The Hindu : Delta farmers won't take further risks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 14, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Delta farmers won't take further risks

By S. Vydhianathan

CHENNAI, MARCH 13. It is a virtual repeat of what happened in the delta districts last year.

There are vast stretches of barren land in the tail-end areas of the Cauvery, especially in Thiruthuraipoondi, Orathanadu, Peravurani and Muthupettai.

A majority of farmers have left their land fallow, not willing to take risks any more. The bitter memories of four crop failures in a row are still haunting them. Even in areas where they took up samba cultivation, the yield has been little or less than 50 per cent.

A cross-section of farmers, interviewed, said had water been received for the final wetting in the second week of January, the crop could have been saved. Unfortunately, Karnataka, which had sufficient storage in its reservoirs at that time, "refused to spare water," resulting in crop failure for the fifth time in succession. The worst affected are small and marginal farmers having less than four or five acres; the lot of medium and big farmers is no better. As against the normal yield of about 40 bags (60 kg a bag) of paddy an acre, the small farmers could harvest only 20 bags. Even this was possible only in areas where there were borewells.

Mani of Paniapuram near the Grand Anaicut, who took one acre on lease, said the yield was just 15 bags of paddy. Of this, he had to give 7 bags as rent to the landowner and 5 bags as water charge. With three paddy bags of paddy and straw he had to manage for the next seven months.

At Thipparajapuram, about 10 km from Kumbakonam, Narayanan, who owns four acres, said he got only 15 bags. Already he had to repay a loan of Rs. 40,000 to the local cooperative bank and the crop loss this time increased his debt burden by Rs. 25,000.

Though the Agriculture department had advocated raising of alternative crops, farmers were reluctant to go for pulses, tomato, etc. For them alternative crops required guarding and constant monitoring.

Even if a farmer managed to raise paddy successfully, marketing was a problem. What with stringent quality norms fixed by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, the farmers were unable to sell paddy. Though the norms were relaxed subsequently, officials at direct purchase centres of the corporation rejected the stock, citing one reason or the other. In the open market, private traders were offering less than Rs. 250 a bag, which was not remunerative.

S. Ranganathan, general secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers Association, said the Government should give an incentive of Rs. 50 a bag as arrivals this time were not heavy.

However, Agriculture department officials denied that the situation was as bad as last year. In the current season about 8 lakh acres was covered as against the normal area of 12 lakh acres. While the crop failed completely in tail-end areas, in many areas farmers got 50-60 per cent yield. In some villages in the old delta system, the productivity was five tonnes a hectare compared to six tonnes in normal times. They said that in the tail-end areas farmers went ahead with cultivation despite a warning given by the extension staff against doing so.

Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation officials said they had relaxed the norms considerably and so far procured about 1.75 lakh tonnes of paddy in the current samba season. A majority of farmers were selling their stock only to the corporation.

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