Area of cultivation goes down in Tirunelveli district despite surplus rainfall, satisfactory storage level in dams

Farmers attending the grievance redress meeting in Tirunelveli Collectorate on Friday.
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Even though the district has received surplus rainfall during the months of October and November this year and satisfactory storage level in the Papanasam and Manimuthar dams, the area of cultivation till November has mysteriously come down.

Chairing the farmers’ grievance redress meeting held at the Collectorate on Friday, District Collector R. Sukumar said the district had received 228.95 mm rainfall during October, which was 37.91% more than the average rainfall for October. The precipitation till November 27 also exceeded the average rainfall as the district recorded 296.78 mm rainfall against the average rainfall of 208.20 mm – an increase of 42.55%.

Hence, the dams, especially the Papanasam and Manimuthar, had sufficient storage of water. While Papanasam dam has 4,983 mcft of water (90.60%) against its maximum capacity of 5,500 mcft, Manimuthar dam has 4,501 mcft (81.69%) against the maximum storage level of 5,511 mcft.

“However, agricultural and horticultural crops have been cultivated only on 28,488 hectares which stood at 29,345 hectares during this period last year,” Dr. Sukumar said.

When the farmers appealed to the Collector to give ‘adequate compensation’ for the banana crop damaged by recent gale and downpour in Palayamkottai and Cheranmahadevi Taluks, Dr. Sukumar said banana raised on 42.85 hectare had been damaged as per the preliminary survey jointly done by the revenue, horticulture and agriculture departments and the final report on this damage would be submitted with the government soon for getting compensation.

When farmer P. Perumbadaiyar of Tamil Nadu Vivasaayigal Sangam and others appealed to the Collector to give the compensation of ₹300 per banana, the farmers’ appeal would be forwarded to the government.

Collector informed that 29,851 tonnes of paddy had been procured from the farmers through the 37 direct procurement centres during the just concluded ‘kar’ paddy season. “At the same time, paddy ready for harvest on 55 hectares had been damaged by the downpour,” he said.

On disbursal of crop loan, Dr. Sukumar informed that ₹8,993 crore had been given as loan till November 23 through kisan credit card and appealed to the agriculturist to insure the crops immediately by paying prescribed premium before the deadline. “Farmers can contact 14447 for getting details about crop insurance or the Assistant Directors of Agriculture,” the Collector said.

When the farmers complained that the badly damaged roads of Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai due to the ‘indefinitely dragging’ underground drainage works were causing hardship to the public, Dr. Sukumar replied that it would be re-laid by February-end.