MADURAI: Lack of irrigation has threatened nearly 4,000 acres of sugarcane cultivation in Melur, Vadipatti and surrounding rainfed areas of Madurai district, with farmers warning that crops could wither if the region does not receive adequate rainfall in the coming weeks.
Of the total area under sugarcane, around 1,500 acres are cultivated with green sugarcane, while the remaining area is under purple sugarcane. With irrigation wells drying up, farmers are increasingly dependent on borewells to keep the crops alive.
M Satish, a sugarcane farmer from Melur, said he had cultivated purple sugarcane on around five acres and was struggling to sustain the crop after his irrigation wells went dry. “We have two irrigation wells and two borewells.
The irrigation wells have recently gone dry, leaving us dependent on borewells. If there is no adequate rainfall in the next three weeks, the crops will dry up. The growth of newly planted sugarcane has also declined considerably due to the water shortage,” he said.
He added that several farmers in the region had already suffered crop losses due to inadequate water availability. Apart from the irrigation crisis, farmers have raised concerns over the prolonged closure of the Alanganallur National Cooperative Sugar Mill, which they said had deprived them of a reliable procurement and marketing avenue.
N Palanichamy, the president of the Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers Association and the Alanganallur National Cooperative Sugar Mill Committee, said farmers had passed a resolution demanding the immediate reopening of the mill.
“Despite a series of protests, no concrete action has been taken to reopen the cooperative sugar mill for more than eight years. The government should allocate funds to revive the mill and support sugarcane farmers. The prolonged closure has also resulted in a significant decline in the area under sugarcane cultivation,” he said.
As part of their agitation, farmers have decided to organise a walkathon from Alanganallur to the Madurai District Collectorate in the first week of September, demanding action on their irrigation concerns and the reopening of the cooperative sugar mill.