Come summer, watermelon growers in and around Sirkali block spare no effort to cultivate the produce, utilising the groundwater available in the area. They had raised the crop during the ‘Pongal’ pattam and are anticipating appreciable harvest this season, although they agree that the quantity and quality of fruits this season will be far less when compared to the previous seasons.
One of the farmers, S. Mullainathan of Mandapam village in Poothurai village panchayat, said that he had raised the crop on eight acres and expected 10 tonnes an acre against the 15 tonnes he got last year. “The failure of North-East monsoon is one of the major reasons for the fall in yield this season,” he adds.
Failure of monsoon has resulted in serious depletion of groundwater and the consequent fall in the yield. He said that each acre has been divided into 300 pits which are irrigated once in three days.
Disease control
C. Selvakumar, another farmer, says that disease management was a major challenge for watermelon growers. The farmers are busy applying bio-pesticides. “The plant is more prone to diseases and the bio-agents act as an efficient controlling agent,” the farmers said.
Exploitation by wholesale dealers
Their another grouse is the exploitation by wholesale dealers. “Wholesale dealers procure the fruits on weight basis at the rate of ₹5 a kg. Obviously, a fruit weighing 11 kg is sold for just ₹ 55, while at the retail market it is sold for ₹200 or ₹250,” the farmers said. Farmers want steps for ensuring prospective price for their produce
Farmers harvest the fields at the end of 65 days when they realise maximum size and number of fruits from each pit. The successive harvest is made three or four times at an interval of 10 days each. But, both the size and number of fruits decrease during the successive harvest.
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