The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Pumpsets may be mainstay for kuruvai this year also

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 23, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Pumpsets may be mainstay for kuruvai this year also

By Our Staff Reporter

THANJAVUR, MAY 22 . Kuruvai transplantation is going on in full swing in pumpset-irrigated areas in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts. According to agriculture department officials, transplantation has been completed on about 3,000 hectares in the two districts.

As kuruvai paddy has to be harvested before September to avert matured crops getting damaged in northeast monsoon rain, farmers having pumpsets are keen on completing transplantation by the second week of June.

For the past two years, kuruvai cultivation is restricted to pumpset-irrigated areas owing to scarcity of canal water. "This year also we hope to cover at least 15,000 hectares under pumpset-irrigated areas in Thanjavur district, " say agriculture department officials.

In the district, the Cauvery and its distributaries, Vennar and Grand Anaicut canal, irrigate 96 per cent of the cultivable area. Only four per cent is irrigated with agriculture pumpsets. But this four per cent is the only assured cultivable area.

This year also kuruvai cultivation in canal-irrigated areas will depend on Mettur storage. As the storage is very poor, it is highly unlikely that the dam will be opened on the scheduled date, June 12. Farmers might have to skip kuruvai in canal-irrigated areas.Out of the total irrigated area of 2,18,652 hectares in this district, 1,58,353 hectares is irrigated with canals, 7,116 hectares with tubewells (pumpsets) and 7,913 hectares with tanks.

In Tiruvarur also, 96 per cent of the cultivable land is irrigated with canals, mainly Vennar and its branches, and the rest of the area is under pumpsets. Out of the irrigated area of 1,44,517 hectares, 1,38,910 hectares is irrigated with canals and 4,877 hectares with pumpsets.

There are about 80,000 pumpsets in the two districts.

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