Kuruvai may go the samba way: Farmers

The prevailing crisis has come as a double blow to farmers as on one hand, uncertainty looms large over cultivation of Kuruvai crop and on the other, their survival itself is at stake. Usually, the Kuruvai would be raised in 7.5 lakh acres in the three districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam and over the past five years, the crop could not be grown due to water scarcity and the delay in opening the Mettur dam for irrigation. 

Hence acreage of Kuruvai had come down drastically. A few farmers stated that they would prefer to keep their lands barren rather than attempting to cultivate paddy. Last year, both Kuruvai and Samba (longterm) cultivation failed them due to poor source of irrigation. “Even potential filter points of the delta have failed in the past few months. 

Last year, though groundwater helped us, the ensuing period is most unlikely to be taken up by farmers unless some miracle like heavy summer rains happens overnight,” Puliyur A Nagarajan, state president, farmer’s wing of TMC, said. 

According to Mahadhanapuram Rajaram, president of Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, “We cannot expect storage in Mettur dam to rise this year as reservoirs in Karnataka are dry now. Borewells are failing across the district.” Officials have also been estimating the acreage under special package to ensure that Kuruvai cultivation is ascertained by officials. The estimation would be decided in a week.