Lemon growers in Marungapuri are at a crossroads due to serious fall in groundwater table in the last couple of months. All their attempts to irrigate the crop had failed, as the water table had got depleted.
According to farmers, they used to harvest the produce once in four days during normal period. But, due to drought condition, they shifted to irrigate their fields using bore-wells. “Even the bore-well had failed due to serious depletion in water table”, says P. Pazhanisamy and Pakkiam who have raised the crop on half an acre in their fields in Muthazhwarpatti near Marungapuri.
Both the size and the quality of fruits had come down to a great extent in the past two months. “We are pinning hopes on summer showers so that the yield can pick up to some extent,” they say.
During normal period, they used to despatch at least ten to 15 bags of lemon to the wholesale market in Manapparai or Tiruchi. “But, none of the trees has adequate fruits, indicating the poor rainfall and groundwater table,” the farmers said,.
Marungapuri, with its red-loam soil, is the best suited for horticultural crops, including vegetables. That is one of the reasons for farmers raising vegetables and other horticultural crops in this union.
Though they have been sparing no effort to save the standing crop, the continued failure of monsoon has been hampering them.
