In the interior villages of Andipatti block, acute depletion of groundwater has caused crop loss to farmers growing jasmine and drumstick.
Many villages in Andipatti block are dependent only on groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes, as all tanks in the area are dry. But now, borewells have also run dry in some parts leaving farmers in the lurch. Standing crops of jasmine and drumstick in the area have withered.
Depleting water level
“For over 15 years, we have been dependent on groundwater source only but over extraction of it has caused depletion of water level to more than 1,000 feet deep. With no water in the borewells, we now buy water from tankers for ₹2,000 to save standing crops,” said M. Rajesh, a farmer from Mayandipatti. Jasmine and drumstick are being cultivated in villages like Kaniyyapillaipatti, Theppampatti, Sevanilayam, Alagapuri and Kathirnarasingapuram in the neighbourhood, but acute water problem has resulted in crop loss.
“I invested about ₹3.5 lakhs four years ago in digging a borewell, fitting a motor and pipe connections in my farm. I had to dig to a depth of 1,100 feet. This year, there is no water in the borewell. Two years ago, when the water level had dipped, I resorted to drip irrigation spending about ₹50,000 in laying drip-irrigation lines, but the drought has become so severe that there’s no water even for drip irrigation,” said G. Palani, another farmer.
“The yield has also come down over the years. Earlier, we used to harvest 150 kilos of jasmine from one acre, now we hardly get one fifth of it. But when the survival of the plant has become a question, the yield cannot even be talked about,” he added.
Ten-year-old drumstick trees in the one acre farm of Muthukamatchi stand as mere sticks with no leaves.
“Usually, drumstick needs very little water and is a drought-resistant plant. That’s why I planted them. An occasional rain would have saved the trees, but with not a drop of rain and absolutely zero groundwater, a plant as robust as drumstick has also wilted. One can imagine the severity of water crunch in the area just by seeing this,” said Muthukamatchi.
As water is being bought from private tankers for domestic use, water for irrigation has become secondary for these farmers.
