Continuous rain in the Cauvery delta districts of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s assurance of uninterrupted power supply from June 1 have brought cheer to farmers.
These districts experienced heavy rain on Wednesday, too. Agriculture Department officials said the rain would benefit both Kuruvai paddy and cotton crops.
Owing to a poor storage in the Mettur dam, the plan this year in Thanjavur district is to raise kuruvai on 28,000 hectares, against the normal 45,000 hectares.
“Only in 2007-08 it was nearly the normal coverage of 43,000 hectares achieved. Thereafter, kuruvai is mostly raised in pumpset-irrigated areas, extending to 25,000-28,000 hectares,” the officials said.
Kuruvai transplantation has been completed on 6,000 hectares in the district this year. Nursery has been raised on 200 hectares.
Farmers who raise kuruvai in pumpset-irrigated areas are happy that they will get uninterrupted power supply from June 1. They have demanded that the government ensure three-phase supply for at least 12 hours a day.
S. Ranganathan, secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, has a word of caution for farmers of canal irrigated areas with respect to the kuruvai cultivation. Four parameters should be taken into consideration, he said. Though the groundwater level was comfortable, thanks to the rain this month, the storage in the Mettur dam was poor.
The announcement of uninterrupted power supply gave pumpset-irrigated farmers some hopes, he said, underscoring that the timely onset of the monsoon was the most important.
Pointing out that the current spell of rain was not due to the monsoon, but only summer rain, he saw no possibility of kuruvai cultivation in canal-irrigated areas before the last week of June. “Only by June-end, if the Mettur storage stabilises, late kuruvai cultivation can be taken up. Otherwise, it should be skipped in canal-irrigated areas,” Mr. Ranganathan said.
