Mango, coconut trees dry up; ryots hit

CHENNAI: Mango, a summer season cultivation, already hit by an off year with lower yields, is now under further threat due to intense summer heat and lack of irrigation causes immature mangoes to fall from trees in the Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri Salem belts.

Despite efforts by farmers to irrigate with paid water and control the situation, the mangoes continue to fall, raising serious concerns about the mango output. Moreover, the unprecedented rainfall with strong winds also hit the Tamil Nadu - Karnataka border on Thursday and Friday (May 2 and 3) and caused a huge damage to the trees.

According to Soundararajan, president of Krishnagiri District Farmers Federation, “Due to the intense heat and lack of water, the mango trees withered, the mangosteens and flowers all dried up and fell off. We paid a high price to buy water and could not irrigate all the crops. Meanwhile, due to yesterday’s heavy rain, the remaining trees were also uprooted in many places. Already, the work of assessing the damages was started on behalf of the district administration and the government should come forward to provide appropriate relief to the damaged trees.”

Muthuvadugu, a local mango grower in Mahadevagollahalli village in Krishnagiri said, “If the yield is affected, I’m looking at a major financial loss. I can’t even afford to buy water. When it rains heavily, I have no option of protecting the complete yield. The government should pay us compensation.”

Similarly, the continuing dry spell has left coconut farmers in Pollachi with an unprecedented crisis. If rains evade for a few more days, more than 25 per cent of trees are likely to wither without water. “Already, the farmers are relying on tankers as a majority of wells and deep bores in farms in and around Pollachi have run out of water,” said Dhanabal Muthusamy, Director of Anaimalai Coconut Producers Company.

Addressing the issues, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department secretary Apoova told DT Next that the agri department has advised the all Collectors to look into the complaints of withering of horticulture crops and to carry out assessment if any damages occur.

“Considering the complaints of withering of crops without water supply in Krishnagiri and few other places, an assessment has been ordered to ascertain the details of the damages and the department is also ready to handle the situation with few other plans as well,” Apoorva told this newspaper.

Provide Rs 10K relief per coconut tree: PMK

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss urged the state to provide relief to the farmers. In a statement, Anbumani said around 2.5 crore trees are affected in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts alone. “Farmers could not save the trees despite spending thousands of rupees on water. It is condemnable that the government has failed to take measures,” he said.

“The government should provide Rs 10,000 per tree to the farmers as relief and take measures to prevent such incidents in the future by implementing water management projects,” the PMK president urged.