Farmers fear Samba crop may go Kuruvai way for lack of rain

MADURAI: After Kuruvai paddy crop failed miserably in the district due to lack of water for irrigation, the farming community is staring at bleak prospects for Samba crop also. Roughly 55,000 hectares of Samba crop may be lost in Periyar irrigation areas from Peranai to Melur. If North East Monsoon is favourable in catchment areas of Mullaperiyar dam there is little hope but officials feel this is unlikely as of now.
Starting from June, South West Monsoon turned dicey for farmers of the region since the rains in catchment areas of Mullaperiyar were scarce. The current situation in the reservoir is even scarier as the level has been depleting towards a dead storage of 104 feet. Water could not be drawn from the dam after this limit. As on Wednesday morning, the water level is at 109 feet and there are no rains in catchment areas. As the reservoir level never crossed 120 feet this year, the Kuruvai crop on 10,000 hectares was lost.
"We should term it as total failure. Out of these two seasons, Kuruvai usually is profitable as we get 40 sacks (65 kgs each) from one acre of paddy field. The yield comes down to average 30 sacks in Samba. We have totally lost Kuruvai crop and there is no water to pin hopes on Samba also", said R Arulpragasam, a farming community leader from the district.
According to agriculture department, the chances of North East Monsoon bringing rains to catchment area of Mullaperiyar dam are very less since rainy season ends in Kerala with South West monsoon. North East Monsoon generally with cyclones and depressions may bring only surface rain to the region. Out of 55,000 hectares of Samba area, 45,000 hectares is irrigated only through channels. Even if there is heavy rain in the region during North East Monsoon it will only help tank or well irrigation in the rest of the 10,000 hectares in the district. "If there were rains in catchment areas of Mullaperiyar dam, we can hope a bit. We have to wait and see how North East Monsoon turns out", opined Joint Director of Agriculture, S Kanagaraj.
Farmers say that technically there is no water for irrigation and Samba is going to be the same way of Kuruvai crop.