Tamil Nadu: Rains mar cultivation of pulses, cotton in coastal delta districts

By Antony Fernando

Two days of continued downpours has affected the ongoing crop cultivations such as pulses, sesame and cotton in the coastal delta districts. Farmers have demanded enumeration surveys and provide relief according to the losses Farmers had harvested their samba and thaladi paddy crops by early February and started the cultivation of pulses such as green gram and black gram across Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts. The crops took an unexpected hit with heavy downpours on March 11 and 12.

“After Samba, I began my cultivation of green gram on about 1.5 acres. The crops were about a month old and a month away from harvest. However, my field is waterlogged due to rains. The rainwaters are not receding fast as expected due to blocks in drainage channels,” said P Manikandan, a 45-year-old farmer from Palaiyur in the Nagapattinam district.

Among the pulses, green gram is under cultivation in over 26,000 hectares in Mayiladuthurai and in 14,000 ha in Nagapattinam, whereas black gram is raised on 23,000 ha in Mayiladuthurai and 1,400 ha in Nagapattinam.

The rains were heavy in the Nagapattinam and Keelaiyur blocks in Nagapattinam district and in the Mayiladuthurai, Sembanarkoil and Kollidam blocks in the Mayiladuthurai district on March 11 and 12.

Some had commenced growing cotton crops in around a thousand hectares each in Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai. Gingelly (sesame) cultivation is also underway in a few hundred hectares in both districts.

A senior official from the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department said, “We are monitoring the situation and advising the farmers to make ways to drain the fields as early as possible.”

There are about a few thousand hectares of samba and thaladi crops yet to be harvested in both districts. The crops are currently in the harvest stage and have become lodged due to the downpours.

This article has been republished from The New Indian Express.