Special Correspondent

Paddy seed and fertilizer stock comfortable

NAGAPATTINAM: The Agriculture Department has proposed to cover the samba paddy crop in the normal area of 1.02 lakh hectares this year in Nagapattinam district besides raising the thaladi paddy crop in about 30,000 hectares as second crop in the kuruvai harvested area.

A senior official of the Agriculture Department said on Thursday that farmers in the district have started preparing the land utilising the recent rains and raising samba paddy nurseries.

Samba paddy nurseries have so far been raised in about 4,500 hectares that could be planted in about 45,000 hectares.

Good kuruvai yield

A cross-section of farmers in Mayiladuturai region of Kuthalam, Mayiladuturai, Sirkazhi, Sembanarkovil and Tarangampadi who had started harvesting the early planted kuruvai paddy crop told that the kuruvai yield was good and most of them had achieved an average of five tonnes per hectare.

The farmers have expressed cheer forgetting Rs.1,050 per quintal for Grade A paddy and Rs.1,000 per quintal for common variety paddy with moisture content up to 17 per cent at the Direct Purchase Centres of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation.The TNCSC has also opened six more DPCs in the district on Thursday besides the existing 78 functioning and the TNCSC has procured about 10,000 tonnes so far till Thursday.

SRI method

The Agriculture Department has advised the farmers to cultivate the samba paddy crop under the new system of rice intensification (SRI) method to achieve good yield with minimum cost of production.Nearly 35 to 40 per cent of the farmers in the district had already switched over to SRI method of paddy cultivation during this kuruvai season itself.

Crop loan

Meanwhile, M. Jayaraman, Collector, instructed the Primary Agricultural Co-operative Banks (PACBs) and commercial banks to issue crop loan to eligible farmers without delay. The PACBs have also been told to accept the land holding certificates issued by the Village Administrative Officers (VAOs) without insisting on computerized chitta and provide crop loan to the farmers quickly.

The Collector pointed out that the Agriculture Department was keeping adequate stock of paddy seeds of all varieties to meet the requirement for the current samba season. Similarly, there is good stock of all varieties of fertilizers available with the PACBs and private fertilizer dealers in the district, he added.