THANJAVUR: Tuesday’s agriculture budget announcement on the development of the proposed agro-industrial corridor in the Cauvery delta zone -- which found mentioned last year -- at an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore over a five-year period has rekindled hopes of an increase in income for farmers. This, in turn, is expected to stop the out-migration of youth from the region declared a protected special agricultural zone. Noting the region between Tiruchy and Nagapattinam as having been declared an agro-industrial corridor in last year's budget, Minister for Agriculture MRK Panneerselvam presenting this year’s budget on Tuesday said a detailed project report has been prepared for the same.
Under the project, "enhanced incentive packages, market linkages, expert guidance and single-window facilities will be provided to aspiring entrepreneurs to start agro-based food processing industries in the region. To facilitate efficient storage, processing and marketing, new industrial estates will be developed with common facilities," the minister added.
Further, "a new regional startup hub will be created in Thanjavur by the Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission to promote agro-technological innovations in the Cauvery delta region. Through the agro-industrial corridor, the projects of various sectors related to agriculture will be coordinated and effectively implemented at an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore in the next five years.”
P Senthilkumar, a farmer leader from Ammapettai in Thanjavur, said that a long-pending demand of farmers and youth has been met. "With the Cauvery delta region declared a protected agricultural zone, this is the only way to increase farmers' income and provide jobs for the youth," he said. For the past few decades youth from the region were migrating to places like Tiruppur and Coimbatore for jobs, he added.
P S Masilamani, a farmer from Tiruvarur and the state general secretary of the Tamil Nadu farmers’ association, echoed Senthilkumar’s views. It may be noted that people in the region started migrating for work in the 1980s due to uncertainty in getting Cauvery water from Karnataka in time, which resulted in a reduction of cultivation area in dry seasons and the resultant loss of jobs.