While rainfall recorded in the district in the whole of November last year was 95.8 mm, the first five days of this month alone recorded 96.12 mm.
Agriculture Department officials said that rainfall recorded in October was much lesser than what was projected and hoped that the November rains would offset the shortfall. “The recent downpour has greatly benefitted rain-fed crops such as pulses, millets and cotton raised in Tirumangalam, Kallikudi, T. Kallupatti and Sedapatti areas. While the target for cotton had been fixed at 5,200 hectares, it had exceeded 6,000 hectares,” said Joint Director of Agriculture (in-charge) Sarnath Babu.
The last week spell has also improved storage in dams. It would benefit single crop farmers in Melur. “Nearly 50,100 hectares are readying for samba cultivation and the comfortable storage in dams would enable timely release of water for irrigation,” a Public Works Department official said. In a few areas, water from Sathayar dam, which was released after the rains and subsequent increase in water level, has brought cheer to the farmers.
In Madurai alone, 53 mm of rainfall was recorded on Wednesday and areas such as Sathayar, Melur and Shanmuganadhi received over 20 mm of rainfall.
Ready for harvest
An Agriculture Officer from Vadipatti said that paddy crops in the area were ready for harvest. “The farmers have asked us to open Direct Procurement Centres soon as harvest will begin after Deepavali. The farmers hope that there will not be more rains in the coming days as it would affect standing crops,” he said.
In the district, 14,800 hectares of paddy would be harvested during the kuruvai season.
