THANJAVUR: Senior Agrotechnologists Forum, Thanjavur, has suggested a single crop for the current cultivation year and said it would be prudent to release water from Mettur dam on August 15 for irrigation in the delta district.
The forum, consisting of senior agricultural officers and agriculture scientists, on Tuesday released its ‘Crop Cultivation and Water Budgeting’ recommendations for the year 2024-2025. It said as per the current situation, availability of water in Mettur dam during the first week of June will be 15 tmcft.
If Karnataka releases 167.25 tmcft from June to January, we can expect a total availability of 182 tmcft for the year. However, around 300 tmcft of water would be required to raise kuruvai, samba and thaladi crops this season, the forum said.
If kuruvai and samba crops were taken up on a 50-50 basis through direct sowing then water required to see through the current year would be 230 tmcft. For this, Mettur dam should have a minimum storage of 65 tmcft in June, which is not possible. Thus, the forum has opined that it would be apt to go in for single crop during the current cultivation season.
Farmers with energised pump sets could take up Kuruvai cultivation in around 75,000 hectares across 12 delta districts, where the normal Kuruvai area is two lakh hectares. In this scenario, farmers could take up samba cultivation in around 5 lakh hectares.