Samba prospects dwindle as Mettur level dips to 12 TMC

TIRUCHY: While the Mettur reservoir storage stood at 12 TMC on Sunday against the total requirement of 150 TMC for samba and thalady varieties, the Delta farmers from the rain-fed regions who have the feasibility of irrigation through borewells have commenced samba cultivation expecting recharge of groundwater during northeast monsoon rains.

However, the farmers from the river irrigation region are waiting fingers crossed for alternate arrangements as they have lost hope of getting water from Karnataka despite they have the storage of over 68 TMC water.

According to the State General Secretary of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam Sami Natarajan, around 60 per cent of farmers who cultivate samba are dependent on bore wells and the remaining 40 per cent depend on river irrigation.

“Mostly the farmers in the tail-end regions of the Delta depend on the ground water and they need proper support from the government. Kuruvai has already failed and it is time for the State government to rescue the farmers from a heavy loss and advise promptly,” Natarajan said.

Anticipating the proper monsoon, the farmers from the rain-fed region have commenced the cultivation. “Though the northeast monsoon is predicted to get prompt rainfall, the absence of storage facilities in these rain-fed regions is a worrying fact among the farmers,” Natarajan said.

He appealed to the government to ensure farm ponds in the rain-fed regions so that the farmers could store water temporarily and utilise it for irrigation.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmers Protection Association Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan said, at least 8.60 lakh samba could be cultivated in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore, and farmers from most of these districts would use river irrigation and due to the poor storage in Mettur, the State government should announce an alternate arrangement.

“We request the Chief Minister to chair a meeting with the higher officials of the departments like, agriculture, electricity, food, cooperative, and revenue and invite the farmer leaders to discuss the next course of action,” Vimalnathan said.

He said that there were similar meetings held in 2003, 2004, 2012, and 2016 when Delta was in drought conditions and the farmers participated in the meetings.

“We, the farmers, can also share the past experiences that could be adopted if a similar meeting has been organised,” Vimalnathan said.

Meanwhile, samba cultivation, which contributes more to the paddy production in the state, has been put on hold in certain regions.

“Usually, samba would be cultivated in more than 10 lakh acres in the Delta region but with no water available, cultivation has been undertaken in scattered areas in the region which has the bore well facilities,” Vimalnathan said.

Vimalnathan also said, that with the prompt rainfall and water availability in the local water bodies, these farmers manage to raise samba to a certain extent.

‘If river irrigation fails, skip samba, go for alternate crops’

The agri officials advised the Cauvery Delta farmers who are under river irrigation to skip the samba cultivation and to take up alternate crops like maize, sorghum, pulses as severe drought conditions are anticipated throughout the season.

According to senior officials, an extraordinary situation has been prevailing in the delta districts due to poor storage of water in Mettur and so the farmers need to depend only on the northeast monsoon. Still, there was a time when the monsoons failed. For instance, during 1892, 1897 and 1909 the rainfall during the northeast monsoon was less than 300 mm. And there was no dam across the Cauvery during those years and so the total quantum of water had been received in the Delta region and there might have been no drought in the region in those years.

Later, after the dams were built across the river, during 1974 and 1980, though the rainfall was less than 250 mm, the quantity of water released from Mettur was 278 TMC and 436 TMC respectively and hence the groundwater level did not go down significantly. Despite the low amount of water received from Mettur dam, the monsoon rains balanced the shortage, they said.

Ganapathy, senior farmer, from Thanjavur said, despite the southwest monsoon being predicted to give a good spell of showers, it failed. Only during the final phase, there was rain.

“If the similar situation prevails for the northeast monsoon, the farmers might experience bad times and so they should plan accordingly and avoid taking risks and go for alternate crops which would be lucrative,” Ganapathy said.

Alternative crops like maize, pearl millet, ragi, ground nuts give a good revenue. This would also reduce the power consumption as less water is required for these crops.

With groundwater level rising, ryots optimistic

As the groundwater level increased gradually due to the water availability in the water bodies supported by the rainfall for the past few days, the Delta farmers are optimistic about direct sowing and successful samba season with the help of bore wells.

According to the PWD groundwater table, the average water level has gradually increased from August to September in districts like Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Pudukkottai, Ariyalur, Karur, and Perambalur.

“Since the meteorological department has predicted prompt northeast monsoon rainfall, the water table would further increase and the farmers who have been undergoing samba cultivation could get adequate water for taking up samba successfully,” a PWD official said.

Meanwhile, the farmers expressed satisfaction with the moderate rain but at the same time, they were anxious about the heavy rains which would submerge the nurseries and damage them.

“The rain which has been experienced for the past two days is a good sign for the farmers who cultivate through pump sets as groundwater level would be recharged. While the rains would be beneficial for the direct sown crops and those crops which were transplanted a few days ago,” said Arupathy P Kalyanam, General Secretary of the Federation of Farmers Association.

Prior to the monsoon, the farmers who have pump sets make use of the water stored in the local water bodies.

“We make use of the water from the nearby ponds for raising the nurseries. We share the diesel motors with the neighbouring farmers for pumping water into their fields. Until the monsoon, we can manage with this water,” Kalyanam said.