Thanjavur. The rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. Farmers are not just industrious here, some of them are very creative too. Just last year, PG Elangovan, a farmer here, created an image of Saint Thiruvalluvar on his paddy field. This he did to create awareness about organic farming.
The green fields that usually greet you in this region proclaim the fact that paddy farming is thriving here.
A little over two years ago, the district saw the highest kuruvai paddy cultivation in 35 years -- across 1.48 lakh hectares. This was a steep rise when compared to the 92900 acres on which paddy was grown in 2019.
In 2023, paddy cultivation is flourishing even further. Hopes are that a total of 2.18 lakh hectares will see kuruvai paddy being sown -- 38,000 hectares more than last year.
The heat that has been oppressing most people across the world is not top of the mind here. Instead, it is the sporadic summer rain across the Cauvery delta districts combined with comfortable storage in Mettur reservoir that is irrigating the hopes of these farmers who bring food to the table of countless many in Tamil Nadu and also many other parts of India.
The key is the Mettur resorvoir. The whole of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagappattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts in Tamil Nadu and Karaikkal in Puducherry besides some parts of Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Karuru, Tiruchy, Ariyalur, Pudukkottai and Cuddalore are fed by the reservoir. In all, this is 16 lakh acres of farming land.
When the Mettur dam's thirst for water is sated, these areas can afford to remain happy. It has been so for three years.
During the year 2021, water from Mettur reservoir was released on the stipulated date of June 12 to enable the short-term kuruvai paddy cultivation. This cultivation is usually for a couple of months and followed by the long-term samba paddy cultivation in Cauvery delta districts. That year kuruvai paddy was grown on 1.99 lakh hectares.
In the year 2022, following heavy rains in the Cauvery catchment areas in Kerala and Karnataka and a comfortable storage in Mettur reservoir, water was released on May 24, well ahead of the stipulated date of June 12. This spurred the cultivation of Kuruvai paddy. A total of 2.18 lakh hectares was covered with Kuruvai paddy -- 38,000 hectares more than the normal area.
This year, Mettur dam's storage stood at 102 feet (67.52 TMC) on May 5, a tad lower than the 106 feet it was at the same time a year ago but still comfortable. Farmers now expect Mettur water to be released on the stipulated date or even earlier this year also.
R Sukumaran, a farmer from Kakkarai in Thanjavur district, says the farmers who are dependent on river water for cultivating Kuruvai paddy are getting ready by ploughing the field with the help of the recent rain.
NV Kannan, the district president of Tamil Nadu farmers association, says farmers across the region are eagerly awaiting the announcement of release of water from Mettur so that they can take up kuruvai paddy cultivation.
Initially, there were concerns as some private meteorological agencies forecast below-normal monsoon rains due to El Nino expected to develop in coming months.
The Indian Meteorological Department disagreed and predicted a normal monsoon, despite the prevalance of El Nino conditions. "A decision on the date of water release would be taken by the Government after assessing the likelihood of commencement of the South West monsoon," an official of the Water Resources Department (WRD) said.
The desilting of water canals that was expected to be completed by the end of May may be delayed by a week due to the rain that lashed parts of the delta
districts during the first week of the month and hampered work. This might also impact the schedule of the release of water from Mettur.
Meanwhile, a significant number of farmers in Tiruvarur district with pumpsets have taken to cotton cultivation this year. "Those farmers who have taken up cotton cultivation will not go in for kuruvai paddy and will opt for a single crop of samba," says V Sathyanarayanan, a farmer from Tiruvarur.
This could be a factor that would impact the total area coming under kuruvai paddy cultivation in the delta districts.
Sathyanarayan says despite cotton cultivation, the scope for kuruvai paddy cultivation is bright. He also wanted the Government to provide mobile dryers at Direct Paddy procurement centres and also sought the ramping up of the infrastructure for marketing paddy and other crops including cotton.
Web Scrawl | Read our series of web exclusives here
PS Masilamani, the state general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association and a farmer from the delta region, for his part was more concerned with the desilting work, which he felt needed to be completed earlier.
At a time when Ponniyin Selvan 2 is having a great run at the box office, a land and its farmers that has always depended on water and the abundance of it is also dreaming of glory days again. All signs point to their hopes being fulfilled and a third consecutive season of bumper harvest.