Tamil Nadu: Mettur dam fails but rains raise Kuruvai crop hopes

TIRUCHY: Despite the storage level in Mettur has dipped to alarming levels after four years, the recent summer rains that lashed the Delta region have brought cheers to farmers.

Farmers were skeptical about the success of Kuruvai crop till the summer rains arrived. Now, they are optimistic about achieving the usual target. Delta farmers have been able to cultivate only a single crop for nine years since 2012 due to poor storage in the Mettur dam.

However, the situation improved after 2020 and the Stanley Reservoir was being opened promptly on the customary date of June 12 for the past four years for irrigation. Due to the water availability, the kuruvai acreage witnessed a significant increase in cultivation than the target and thus, in the year 2020 achieved 3.58 lakh kuruvai target, the expanse shot up to 4.35 lakh acres in 2021 and it rose to 5.20 lakh acres in the subsequent year and in 2023, the kuruvai coverage went up to 5.28 lakh acres.

Though water was released on June 12, 2023, and the kuruvai target was achieved, Karnataka refused to release the State’s due share of water. As a result, the storage in Mettur dam declined and the discharge from the reservoir was stopped on October 10, 2023.

This impacted the yield as the crops withered in several areas. The same condition prevailed for the samba crop leading to a yield loss. Meanwhile, the level in the Mettur dam on Sunday stood at 42.70 feet and the storage was 13.523 TMC. While the inflow was a mere 49 cusecs, the discharge was maintained at 500 cusecs. Due to the poor storage, the opening of Mettur dam on the customary date of June 12 this year appeared bleak. As a result, farmers had lost hopes of achieving the kuruvai target. Taking a risk, farmers commenced cultivation with the support of borewells as the target was fixed more than regular levels in districts like Thanjavur and Tiruvarur. For instance, the target for Thanjavur was fixed at 1.30 lakh acres, slightly away from the usual 1.10 lakh acres. In the case of Tiruvarur, the target was 92,500 acres than the usual 62,500 acres.

The agriculture department officials, meanwhile, expect 94,850 acres in Mayiladuthurai and 62,000 in Nagapattinam district.

“Only if water is released from Mettur dam at least by June 20, it would help the kuruvai cultivation. As of now, there is no possibility for the release of water by this time, so going ahead with the cultivation might have a negative impact,” said P Kalaivanan, Senior Agricultural Technocrat. He also suggested that farmers should go for a single crop rather than opting for both kuruvai and samba unless there is adequate summer rain. Meanwhile, Delta farmers have commenced cultivation of early kuruvai cultivation with the support of groundwater and summer rains.

So far, 40,000 acres in Thanjavur, 8,750 acres in Tiruvarur, 20,000 acres in Mayiladuthurai, and 75,000 acres in Nagapattinam have been covered.

Farmers are pinning hopes on the prompt arrival of southwest monsoon predict that except Nagapattinam, other districts would achieve the kuruvai target. “If the summer rains continue for a few more days, Nagapattinam district also would achieve the target,” Agri officials said.