Buoyed over positive weather forecast for the south-west monsoon, farmers are hopeful of a good kuruvai this season and their efforts would be supported by the State government’s kuruvai package, say officials in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, and Nagapattinam districts where kuruvai paddy cultivation work has commenced in many places.
Consequent to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s announcement on kuruvai package to benefit farmers who go in for the short term paddy varieties in the delta districts, the administrations have shifted gear to take the message of package benefits to all sections of farmers.
In Thanjavur, District Collector N. Subbaiyan toured the fields where kuruvai paddy nurseries have been raised using the mat nursery for machine transplantation under the System of Rice Intensification. “This is very useful for farmers in that it is cost effective, less time, water, and labour besides being easy to de-weed. Productivity is also high and the State government is promoting the SRI through incentives such as the farmer-friendly kuruvai package,” said Dr. Subbaiyan after inspecting nurseries at Karambai and Raramuthirakkottai near Ammapettai. Dr. Subbaiyan said it had been planned to take up kuruvai paddy cultivation on 80,625 acres in Thanjavur district this season and said planting had been completed on 24,625 acres of land mostly in Kumbakoanm, Tiruvidaimardur, and Papanasam taluks.
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In Nagapattinam, District Collector S. Palanisamy after a review meeting with Agriculture Department officials, said subsidy for mechanised planting would cover 15,000 acres this kuruvai season.