Tamil Nadu - Thanjavur   

Delta farmers pin their hopes on Mettur storage

Special Correspondent

Kuruvai can be raised and samba sustained next year

THANJAVUR: The year gone by was a surplus one for the delta districts of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur.

The Mettur dam was opened only on August 7 and these districts skipped the kuruvai crop, except in areas irrigated using pumpsets.

Copious rain in the last three months of the year caused floods that inundated the crop. The farmers were expecting a good samba harvest, but their dashed were dashed with 50 per cent of the crop being damaged.

At the same time, the rain helped the crop in areas not affected by floods.

In the partially affected areas, farmers have to reckon with poor yield and low quality of paddy.

While the districts faced drought from the year 2001 to 2003, both 2004 and 2005 were years of surplus. But 2005, when the Kollidam was in spate after 40 years, will stand out. It carried 2.35 lakh cusecs during the first spell of floods and 3.37 lakh cusecs in round two. All the rivers in these districts were in spate, thanks to good rain and a huge quantum of water released from the Amaravathy.

The storage in the Mettur dam has given farmers hope of a good year ahead.

With the present storage, kuruvai can be raised and samba sustained next year, if the monsoon is normal.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Delta farmers pin their hopes on Mettur storage
Cheques given to 278 farmers
Over 11 lakh screened for TB last year

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu