NAGAPATTINAM: Farmers are speeding up the harvest of late ‘kuruvai’ paddy crops in view of the heavy rain alert for November 25 and 26.
Around 1,700 hectares of kuruvai paddy was cultivated in the district this season, according to the agriculture department. Most of the crops are currently under harvest in a race against time after the weather office issued a yellow alert for the district.
V Ramasamy, a 59-year-old farmer from Eraiyankudi, said, “Currently, I am running harvesters from morning hoping to complete before Tuesday (Nov 26). We had to stop work due to intermittent showers. The yield from my cultivation is normal so we do not want the crops to be lost in the rains.”
Notably, a major part of the district is dependent on Cauvery River water. Farmers were divided on starting kuruvai cultivation due to delay in release of water from Mettur reservoir. Many skipped kuruvai so that they could start samba directly during September but some took their chances with the crop as they were interested to gain from both the cultivations.
Those who skipped kuruvai felt that the cultivation (130 to 135 days) was not feasible to complete on time, and then start samba (155 to 160 days) or thaladi (130 to 135 days) and then complete before the closure of Mettur Dam on January 28.
Also the district administration and the agriculture department had warned that if farmers started cultivating kuruvai with medium duration variety (130 to 135 days) in August, it might sustain damage in monsoon rains in November. They also warned about moisture in grains harvested from crops during the monsoon.
Despite the warnings, weather risks and schedule challenges, some big and medium farmers took their chances with kuruvai paddy varieties such as TPS-5 with duration of 120 days. Such crops are under harvest now. Farmers also grieve that they could not sell their produce at TNCSC’s direct procurement centres due to concerns of moisture in the harvested paddy.
‘Cauvery’ V Dhanabalan, a farmer leader who has also cultivated ‘late kuruvai’, said, “As the DPCs are reluctant to procure our produce, we are selling them to private parties now. We feel that we have been let down by the government.” An agriculture department official said, “We warned farmers about the risks but some went against them. As what we feared is happening, we advise farmers to speed up the harvest.”