THANJAVUR/TIRUVARUR: While welcoming the special kuruvai package announcement, farmers in the Cauvery delta region wanted it to be disbursed to beneficiaries at the earliest and preferred a higher acreage covered under the back-end subsidy scheme for machine transplantation.
Tamil Nadu farmers’ association state general secretary P S Masilamani said, “The inputs and the assistance under the package need to be disbursed at the earliest.”
R Sukumaran of Orathanadu in Thanjavur stressed that there should be no political interference in disbursing the benefits. He also pointed out the need for uninterrupted power supply as farmers are cultivating kuruvai paddy now using only groundwater. Cauvery water is yet to be released from Mettur dam for irrigation in the delta region.
G Srinivasan of Ganapathy Agraharam opposed limiting the backend subsidy of Rs 4,000 per acre for machine transplantation to only a total of one lakh acres. Assistance for one lakh acres spread over six districts is inadequate, he said. He also noted that there was no announcement this year on the free distribution of fertilisers like urea and potash under the package.
N V Kannan, Thanjavur district secretary of the farmers’ association, echoed Srinivasan’s views on the subsidy for machine transplantation. “Farmers have taken up cultivation despite a lot of limitations and hence the subsidy needs to be provided to all those who have taken up kuruvai cultivation in the delta districts,” he said.