TIRUCHI: Although sharp showers in parts of the rain-fed blocks of Tiruchi and Perambalur districts brought cheer to cotton growers about a couple of months ago, it seems to be short-lived. Farmers have been keeping their fingers crossed of any assured returns from the ‘BT cotton’ raised on about 32,,000 hectares in these districts.
It is only the north-east monsoon which brings an assured irrigation facility in the rain-fed regions like M.R. Palayam and surrounding areas in Tiruchi district and Veppanthattai and nearby villages in Perambalur district.
Tiruchi district accounts for 8,000 hectares under cotton cultivation. Apart from M.R. Palayam, villages such as Garudamangalam, Peruvalappur, Oottathur, Nambukurichi, P.K. Agaram and Theranipalayam account for a large area under cotton cultivation.
The showers experienced in the black soil areas in Pullampadi did not continue any longer. The department has been closely monitoring the growth of the crop.
A farmer of M.R. Palayam, Anjalai, said that apart from poor growth, the problem caused by monkeys posed a serious problem to the cotton growers. She said she could manage the growth of the crop by irrigating the fields using the bore well nearby.
“It is only recently that the crop registered an appreciable growth and started developing bolls. But, an army of monkeys has been causing extensive damage to the fields,” she said. Any amount of efforts to chase them away did not yield any desired results.
“We have even burst crackers to scare them away, but in vain,” she said.
The farmers pleaded for immediate action by the Forest officials to catch the monkeys and protect the crop in villages.
