Thirty-four-year-old R. Pandithurai, an organic farmer of Seelathanallur in the Kottur block of Tiruvarur district, looks wistful as he surveys the paddy nursery that he had raised for the samba season. The lush green seedlings are ready for transplantation; but his field is not — for want of water.
“This is ‘karuppu kavuni’, a traditional variety. I had raised nurseries of three other traditional varieties too, spending about ₹10,000. The nurseries would cover about seven acres; I had planned to share the seedlings with my friends who are into organic farming too. But we haven’t got water and could not transplant the seedlings,” rues Mr. Pandithurai, a first-generation graduate of his family, who quit his job to take up organic farming eight years ago. The seedlings should have been transplanted in 22 days; they are 33 days old now, he says.
There is virtually no hope of sustaining the medium-term traditional varieties with crop duration of about 145 days as the Salvanaru canal, the only source of irrigation for the villagers, has gone bone dry. “There has been water flow in the canal only thrice since water release started from the Mettur dam this year,” complain the villagers. Feeder channels that carry water to the fields in the village lie in neglect.
Mr. Pandithurai’s uncle, S. Balan, 48, was forced to destroy his kuruvai crop after 60 days when the water flow stopped. “I had raised the crop on four acres and spent nearly ₹30,000 by the time the crop started withering. I had no option but to plough the field again and went in for the samba crop, hoping that the northeast monsoon would see us through. But the 60-day-old samba crop is stunted for want of water,” says the farmer from Seelathanallur.
“We need to irrigate the crop at least once in 15 days. We need water even to remove the weeds,” says Mr. Balan, a father of two school-going children. Many, like Mr. Balan, for whom agriculture is the sole livelihood, have been pinning their hopes on the northeast monsoon. “There has not been much rain so far, and hopes are fading fast,” he laments.
Clearly, the inter-State river water sharing dispute has left the Cauvery delta — the Granary of South India — in severe distress yet again. The situation has turned worse after the suspension of water release from the Stanley Reservoir at Mettur about a month ago due to depleting storage.
Dismal kuruvai
After a dismal kuruvai season, the long-term samba/thaladi, the main crop of the year, has also run into rough weather in the canal-irrigated areas. Except in filter-point areas (where farmers use groundwater for irrigation), the crops have been hit by the lack of water in the canals and the absence of rain.
Interestingly, the opening of the Mettur dam on the customary date of June 12 and the lure of the State government’s special package had spurred more farmers into going in for the short-term kuruvai crop this year. But there were complaints that some of the tail-end areas of the delta, particularly in Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts, did not get adequate water.
The flow was not adequate in the Vennar, the Odampoki, the Vaalavaikal, the Thandavaiyar, the Mullaiyar, and the Harichandra as the Karnataka government failed to release Tamil Nadu’s due share of Cauvery water, farmers complain.
Soon the kuruvai crop started withering in many areas. Only those in the filter-point areas or with access to nearby water sources managed to harvest the crop. In a desperate bid, some farmers even hired diesel motors to pump available water from nearby canals and wells to save the partially withered crop. M. Prakash, a farmer of Elankadambanur in Nagapattinam district, says, “We had spent ₹4,000 per acre to pump the water using diesel motors with the hope of saving the crop. Yet, the seeds failed to germinate.”
Others destroyed the withered crop and started sowing for the second time. Farmers in Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts seem to have borne the brunt of the problem. As one drives around the Kottur block and along the Thiruthuraipoondi-Tiruvarur Road, one could see young crop withering in some of the fields. In Nagapattinam district alone, about 30,000 acres of kuruvai paddy is estimated to have been affected. “Farmers of Nagapattinam district are always the worst affected by natural disasters, be it flood or drought,” says P. Muthukumaran, a farmer of Perunkadambanur. The government sanctioned a compensation of ₹13,500 a hectare for the kuruvai crop losses; but farmers are yet to get the relief. According to officials in Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai, the enumeration is still under way.
Seawater intrusion
In some parts of Nagapattinam, farmers have to contend with seawater intrusion too, given the proximity of agricultural fields to the sea. This leaves no scope for tapping into groundwater. In the Thalainayar block, saline water intrusion is apparent even at a depth of about 15 feet, farmers say.
