The drought-prone conditions prevailing in Karaikal district is unprecedented and had caused extensive damage to standing crops, particularly paddy.
Hence, paddy farmers should resort to shift in farming practice, said R. Kamalakannan, Puducherry Minister for Agriculture.
Speaking at a seminar on ‘Pre-monsoon campaign’ organised by the Agriculture Department here to sensitise farmers on latest farming techniques, he said farmers had been incurring huge expenditure for raising paddy and other crops but were incurring severe loss.
The Minister appealed to the farmers to adopt minimum use of water and cultivate gingelly, green gram and other pulses.
P. Parthiban, Collector, K. Mathiyazhagan, Additional Director of Agriculture, and M. Kandasamy, Dean of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Agriculture College and Research Institute, spoke on the scope for taking up alternative crops for ensuring maximum utilisation of the available water.
Earlier, the Minister released a booklet on agricultural techniques.
