Tamil Nadu - Nagapattinam   

Kuruvai prospects bleak this year also

By K. Subramanian

NAGAPATTINAM, JUNE 27. Prospects for raising kuruvai with surface water in the Cauvery delta region of Nagapattinam district are bleak for the third consecutive year as there is a little chance of getting water from Mettur.

Farmers are keeping their fingers crossed whether they will get water in time at least for raising a single samba crop. According to them, there will be a possibility of raising kuruvai if water is released from the Mettur dam by July 7. Similarly, samba can be cultivated if the water is released by July third week.

Out of the normal kuruvai area of 32,000 hectares, nearly 14,000-16,000 hectares is likely to be covered this year in Kuthalam, Mayiladuturai and Sirkazhi with pump-sets by tapping groundwater. Last year, kuruvai was cultivated on about 16,000 hectares.

Farmers who have raised kuruvai nurseries with pumpsets have started transplantation. However, those in the Vennar division are depending on surface water.

Neither the district administration nor the Agriculture department come out with any statement whether the farmers should go in for kuruvai or not.

At a farmers' meeting convened by the district administration recently, the agriculturists urged the Government to give drought relief immediately.

Arupathi Kalyanam, general secretary, Federation of Farmers Associations in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts, said the Government should erect automatic falling shutters in all rivers in the tail-end areas of Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts to prevent seawater intrusion and maintain the normal supply level.

He urged the Government to construct barrages across 12 rivers in the tailend of the Cauvery delta and not in the upper reaches.

K.G. Krishnamoorthy, vice-president of Composite Thanjavur District Farmers Association, urged the Government to energise more pump-sets in the Cauvery division.

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