NAGAPATTINAM: At a time when the reduced outflow of Cauvery water from Mettur dam has raised concerns among farmers, the recent rain in the coastal delta districts has come as relief for their kuruvai paddy cultivation. Much of the kuruvai paddy cultivated in Nagapattinam district is in the vegetative stage since cultivation commenced about four weeks ago.
Meanwhile, the crop in Mayiladuthurai district is in the ripening stage since cultivation commenced in May itself. “The crop of 135-day duration needs irrigation every 15 days from the start to about the 100th day. The overnight rain on Monday has aided in wetting for ten days,” said S Ramadoss, a farmer representative from Kilvelur in Nagapattinam district. Dr V Kannan, an agronomist from Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Sikkal, said,
“The rain will reduce the dependency on river water irrigation for now and will give the much-needed supplementary irrigation for a week or two.” Meanwhile, farmers in the tail-end region, which are impacted due to the dam turn system, demanded increased outflow following the rain. PWD-WRD officials, however, said there is not much of an improvement in the inflow as the catchment area upstream of Mettur is yet to receive good rain. As of Tuesday, the outflow of Cauvery water from Mettur dam is 104 cusecs. A total of 7,904 cusecs was being released into the Vennar while 1,310 cusecs was released into Grand Anaicut Canal.