Tamil Nadu   

Shortfall likely in kuruvai coverage

CHENNAI: A shortfall is likely in kuruvai coverage in delta districts in the current season despite the good storage position in the Mettur reservoir and adequate inputs.

The State expects to cover about only 1.4 lakh hectares this season as against the normal coverage of 2.07 lakh hectares. Transplantation is over on 68,000 hectares and nurseries have been raised on another 6,550 hectares, which would be transplanted soon on over 65,500 hectares.

According to Agriculture Department officials here, about 30 per cent of delta farmers who had raised nurseries did not transplant them. The farmers had their apprehensions over the availability of water from the Mettur reservoir, though the position improved in the last one week. Erratic power supply in the delta areas also affected the coverage this time. However, the shortfall would be compensated in samba coverage, they said.

The officials said with the current storage of 24.3 thousand million cubic ft, it would be possible to meet the irrigation demands for the kurvuai crop. Recent rains in delta districts had also reduced the requirement of river water. The ground water level had improved to a certain extent. Still, some farmers were not ready to take up kuruvai cultivation.

Farmers who had completed transplantation demanded that more water be released from the reservoir under the turn system, as water had not reached tail-end areas of the delta districts.

Arupathi Kalyanam, General Secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Association, Tamil Nadu, said though de-silting operations had been carried out under the NREG programme in Channel B,C and D, it was not so in the Cauvery and Channel A, which are under the control of the Public Works Department.

As the turn system was in vogue, desilting operation should be carried when water was not being let into the channel. He said many small and marginal farmers had skipped kuruvai after raising nurseries as they did not get adequate water. Due to lift irrigation, substantial water was being pumped, leaving a very small quantity for farmers in down streams.

Inflow into the Mettur reservoir, which was 27,000 cusecs on Sunday, came down to 24,000 cusecs on Monday and Tuesday. In the absence of rains in catchments, there has been no heavy inflow into the Kabini and Krishnaraja Sagar in the last two days. The inflow into the Kabini on Tuesday was 10,000 cusecs and it was 20,000 cusecs in KRS. As Kabini had reached its full capacity, Karnataka was forced to release the entire inflow.

In the case of KRS, the storage on Tuesday was 38 tmcft as against the capacity of 45 tmcft.

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