Virudhunagar district administration has appealed to farmers to register their paddy, plantain, onion, chilly and coriander crop under Crop Insurance scheme immediately as heavy to very heavy rain is likely to lash the district on December 2, 3 and 4.
In a statement, Collector R. Kannan said farmers should pay the premium for crop insurance immediately to protect themselves from the crop loss due to natural calamity. As a crop protection measure, he asked the coconut farmers to cut down all the matured fronds, dry fronds, coconuts, and tender coconuts, leaving only the young leaves so that the coconut trees were not uprooted by the heavy wind.
The farmers should immediately stop irrigating their coconut farms and keep the soil dry so that the roots were able to hold on to the soil.
The farmers must also prune the branches of other trees to ensure that there was adequate space for the strong wind to pass through without damaging the trees.
The portion of the branches that are cut should be applied with a mixture of 300 grams of copper oxychloride in one litre of water so that the trees did not get fungal infection.
Horticulture crop such as plantains, papaya, mango, jackfruit trees should be secured with casuarina poles to withstand strong wind. For paddy, pulses, minor millets, cotton and groundnut, drainage facility should be provided to prevent water stagnation on fields.
The farmers were advised to make use of godowns of Agriculture Regulated Markets to safely stock their farm produce during the rainy days. The regulated markets have been asked to keep adequate stocks of tarpaulin sheets.
Farmers can approach the respective Assistant Directors (Agriculture) for any doubts.
