TIRUPPUR: At least 5,900 acres of fertile agricultural land along Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) canal in Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts have turned into housing plots and wind farms over the past few years due to a surge in demand for real estate projects and fall in agricultural income.
According to a report of the public works department’s Water Resource Organisation (WRO), the total farm land under four irrigation zones of the PAP canal spread across the two districts was 3,77,152 acres. Recently, officials identified 3,500 acres in Tiruppur district that were converted into housing plots and wind farms and removed them from irrigation land coverage (Azmoish) under the project.
About 2,400 acres have been identified in Coimbatore district and they will also be removed soon, officials said. (Azmoish is calculated by authorities based on crops that are harvested after the release of water under a canal system.)
V Ramalingam (65) a farmer said, “I own five acres of land at Poonalkinar village in Udumalaipet taluk. Coconut is the primary crop. I also cultivate some maize, cotton and sunflower depending on demand.”
Farming underwent big change as input cost goes through roof
“Over the past 15 years, however, farming has undergone tremendous change. Input costs have gone through the roof but price of farm produce has been static. For example, a five-kg bag of maize seed available for Rs 100 a few years back costs Rs 1,000.
Costs of all fertilizers and inputs have gone up. Ten years ago, input cost for maize crop for an acre was Rs 4,000- Rs 5,000 and we get an yield worth Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per acre. But the current input cost is Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per acre and output is Rs 20,000 per acre. The price of farm land, however, over the same period has changed from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per acre to Rs 40 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. Labour cost has gone up from Rs 100 per day to Rs 700 per day on an average.
While profit from farming has almost remained static, land price has gone up multifold. Several farmers are forced to sell their land to real estate promoters,” Ramalingam said. PAP farmers’ welfare association treasurer S Vijayasekar said, “Real estate prices along PAP canal have zoomed over the past 10 years in Udumalaipet and other areas in Tiruppur.
In some places such as Vajamadai near SV Mills on Udumalaipet to Palani Road, the price for one cent of land has gone up to Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakh, and cost of one acre of land has touched `1 crore. As farmers are upset about crop yield and financial viability of agriculture in the long run, they have started selling their land for real estate development.”
As far as windmills are concerned, hundreds of farmers have already sold their land to windmill companies years ago, locals said. Tamil Nadu Farmers Union (Udumalaipet) vice president S Paramasivam said, “Earlier, windmills were installed only near Kethanur near Palladam in Tiruppur, but later experts found land parcels abutting PAP canal too were fit for wind energy generation.
As farmers got better price for their land along the PAP canal, hundreds sold their land over the past 15 years.” Chief Engineer Water Resource Organisation (WRO) R Muthusamy said, “We carried out a joint survey with revenue and agriculture department and deleted 3,500 acres of agricultural land from four irrigation zones in Tiruppur district from both old and new ayacut areas.
In some cases, only a part of the land is converted for non-agricultural use and the rest is still used for agriculture. We have identified 2,400 acres of agricultural land in Coimbatore district that’s being used for nonfarming purposes and have sent a report to higher officials to delete these land parcels from PAP water canal irrigated area.”