THANJAVUR / TIRUVARUR: Widespread rain has affected harvest ready samba paddy crop in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts. During the 24 hours that ended at 8.30 am on Sunday Pandavayaru head in Tiruvarur recorded the highest rainfall of 53 mm.
According to officials only 10,000 hectares out of 1.33 lakh hectares have been harvested so far. There have been reports of crop damage from across the two districts, officials said.
“Crop which would have been harvested in 4-5 days are damaged in areas like Maruthuvakkudi, Umayalpuram, Swamimalai, Alavanthipuram, Kottaiyur and Nagudi “ said T Murugesan, a farmer in Maruthuvakudi. Water, however, has started draining as there was no rain on Sunday. But the crop which has fallen would be affected by discolouration and traders would not buy paddy, farmers feared. Not many direct procurement centres have opened yet.
P S Masilamani, state deputy secretary of Tamil Nadu Farmers association, said the unexpected rain had wrecked havoc for farmers. “The crop which fell on the field could not be harvested using machines and only manual labourers had to be deployed”, he said adding this would increase cost of harvest.
“If we could harvest an acre with Rs. 2,500 using machines, for harvesting manual labourer the cost would be anywhere between Rs. 4,000 - Rs. 4,500 per acre”, he explained.
Moreover the crop which are to be harvested in next 15-20 days were also affected as there have been pollen shedding and grains shedding which would result in heavy yield loss.
“The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) has been procuring the paddy with only upto 17% moisture. Due to the rains the moisture content should be relaxed upto 23%”, he added.
Officials of the agriculture department concur the farmers would have to shell more for harvesting due to the falling of the mature crop on to the field.