Moderate and widespread showers over the past few days have raised hopes of farmers in the non-delta areas in the district waiting to go in for samba paddy crop.
Although farmers in the canal-irrigated delta areas were able to take up samba cultivation after the release of water from the Mettur reservoir, those in the non-delta areas were eagerly awaiting rain to begin agriculture operations. Most of the rainfed tanks in district have had poor storage over the past few years due to scanty rainfall.
According to Agriculture Department officials, farm operations were in full swing in the delta areas where samba paddy is expected to be raised on nearly 34,000 hectares. Of this, transplantation has been completed on about 14,000 hectares and transplantation of nurseries in the remaining areas is expected to go till the end of the month in different parts of the district. The department expects samba paddy to be raised on at least 25,000 hectares in the non-delta areas of the district this year. The recent spell of rain has helped farmers go in for sowing of cotton and maize in rainfed areas. The rain has also raised hopes of farmers waiting to go in for paddy cultivation during the samba season. Nurseries have been raised in some parts of Uppilliyapuram and Thuraiyur areas where some of the tanks have got some good inflow following rain, Agriculture Department officials said. “We expect more rains and hope the farmers in non-delta areas would be able to go in for the samba crop. This apart, we expect a very good samba crop in the canal irrigated delta areas of the district,” an official said.
According to sources in Ariyar Division, six tanks in Uppilliyapuram and Thuraiyur areas have been filled up with the recent rain. However, all the other 92 rainfed tanks under the division in the district have less than 25 per cent of water. “Some of these tanks have started getting some inflow and we expect the inflow to improve if there were more rains,” said an official.
“The rains have brought some confidence among farmers. The rainfall so far will not be enough to go in for paddy crop but if there is good rainfall over the next few days, farmers will be encouraged to go in for the crop,” said Ayilai Sivasuriyan, district secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, affiliated to the Communist Party of India.
