No ‘showers’ of blessing for Delta farmers

Giving reasons for cheer to farmers, the release from Mettur dam last year was deemed adequate for samba cultivation to be undertaken in the Cauvery delta region. However, the downpour from the northeast monsoon has reportedly played spoilsport, resulting in the dropping of yield in the early samba cultivation for which the harvest has just commenced in the region.

Further, the rains not only affected the yield ratio but have also damaged the paddy crop, with them accumulating more than the required moisture content, leading to growers facing heavy loss, farmers in the Delta region said.

Last year, the early samba planting season commenced from July and was carried out till August, when the medium and long duration varieties are widely cultivated across the region. According to farmers, samba crop has been cultivated over an area of 3.22 lakh hectares across Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts. The thaladi crop, whose sowing is ideally carried out between September and October, meanwhile, was cultivated over 1.20 lakh hectares in the Delta region, they added.

However, the intermittent rainfall in the months of November and December from the northeast monsoon, damaged the ripened paddy. Around 30 per cent of the crop that was ready for harvest were tilted. The farmers had to spend a minimum of Rs 4000 per acre as a result of this, sources said. “However, the paddy that was salvaged with the immediate work undertaken by the farmers turned useless as the rains continued to lash the region,” Sami Natarajan, a farmers’ association office bearer from Thanjavur, said. He also said that the seedlings over several acres of cultivation were damaged even in the flowering stage due to the incessant rains and that the farmers had to face heavy loss during the time as there was pollen shedding in the nurseries.

The impact could be seen as the yield during the harvest for the early samba cultivation that commenced a week ago is reportedly very poor. According to farmers, the usual yield which is around six tonnes per hectare is presently just 4 to 4.5 tonnes, making them to face loss despite water needs having been adequately met.

Adding to the blows, farmers are also facing problems in selling their paddy due to intermittent rains over the past few days. “We brought the paddy two days ago. As its moisture content is around 19 per cent, the paddy is not being sold,” a farmer waiting at the direct procurement centre (DPC) in Thanjavur said.

As per Food Corporation of India rules, only paddy with moisture content up to 17 per cent can be procured, and so farmers need to dry the harvested crop as the intermittent rain has increased its moisture content.

The Delta region has received unexpected rainfall since Friday. With the region witness to such rainfall, the harvest is likely to be delayed furthermore and the loss incurred is also likely to increase. Farmers now therefore urge the government to be tolerant of procuring paddy with up to 22 per cent moisture level.

Poor pricing adds to woes

In addition to the damaged crop, poor pricing too has hit the farmers. For instance, the BPT 5204 variety of paddy is reportedly sold at Rs 1,040 per 60 kg compared to it being sold at Rs 1,250 last year.

The failure to open sufficient number of direct procurement centres (DPC) has also impacted the farmers as they are forced to sell to private parties who, however, procure the crop at the lowest price, sources said. With the harvest having picked up, farmers in the Delta region urge the State government to open mobile DPCs so that it would reach out to them in their respective fields.

This would avoid unnecessary delay in reaching a DCP, they said. “When J Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister, she instructed officials to reach out to the farmers. Thus, they reached them at the fields and procured paddy which avoided the influence of middlemen,” said Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan of the Cauvery farmers’ protection association. A representation in this regard to start mobile DPCs has been sent to the government, he said, adding that this step could avoid damage to paddy also.