Thanks to Raja Rajan-1000 technique, cultivable area of paddy is all set to expand in the district.
Periodic planning, village-wise camps and awareness meetings in all the 13 blocks have enabled the agriculture department officials to achieve the target of covering 26,000 hectare planned under the technique, according to C. Kamaraj, Madurai district Collector. So far, a little over 23,700 ha had been covered. “We still have about a week or 10 days time and hope to surpass the target easily,” he told The Hindu .
Every year, the cultivable area of paddy in the district was taken up roughly on 55,000 hectares depending on the timing of release of water. This year, water had been released three weeks in advance from reservoirs. So far, a little over 50,000 hectares had been covered. The heavy rains in the last 10 days or so had also come in as a boon to farmers of this region. “Though the rains did dampen the process of planting, the damage is not alarming. A few hundred hectares in low lying areas have been destroyed. It is only the roads which are in bad shape in the city/district and a majority of the farmers who have taken up paddy crop are set to achieve well above the yearly production too,” he expressed with confidence.
Mr. Kamaraj said that the Raja Rajan-1000 technique would help to increase paddy production. Many progressive farmers in Mangulam village in Madurai East said that they had taken up paddy cultivation under the technique this season.
