Taking advantage of last week’s brief wet spell, farmers have begun ploughing in several parts of the district to prepare the soil for cultivating short duration and drought resistant crops like millets and pulses with the help of summer showers.
After a long dry spell since November last, the arid district received widespread rain of 79.86 mm early this month, bringing cheers to farmers who had taken up summer ploughing to destroy the weeds and kill hibernating insects and diseas- causing organisms after exposing them to the heat.
After the deadly fall armyworm ( spodoptera frugiperda ) attack, an invasive pest that hit maize crops in more than 1,200 hectares in Kamuthi and Kadaladi blocks in the district last season, officials in the Agriculture department advised farmers to take up summer ploughing to expose and kill the eggs and larvae of the worms, which would remain dormant in the soil.
As the worms were capable of destroying the maize crops by peppering the leaves with holes and sickening the plants, farmers should destroy them. Last season, the department distributed traps to farmers at subsidised rates to lure and kill male moths of the worms.
The summer ploughing would also help them to improve soil fertility and increase productivity, officials said.
As the district could witness summer showers during May, farmers could take up 70 to 80 days short duration and water-efficient crops such as green gram, cowpea, pearl millets and sesame. They could raise the crops with a couple of spells during summer and make money.
Department officials had been holding field-level meetings with farmers in almost all blocks in the district, they added.
