Farmers who spoke at the Agriculturists Grievances Day meeting held here on Friday urged the district administration to ensure adequate irrigation facilities for all the regions in the district by evolving and implementing comprehensive plans. Steps for effective utilisation of surplus waters being let out into the Bay of Bengal should be taken up immediately, they said.
Durai Manickam, a farmer from the coastal area of Avudaiyarkovil, said that a huge quantity of flood waters was being let into the sea.
The coastal farmers raised paddy as a single crop every year and the surplus waters should be stored and utilised properly through barrages.
Appavu Balandar, another farmer, said the surplus water from the Coleroon should be diverted to Pudukottai district for irrigating the rain-fed blocks. Muthuraj, a farmer from Keeramangalam, pleaded for setting up additional transformers to ensure power supply for agricultural pumpsets.
Rama Theerthan, a farmer, said the Forest Department should resort to crop rotation technique on the eucalyptus fields. He said that a sustained cultivation of the tree was likely to deplete the water table at a faster phase.
G.S. Dhanapathy, District Chairman of Farmers’ Forum of India, said adequate relief should be sanctioned under crop insurance scheme to paddy growers and sugarcane cultivators.
C. Manoharan, District Collector, who presided over the meeting, said that steps had been taken to sanction crop loans through all banks.
