The district with an annual average rainfall of 814.80 mm had actually experienced only 267.98 mm rainfall between January and October this year which was 46% below the average, said Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Saitsh here on Friday. She pointed out that during the period, the district should have actually received about 495 mm of rainfall.
After a gap of six months, the farmers’ grievance redressal meet was conducted online due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The reservoirs – Papanasam, Servalar, Manimuthar, Vadakku Pachchaiyar, Kodumudiyar and Nambiyar – had only about 42.60% water (5,500.13 million cubic feet against the total 12,882 mcft), which was 34.20% in the corresponding period last year. The district, which would get an average rainfall of 166 mm in October (it was 261.11 mm in 2019), has so far received only 20.28 mm rainfall.
Of the 740 system tanks in the district, 695 tanks are bone-dry and all 550 rain-fed tanks are also dry. Only five of the 740 system tanks have water, sufficient for irrigation for two months.
Though, the southwest monsoon had failed to bring much rain, farmers had raised paddy on 5,082 hectare, cereals on 249 ha, grams on 921 ha, cotton on 636 ha, sugarcane on 33 ha and oilseeds on 273 ha, with the water available in dams and from wells in rain-fed areas.
Anticipating normal rainfall during the northeast monsoon this year, certified seeds, chemical fertilizers, bio-fertilizers, pesticides etc. had been stocked adequately and periodic checking was being conducted in the shops of the authorised dealers dealing with these agro inputs to check the quality of these products. Due actions were also being taken against traders dealing with substandard agro inputs.
When inspections revealed the sale of substandard seeds in three shops, the sale ban was imposed on 1.62 tonnes of seeds, worth about ₹1.60 lakh.
Under the Central assistance, 100% subsidy was being given to small and marginal farmers practising micro irrigation techniques while this grant was 75% for other agriculturists. As the district had received ₹10.68 crore during this fiscal under this component for installing micro irrigation systems in 2,500 hectare, the farmers should make use of it to irrigate their crops such as groundnut, coconut, oil palm, cotton etc., Ms. Shilpa said.
Farmers who want to avail the grant for installing micro irrigation gadgets should upload the Aadhar card, ‘adangal’, map, computer ‘chitta’ in www.tnhorticulture.tn.gov.in/ horti/mimis .
When the farmers said there was demand for urea in several parts of the district, the Collector assured that the chemical nutrient would be available on time as the district had started receiving its share of urea.
The farmers also appealed to take steps for ensuring early disbursal of crop insurance benefits for 2016-17 even though they had paid the premium before the deadline.
District Revenue Officer A. Perumal, Joint Director of Agriculture Gajendra Pandian and other senior officials participated in the online grievance redressal meet.
