The much-awaited banana auction centre will come-up at Padalaiyaarkulam near Kalakkad in the district on an outlay of ₹6.50 crore, District Collector V. Vishnu said here today.
Addressing the farmers’ grievances redressal meet held at the Collectorate on Friday, Mr. Vishnu said the banana growers of Kalakkad region were pressing for the establishment for an auction centre with cold storage facility for several decades since the existing auction centre in the nearby area lacked basic facilities.
Hence, under the State Agriculture Development Programme, the banana auction centre would be built at Padalaiyaarkulam with all facilities, the Collector announced amidst thunderous applause from the farmers participating in the meeting.
He also announced that the Tirunelveli Channel, one of the important irrigation channels of Tamirabharani irrigation system, would be desilted before the release of water from the Papanasam Dam for ‘Kar’ paddy cultivation this year. Subsequently, the Palayam and Kodagan Channels would also be desilted, Mr. Vishnu announced.
On the rainfall and area of cultivation taken-up during this year, the Collector said the district had recorded 185.72 mm rainfall from January 1 to April 20, which was 2.30% above the average rainfall. Utilising the summer rains, the farmers had cultivated the crops on 3,818 hectares - paddy on 1,439 hectare, millets on 23 hectare, grams on 1,756 hectares, cotton on 243 hectares and oilseeds on 357 hectares.
Informing that the district administration had adequately stocked chemical fertilizers in primary agriculture cooperative societies and with private dealers for the ensuing ‘kar’ paddy season, Mr. Vishnu said plans had been drawn to cultivate gram varieties as a special drive on over 3,000 hectares as rain-fed crop during this year.
Moreover, soya bean would be raised on over 200 hectares in Tirunelveli, which had been notified as one of the ‘Golden Gram Districts’ of Tamil Nadu.
The Collector also said that 47 village panchayats of the district had been selected for implementing the special programme of converting the arid lands into cultivable lands.
“In these village panchayats, we’ve identified 9 arid land clusters each with 15 acres extent and 31 more clusters having more than 15 acres,” Mr. Vishnu said.
While informing that the traders had been instructed to sell only certified seeds and quality agro inputs, the Collector said sales ban had been imposed on 84.07 tonnnes of seeds after the samples failed in the quality test.
The Collector appealed to the farmers to participate actively in the Tamirabharani cleaning programme, which is to be started from Saturday (April 23) onwards.
He also handed over cash awards to horticultural farmers Celine of Valliyoor (₹15,000), Palavesamuthu of Cheranmahadevi (₹10,000) and Aravindan of Kalakkad (₹5,000) for increased yield of horticultural crops.
Joint Director of Agriculture Gajendra Pandian and senior officials from various departments participated in the meeting.
