Waters of hope: Will samba season meet target, offset losses for delta farmers in TN?

TIRUCHY: While the Delta farmers were sceptical about single-crop cultivation due to poor water availability, the release of excess water gave hope for achieving samba cultivation too.

With water flowing this time, they have chalked plans to compensate for the previous year’s loss of 17 lakh MT paddy in addition to the set target of 45 lakh MT paddy production.

Since the Karnataka government failed to release the due share of water to Tamil Nadu this year and with storage at the Mettur reservoir too low, water could not be released for Delta cultivation on the customary date of June 12.

This had put a big question mark over kuruvai target.

While kuruvai cultivation was beyond the set target for the past two years, the farmers could not match the previous year’s achievement of 5 lakh acres. They were struggling to reach even 3 lakh acres of kuruvai cultivation this time.

However, the heavy rains in the Cauvery catchment areas from the second week of July were a blessing in disguise for the Delta farmers.

With Karnataka releasing excess water, the Mettur storage that was just 14.14 TMC on July 16 rose to 93.47 TMC on July 22 which was just 44.62 feet less than full capacity of 120 feet in just a few days. Water from Mettur was released on July 29 which flowed into Grand Anicut, from where it was later released for Delta cultivation.

This release of water resonated with hope among the Delta farmers, who had prepared themselves to cultivate samba and thalady to compensate for the loss of kuruvai.

A target of 10.30 lakh samba and thalady has been fixed for Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts, respectively. For instance, a target of 3.25 lakh acres in Thanjavur, 3.62 lakh acres in Tiruvarur, 1.62 lakh acres in Nagapattinam and 1.80 lakh acres in Mayiladuthurai was fixed and the farmers commenced the cultivation on a positive note.

But still, the farmers are in the mood to cultivate samba in more acreage than the target, so that they can compensate for the paddy production lost during the previous year.

“We lost 17 lakh MT paddy production last year and this should be compensated so that the paddy production from the state would be maintained,” said Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmers Protection Association.

He also said that the paddy production used to be 45 lakh MT every year, but we lost 17 lakh MT last year.

“So we have been planning to produce 62 lakh MT paddy this year as we have already planned to increase the acreage than the target provided there is adequate water availability,” he added.

Despite 93.97 TMC available in Mettur, 93 TMC more needed

While expressing satisfaction about the water storage in Mettur, the agricultural experts said, the target would be achieved only when the excess water is released for the upcoming months too as there is an actual requirement of 185 TMC water for achieving the target.

“Though there is a storage of 93.47 TMC in Mettur, we need 93 TMC more to achieve samba and thalady cultivation target in the Delta region,” said the senior agricultural technocrat P Kalaivanan.

He suggested the farmers sow the long-term seeds after August 15, mid-term seeds between September 1 and 30 so that they may avoid damage due to the northeast monsoon rains. He also suggested that at least 50 per cent of samba and thalady should be undertaken by direct sowing to save water.

He told the farmers to store excess water in the waterbodies or in their fields to prevent water flowing waste into the sea. “By storing water in the fields, the land would get recharged with micronutrients. Adequate quantities of water should also be stored in lakes and ponds to help the farmers involved in river irrigation,” Kalaivanan added.

Meanwhile, weather activist Thagattur N Selvakumar predicted that there was the least possibility for water scarcity for Delta cultivation as the storage level in Mettur would be maintained till the northeast monsoon sets in.

“The farmers need not worry about water scarcity as they would receive adequate water for cultivation,” he said, predicting the water flow into Mettur would be maintained till August third week.