In Thanjavur district, farmers dependent on irrigation tanks in the Pattukottai and Peravurani areas are wary of going in for the samba crop, given the scanty rainfall and the poor flow into the waterbodies so far. An Agriculture Department official in Thanjavur district concedes that there has hardly been any flow into irrigation tanks as the monsoon has not brought much rain so far. In places such as Sethubavachathiram, Peravurani, and parts of the Pattukottai and Thiruvonam blocks, farmers usually wait for the tanks to get some water to start cultivation. Much would depend on the monsoon in the coming days, he says. “Many farmers in the canal- and tank-irrigated areas in the Thiruvonam union have not taken up cultivation yet. For instance, Idayankulam tank, which supports an ayacut of about 130 acres, has dead storage and farmers have not been able to take up cultivation yet,” says V.S. Veerappan of Thiruvonam.
Farmers in a few parts of the Budalur taluk, irrigated by the Grand Anicut Canal, have also not taken up cultivation yet. “Some of the villages are located on a higher plane and not many farmers have borewells. Normally, about 6,000 acres would be cultivated in half-a-dozen villages fed by the sub-channel 790, branching off the Grand Anicut Canal. But the crop has been raised hardly on 15 acres so far this year. Some have raised nurseries but are unable to transplant them as there is no water,” says P. Arivu, 47, a postgraduate farmer of Vairaperumalpatti. Mr. Arivu had raised paddy during the kuruvai season on six acres, but says he sustained a loss of nearly ₹1 lakh as the yield had dropped owing to water shortage in the late stages of the crop. “After paying the school fees of my two children and Deepavali expenses, I am hardly left with any cash,” he says.
Farmers’ organisations say the situation is grim and are anguished by the “silence” of the State government. “It is disappointing that the government has not come out with any announcement with respect to samba cultivation. There has been no initiative to support the farmers — not even a word of assurance to allay their apprehensions,” regrets P.R. Pandian, president, Coordination Committee of All Farmers Associations of Tamil Nadu. “The damage to the crop varies from place to place. You would find some greenery in the filter-point areas; but this is not a reflection of the situation across the delta. In many places irrigated by canals, the seeds did not even germinate and at some other places, the crop is withering at various stages of growth. The government should sanction an incentive of ₹10,000 an acre to encourage the farmers who had taken up samba cultivation against odds,” he demands.
Inadequate compensation
Mr. Pandian contends that even the compensation announced by the government for the kuruvai crop loss was inadequate. “The crop had withered on 1.5 lakh acres in the delta districts, but the government had said that only about 40,000 acres was affected. In Tiruvarur, the extent of loss has been estimated at just about 600 acres. There have been complaints that the losses have not been properly and fully assessed. Farmers who had destroyed [ploughed] the withered crop to go in for fresh sowing have been told that they are not eligible for the compensation,” Mr. Pandian alleges.
According to Cauvery Dhanapalan, president, Tamil Nadu Vivasaya Sangankalin Kootamaippu, the entire Vennar Division, where the groundwater table is not so good, has been affected badly. Many farmers went in for direct sowing in Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur, hoping to tide over the situation with monsoon. Farmers are usually apprehensive of waterlogging from heavy rain during the Tamil month of Aippasi. But the monsoon has not been vigorous so far, and they have not been able to take up de-weeding and other works for want of water. “We expected that the government would resume water release when the storage improved to over 40 or 50 feet at Mettur. At least the daily inflow could be released; but there is no such indication, leaving a question mark over the livelihood of farmers in the delta. There is no chance of raising even a short-term crop any longer,” he says.
‘Compensation yet to be disbursed’
Mr. Dhanapalan too finds the government’s “silence” appalling. “It is shocking that nobody is talking about our plight now. This is a calamity and under the circumstances, the government should declare the State drought-hit and seek relief from the Centre. Karnataka has already done so. But no groundwork seems to have been done here so far. Even the compensation announced for the kuruvai crop loss has not been disbursed yet. It should be done before Deepavali. Farmers who had toiled to save the crop but have got a lesser yield should also be given some support.”
“Governments take credit whenever there is an increase in grain production; shouldn’t they share our burden when we are in distress?” wonders Mr. Dhanapalan.
