: As the north-east monsoon plays hide and seek, farmers in the delta region who have raised samba paddy are now truly terrified at the prospect of seeing their crop wither for want of water. The death of four delta farmers in the past few days is adding to that fear.
With the Centre’s volte face on the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board and Karnataka’s refusal to release Cauvery water citing poor storage in its reservoirs, farmers were pinning their hopes on a decent north-east monsoon for seeing through their samba and thalady paddy crops. Coming on top of five successive kuruvai wipeouts, the current samba crop was seen as the life-line of the delta farmers.
However, the monsoon that swept in late put paid to their hopes. There were some rains last week and farmers rejoiced that their hour had finally arrived, but soon that hope evaporated as rains stopped in several areas of the delta region, leaving the crops to wither.
Impact of direct sowing
“This has been a particularly bad stretch for us delta farmers. We never thought that the monsoon would fail to deliver, the Centre would oppose the formation of the CMB, Karnataka would be so obstinate, the Tamil Nadu Government would be helpless and we would be in soup going in for direct sowing,” says the vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Vivasaya Thozhilalar Sangam V. Jeevakumar. “Now, it is not just our money and efforts in raising the samba that have gone in vain; our fragile rural economy is also in a shambles and we have no one to turn to,” he told The Hindu .
Cumulatively, Thanjavur district has received 521.61 mm rainfall to date during the current calendar year compared to 622.78 mm last year and 604.5 mm in 2014. Tiruvarur district has done far worse, with just 253.80 mm rainfall to show to date against 486.08 mm in 2015 and 259.40 mm in 2014.
“Usually, Deepavali days would be wet and celebrations would be rained out mostly. But this year, it was not the case in most parts of the delta region. Mist and early morning dew conditions send alarm bells ringing in the minds of the farmers as the crops will become susceptible to pest and insect attacks apart from withering for want of water. After having raised the samba paddy, now we are ruing our fate,” says a farmer G. Aadhicholan of Tiruvirkudi in Nagapattinam district.
Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam Tiruvarur district secretary Sundaramoorthy said the State and the Central governments must realise the potential danger to the life and livelihood of farmers at least now and act fast to respond positively to the situation.
‘Our fragile rural economy is also in a shambles and we have no one
to turn to’
