The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Samba cultivation nearing completion in Tiruvarur

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Tamil Nadu

Samba cultivation nearing completion in Tiruvarur

Special Correspondent

“Mettur dam storage can meet needs only for next 20 days”

Samba crop covered on 1.02 lakh hectares
Thaladi on 18,500 hectares against the target of 26,500 ha

TIRUVARUR: Cultivation of samba and thaladi paddy crops are nearing completion in the Cauvery delta region of the district and the transplantation process will be over within a week’s time.

However, farmers in several parts of the district, including Kottur, Vadapathimangalam and Tiruvarur are expecting good rains from northeast monsoon in the next 10 days to save the standing samba crops.

M. Chandrasekaran, Collector, was optimistic that with the release of good quantity of water in the Vennar river under the turn system this week, the standing samba paddy crop will not suffer and hoped to get northeast monsoon rains in a week or so.

The Collector told The Hindu on Saturday that the samba paddy crop had so far been covered on 1.02 lakh hectares against the normal area of 1.08 lakh hectares, including 7,500 hectares under direct sowing method in Tiruthuraipoondi and Muthupettai areas. Similarly, thaladi paddy crop, being raised as a second crop in the short-term kuruvai cultivated area, had been cultivated in about 18,500 hectares against the target of 26,500 hectares. The entire transplantation of the samba and thaladi paddy crops will be completed in about 10 days time.

SRI method

The Agriculture department had encouraged the farmers to raise kuruvai and samba paddy crops under the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to achieve a good yield with minimum cost on cultivation. Farmers have adopted the SRI method on about 20,000 hectares during this samba season, Mr. Chandrasekaran said.

The Collector pointed out that the district had adequate stock of all types of fertilizers, including urea and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), to meet the requirement of the farmers and appealed to bring to his notice if they faced any problem in getting fertilizers.

He said that all the primary agricultural co-operative banks (PACBs) and commercial banks were instructed to provide crop loan without delay to eligible farmers.

Kuruvai harvest

Harvest of the short-term kuruvai paddy crop raised in the normal area of 36,000 hectares had been completed and an average paddy yield of six tonnes per hectare was recorded in the district.

S. Ranganathan, a progressive farmer of Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district and also Secretary of the Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, told The Hindu on Saturday that the standing samba paddy crops at several places, including Tiruvarur, Kottur and Vadapathimangalam in the district, were now starving for water and requested the State Government to take steps with Karnataka to get water considering the gravity of the situation.

He pointed out that the existing storage of about 47 tmc feet in the Mettur reservoir could meet the irrigation needs of the Cauvery delta for a maximum period of 20 days at the present discharge of water from the dam.

Agriculture department officials should make physical verification of the standing paddy crops in the district, particularly in Kottur, Vadapathimangalam and Tiruvarur areas and take proper care to save the crops.

Mr Ranganathan said that the groundwater potential was very poor in the Vennar river division in Tiruvarur district except in Needamangalam belt where the farmers managed to raise the samba crop with the pumpsets.

The Public Works Department which has stopped release of water from Mettur reservoir following rains should have released the water after the rains stopped on October 24.

The delay in the release of water has also caused problems in carrying out samba cultivation.

He appealed to the Government to ensure six to eight hours of continuous power supply to agricultural pumpsets so that the farmers could tap the groundwater source wherever possible to save the standing samba and thaladi paddy crops.

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