If change in weather patterns encouraged M. Ravi, the former panchayat president of Vepanchery, to go for kuruvai paddy in eight acres, another change has proved the decision disastrous.
Though he started the harvest a day before Cyclone Gaja hit the coastal belt of Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam, the high-speed winds have turned his expectations upside down. The harvest is unlikely to benefit him, as the paddy crop has started germinating and the haystack is decaying.
“There was a drought in the last couple of years and I was under the impression that there would be no rain. But the cyclone has dashed my hopes,” he said, explaining that even the leaves of the samba crop had turned yellow.
‘It is gone’
Farmers in Pandi and Vepanchery areas are drying their produce on the highway to stop the germination. “It is gone. As a farmer, I cannot allow my crop to decay in the field. That is why I am harvesting,” he said.
Retired village administrative officer Pakkirisami said the delay in getting water had resulted in the present situation. “Had we received water 15 days earlier, we would have completed the harvest. But it was delayed due to restoration works in the canal,” he said.
Mr. Pakkirisami, who has planted paddy in 10 acres, explained that he could not use manual labour for harvest, as he could not afford the labour cost.
“Using harvesting machine is also not advisable as the dampness and water in the field will not allow collection of paddy in the machine,” he said.
Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association general secretary Mannargudi S. Ranganathan said the failure on the part of the farmers to follow the crop pattern was also responsible for the present situation.
“I am not in a position to tell whether the crop in danger is late kuruvai or early samba. Now, we have early kuruvai and late kuruvai. Similarly, there is early samba and late samba. This time, it is the coconut farmers and others who cultivated cash crops who have suffered the most,” he said.
