TIRUCHY: Following the announcement of water release from Mettur and also decent rainfall, farmers at large are preparing for kuruvai cultivation this season. To help the farmers, the Agriculture department is to identify filtration points alongside delta blocks to create community nurseries through which they can start transplanting directly once water from Mettur arrives.
The Tamil Nadu government announced water would be released on June 12 for irrigation. With the water levels above 100 feet, prominent flow is expected throughout the upcoming kuruvai and samba seasons.
Farmers have started primary preparation works across all six delta blocks in the district. The actual area under kuruvai cultivation in the district was about 4,500 hectares. However, due to poor water availability, it shrank to 3,300 hectares in Tiruchy. Most farmers would avoid kuruvai cultivation and be more involved in samba due to the water issue. But as the Cauvery is expected to flow earlier, many farmers are expected to be involved in kuruvai cultivation this year.
Ashokan, Joint Director, Agriculture department, said, “As Cauvery water would arrive early, we have planned to increase kuruvai cultivation to 3,500 hectares, 200 hectares more than previous years.” He added that the department has been asked to identity filtration points at all prominent locations to start community nurseries. Farmers can then collectively grow saplings and once the water arrives, can start transplanting works.
Though farmers are interested in cultivating medium-duration varieties like ADT43, CoR51 and ADT16, the department is advising them to opt for the short-duration Co51 (90-day crop). This would allow farmers to harvest in October and be involved in samba cultivation. Thus far, five metric tonnes of Co51 has been distributed to farmers and about 27 tonnes of paddy seeds are available in the district. Also, the district has 32 tonnes of CoR51 and 100 tonnes of ADT43 and ADT16.
“Though there is needed volume of fertilisers available for kuruvai needs, under the guidance of the government, we have requested fertiliser manufacturers to bring in additional stocks of urea, potassium and diammonium phosphate for additional needs,” an official said.
Speaking to TNIE, Muruganantham, a farmer from Adhavathur, said, “After a summer gale caused us losses, we have removed damaged banana trees. As Cauvery water is expected to arrive earlier this season, we plan to reduce banana cultivation and have started works for kuruvai cultivation this season after almost half a decade.”