THANJAVUR/TIRUVARUR/MAYILADUTHURAI: Rain, unexpected and an excess of it, largely shaped the year 2022 in terms of agriculture in TN. While the new year kicked off with heavy rains lashing TN’s ‘rice bowl’, Thanjavur, impacting standing samba and thaladi paddy, it was rain again, pounding catchments, that led to Cauvery water for aiding irrigation in the delta region to be released as early as May 24—a first since Independence.
Despite kuruvai acreage exceeding target, unseasonal downpour soon forced farmers to demand the Centre for a relaxation in moisture content norms for procurement, while record monsoon rains that followed wiped out cultivation over 34,000 hectares in the tail-end region of Cauvery’s trail.
Although intermittent rain spells like that on New Year’s day impacted standing samba and thaladi paddy in Thanjavur that were planted last year, the average yield was 5,550kg per hectare after harvest in early 2022 as against 3,100 kg/ha in 2021. It, however, was not the case with kuruvai cultivation.
With the storage level at Stanley Reservoir at Mettur in Salem district almost at maximum, Cauvery water for kuruvai cultivation in the delta region was released weeks ahead of its customary date of June 12. Following the release on May 24, 72,816 hectares of arable land in Thanjavur were brought under kuruvai paddy cultivation compared to 66,454 ha last year—a record figure in the last 49 years.
In Tiruvarur district the acreage stood at 61,588 ha as against 54,800 ha in 2021. Mayiladuthurai and Nagapattinam recorded kuruvai paddy coverage of around 37,000 ha and 17,000 ha respectively. The average yield, however, dropped to 6,000 kg/ha in Thanjavur as compared to 6,470 kg/ha last year. This was largely due to unseasonal rain, pointed out farmers, whose difficulty of making their harvested crop meet the moisture content norm for procurement was subsequently taken up with the Centre by TN government.
Following an inspection, the Centre relaxed the moisture content level norm to 19%, as against the earlier 17%. This, coupled with the increased acreage, boosted kuruvai paddy procurement by TN Civil Supplies Corporation to 2.23 lakh tonnes in Thanjavur compared to 1.98 lakh tonnes last year. Monsoon, too, struck cultivation, with episodes like 44-cm rainfall pounding Mayiladuthurai’s Sirkazhi in a single day in November leaving samba and thaladi crops in the tail-end region inundated.
It has been a matter of excess with regard to Karnataka’s release of Cauvery water for TN as well, so much so that Mettur dam was full for a third time this year in December. While samba and thaladi paddy acreage at 1,39,512 hectares has seen a marginal rise from last year’s 1.37 lakh hectares in Thanjavur, farmers say assessing the returns would have to wait until harvest time, as the possibility of rainfall then looms large.