THANJAVUR: The heavy downpour that lashed the district in the late hours of Sunday has hit kuruvai cultivation here. Farmers expressed distress and worry over the kuruvai paddy crop ready for harvest having taken a hit in the thunderous downpour. Short-term kuruvai crop, this year, was cultivated over 72,816 hectares in Thanjavur district - a record figure in 49 years.
With fine weather beaming in the district in the days preceding the downpour, the farmers looked forward to a good yield during harvest. Almost half of the harvesting had already been completed and the remaining areas picked up in the process last week, farmers said. V Silambarasan of Puthu Kalvirayanpettai, whose family cultivated kuruvai paddy over 20 acres, had arranged a harvesting machine on Sunday evening.
"However, due to heavy rains, the paddy ready for harvest over 15 acres of land got submerged," Silambarasan said, adding that the grains in paddy stalk, as a result, is most likely to get spoiled due to the moisture content. "We could not get the quantum of paddy which is valuable enough even for paying rent for the harvesters," he worried. Similar situation was recorded in several other places, including Chithirakkudi, Alakkudi, Vannarapettai and Kasanadu Pudhur.
Manimaran of Kasanadu Thekkur said that his kuruvai crops, which were ready for harvest, have had been adversely affected. Similarly, Asaithambi of Vannarapettai said that over 40 acres of cultivation in his village were submerged. According to agriculture department officials, the extent of damage would be assessed once the water recedes.
Meanwhile, in Thanjavur city, low-lying areas, including Quaid de Milleth Nagar and Periyar Nagar in Vallam were inundated, and the residents had a tough time moving out of their houses, sources said. In the 24-hour period that ended at 8.30 am on Monday, Budalur in Thanjavur district recorded 168 mm rainfall.
The rainfall recorded in other areas of Thanjavur are (in mm): Kallanai-155, Thanjavur-122, Neivasal Thenpathy-118, Vallam-117, Mannargudi-99, Tirukkattupalli-89, Pattukkottai-88, Tiruvarur-67, Needamangalam-50, Orathanadu-42, Vettikkadu-36, Madukkur-36, Pandavaiyaru head- 27, Tiruvaiyaru-19, Anaikkarai-18, Kumbakonam-12, Kurungulam-11.