Following the release of water from Bhavanisagar Dam into Kalingarayan Canal, farmers started preparing the land for cultivating paddy, turmeric and sugarcane during the current season in the district.
Water was released into the canal on August 21 for carrying out farming in 15,743 acres (6,374 hectare) of land spread across Erode, Modakkurichi and Kodumudi taluks. While turmeric is cultivated in over 60% of the ayacut areas, sugarcane is cultivated in 30% of land and banana in the rest of the land. The canal passes through the city at Vairapalayam and Karungalpalayam where farmers started preparing the land for cultivating paddy. While a few farmers started sowing paddy seeds in nurseries, others were ploughing and preparing the land for cultivation.
The canal runs for 91.10 km from Kalingarayanpalayam anicut in Bhavani and finally joins Noyyal River at Avadaparai near Salai Pudur. On Wednesday, the water crossed Panjalingapuram village in Modakkurichi Taluk thus covering over 30 km in the past one week.
K.M. Krishnamurthy, secretary of the Kalingarayan Pasana Sabai told The Hindu that due to renovation works in the canal, movement of water was hindered at many places and hence it would take over a week for the water to reach the tail-end farmers. He wanted the replacement of sluices in the canal to be completed at the earliest so that water supply to farmers is not hindered.
Farmers said that turmeric is the most preferred crop in Modakkurichi and Kodumudi areas for the current season and they expect improvement in price in the market. Currently, turmeric was sold at ₹ 6,500 to ₹ 7,000 a quintal and they expect the price to move upward once the harvesting season commences.
