More farmers in Karur, Salem and Namakkal districts are to get seed material for the drought-resistant Sree Athulya variety of cassava or maravalli kizhangu.
Farmers in Salem, who got 18 tonnes of cassava per acre in place of their usual 12-15 tonnes, said they did not at first believe this variety would be bug resistant.
M. Subramanian, a farmer of Goodamalai in Salem said he had also planted the popular Thailand variety in another plot and that pests had attacked it. However, the variety provided by ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, had proved to be more pest-resistant and had also brought in a bountiful harvest.
