THANJAVUR: For the farmers of Tamil Nadu’s rice bowl, the delta region, it’s always a case of too little or too much. Acres of paddy that go waste every year waiting for Cauvery water, perished this year too. Not because there was no water, but because there was too much of it.
For Thanjavur district, the year 2021 began with a deluge which continued throughout the month. The showers affected nearly one lakh hectares of samba and thalady crops that were in flowering and harvesting stage. The unseasonal showers gave a body blow to farmers who were recovering from the devastation caused by cyclone burevi in December 2020.
The district, which receives an average rainfall of 28mm in January, received 292mm of rain in 2021. Farmers were able to salvage crops cultivated on just 37,000 hectares of land and the samba yield dipped to 3,000 kg per hectare against the previous year’s average of 5,600 kg per hectare. Fearing unseasonal rain, some farmers who normally cultivate only long-period samba crop went for short-term kuruvai that led to a spurt in kuruvai cultivation in the district.
Normally, kuruvai is cultivated on 35,000 hectares. This almost doubled to 66,454 hectares in 2021, a first in 35 years. But the average yield of 6,470kg per hectare was almost the same as that of previous years. The farmers were also aggrieved as the government failed to cover kuruvai under the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme owing to delay in finalising contracts with insurance companies.
During kuruvai season (June to October) and at the beginning of samba season (September to January), TN farmers were worried as Karnataka failed to release Cauvery water as per the orders of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) and the Supreme Court. As of September, there was a deficit of 32tmcft of water. The situation improved in October 2021, but the year ended with heavy rain affecting samba crops. In many areas, paddy seedlings were completely damaged and had to be replanted.
But the heavy rain filled water bodies across the district. In the Cauvery delta region, which encompasses eight districts, 631 of 764 lakes and ponds maintained by the State Water Resources Department (WRD) reached 100 per cent storage level. At least 109 tanks had 90 to 100 per cent water. In 2021, farmers were also affected by shortage of fertilizers like DAP and urea. The price of potash, too, went up from Rs 1,040 to Rs 1,700 per 50 kg bag.
Farmers in Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts suffered paddy loss on 35,000 hectares due to rain in January, and lost crop on 82,000 hectares due to burevi. Of 1, 33,000 hectares of land cultivated in the districts, crop loss was recorded on 88 per cent of the land. The then AIADMK government gave Rs 20,000 per hectare as rain relief, which farmers said was insufficient.
The PM insurance scheme, too, did not help all farmers. According to officials, 43 villages in Mayiladuthurai and 80 in Nagapattinam were marked as ‘zero loss’ areas by insurance companies, sparking outrage among farmers. On November 9 this year, Nagapattinam district recorded an unprecedented 31cm of rain. Crops on at least 6,000 hectares in Mayiladuthurai district and 8,000 hectares in Nagapattinam were damaged in Northeast monsoon in November. The DMK government, too, announced a relief of Rs 20,000 per hectare.
The heavy rain in Cauvery catchment areas, however, helped boost water level in Nagapattinam district, which is solely dependent on canal irrigation due to salinity in groundwater. After a gap of eight years, the State government, too, was able to open the Mettur Dam for kuruvai cultivation in June 2020 and in 2021 due to good storage level. This boosted the kuruvai cultivation area which increased from 5,000 hectares in 2019 to around 16,000 hectares in 2021.
“More farmers are now cultivating kuruvai as they get water regularly in June. The State government should ensure that Mettur Dam is opened on time every year. Monsoon rain should be stored properly and used in February and March,” said ‘Cauvery’ V Dhanabalan, a farmer representative of Nagapattinam district.