Agriculture Budget has got something to cheer about for the composite Tirunelveli district comprising Tenkasi as the State government has proposed to set up State Horticulture Farm at Naduvaikurichi village in Tenkasi district with an outlay of ₹1 crore.
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The objective behind establishing this horticulture farm on 4 acres at Naduvaikurichi in Sankarankovil block is to produce pedigree, quality planting material and to distribute it to farmers on time at reasonable prices. This facility will act as a “model demonstration farm”.
While presenting the Agriculture Budget in the Assembly on Tuesday, Minister for Agriculture M.R.K. Panneerselvam made this announcement. Since the horticulture farmers of the rain-fed areas of Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, and Tenkasi districts are struggling hard to get quality seeds for high-yielding horticultural crops, the upcoming facility is expected to meet the requirements of the agriculturists of this region.
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Another consoling announcement made in the Agriculture Budget that the chilli cluster will come up in Thoothukudi district along with Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, and Sivaganga districts. This coastal district’s northern parts are known for chilli cultivation. The ‘gundu vaththal’ being cultivated in Pudur, Vilaathikulam, Ottapidaaram, and the adjoining areas are famous for being spicy. Along with the existing chilli cultivation area of Thoothukudi district, Prosopis grown on over 300 acres in this hot region with black cotton soil will be removed for expanding ‘gundu’ chilli cultivation area.
Leading farmer and member of Thoothukudi District Farmers’ Consultative Committee C. Shanmuga Mallusamy, who welcomed the proposal, said the government should ensure that middlemen were not involved while forming the cluster.
“When the chilli cluster is formed, the Marketing Regulation Committee should be strengthened for selling the chilli directly to traders without involving the middlemen. So, it will ensure a win-win situation for both farmers and traders,” Mr. Mallusamy said and added that the drought mitigation programme for Thoothukudi district should be sensibly implemented so that agriculturists from drought-prone areas would get benefited.
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He appealed to the government to bail out the chilli growers and the millet farmers, who suffered a huge loss in mid-December downpour.
Since the government, after reportedly planting 47 lakh palm seeds across the State, has proposed to plant 10 lakh palm seeds during 2024-2025, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, and Tenkasi districts are expected to get their due share.
“Moreover, the government should train the women for making value-added products from the palm leaf, neera (pathaneer), jaggery, palm candy and so on,” says Rayappan of Anthoniyarpuram on the outskirts of Thoothukudi, a village known for producing quality jaggery and neera.