Samba harvest is in full swing in delta areas of Tiruchi district. Farmers are busy harvesting the Andhra Ponni variety of paddy which they cultivated using harvesters in the delta areas of Lalgudi, Musiri, Manachanallur, Tiruverumbur, Pullampadi, parts of Manikandam, and Thottiyam.
Subramanian, a farmer of Vellanur in Lalgudi taluk, was harvesting paddy on one acre of his land on Wednesday. He said he expected to get 30 bags of (60 kg each) from his one acre of land. Private parties are purchasing the paddy at Rs. 1,000 for a bag of 61 kg, he said.
Many farmers sold the paddy after keeping some quantity for their own use.
Harvesters were hired by farmers at Rs. 1,500 per hour. “If the crop is good and the field is dry, one acre of paddy can be harvested in an hour,” said the driver of the harvester who was busy harvesting paddy at Vellanur. The harvesters leave the straw in the field and carry the paddy grains with them, only to be dumped in the yard near the field after harvest was completed. “With non-availability of labour for harvest, almost in all delta areas of Tiruchi district, harvesters are used for harvesting paddy. There are nearly 100 harvesters in Tiruchi area,” said an operator of harvester.
Agriculture Department officials said that samba paddy had been cultivated on 80,000 acres of land in delta areas of the district.
Harvest, which started 10 days ago, would go on till February 20 in delta areas.
In non-delta areas, paddy had been cultivated on 35,000 acres of land. As the crop was late sown, paddy would come for harvest in March in non-delta areas, officials said.
Yield had been affected because of blast disease in some areas, Agriculture Department officials said. However, farmers had taken a maximum of six tonnes an hectare (2,200 kg per acre), they added. Horticulture crops were cultivated on most of the non-delta areas. While Vaiyampatti is a major vegetable area, mangoes were cultivated in Marungapuri, Manapparai, and other places.
