329 villages in Tirupur drought-hit

Joint Director of Agriculture S. Renganathan has said that 329 ‘revenue villages’ in Tirupur were ‘drought-hit,’ and crops grown over 81 per cent of the cultivable land in these villages were found to be ‘highly stressed.’

“Highly stressed means the crops have either withered or carry no chances of giving any yield,” he told The Hindu .

In the remaining land, the crops were moderately stressed which means there were chances of survival if it rains.

Among the crops, cholam was most affected followed by horse gram, maize, Bengal gram, and sugar cane.

Agriculture Department sources said that the data would be brought to the notice of the State Government.