The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Tiruchi News : Soil reclamation project for tsunami-hit paddyfields

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 24, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Soil reclamation project for tsunami-hit paddyfields

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI, JAN. 23. The `Tamil Nadu Iyarkai Uzhavargal Trust' will take up a soil reclamation project on paddyfields affected by the tsunami in Nagapattinam district.

About 5,000 acres of paddy fields in Nagapattinam had been affected by the tsunami and the Trust would take up desalination works, noted eco-scientist and Managing Director of the Trust, G. Nammazhwar, said here on Thursday.

The Trust has adopted Therku Poigai Nallur village near Nagapattinam where preliminary works on desalination would be executed on a trial basis. Based on its success, all tsunami-affected fields would be covered simultaneously, he said.

The Trust has planned to adopt a two-pronged strategy. In the first phase, the salt deposits on the top surface would be drained out. In the second phase, the emergence of salt from below the ground level would be checked.

"A huge amount of alkaline compounds had been deposited by the waves. The underground salt components have a tendency to emerge up to the upper surface," he says.

He said `thakka poondu' (dangea) would be planted in the salt-affected fields. This species had an extraordinary capacity of controlling the salinity of the upper soil. Pits would be dug out around the fields and coarse materials, especially biodegradable waste from the coconut trees including its branches, deposited in them. These materials would wash away the salt deposits in the upper layers.

The Trust would plant fast-growing fodder species which would not only prevent the osmosis tendency of the alkaline materials to rise but also deposit them far below the subsurface.

There were 10 fodder varieties and the Trust had identified glyricedea (urakondai), `agathi', `subabul' and `vadanarayanan' for the purpose.

The Executive Director of the Trust, M. Revathy, said the desalination process would help farmers resume cultivation after six months. The application of gypsum with water would also enhance the desalination process.

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