the latest Kuruvai package envisages 12 hours of three-phase power supply to agricultural lands and distribution of HDPE pipes. But beneficiaries are yet to be identified.
Puliyur A Nagarajan, president of TMC farmers’ wing, said, “Farmers are burdened with debts and some have taken extreme decisions resulting. As such, wooing farmers to cultivate and later abandoning them is a dangerous precedent.”