Farmers in despair over water woes

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Lack of sufficient rains has been worrying farmers in the district. In Chenkal panchayat, on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram city, the farmers are finding it hard to get water for paddy and other cultivation. Even though light showers graced the place in the past couple of days, it was not enough to make the soil wet enough. For Balaraj, a farmer from Chenkal,  his paddy crop has suffered. His field is in the Arayoor region of the panchayat."We have two ponds nearby. Many requests had been made to do something about the ponds, but nothing has been done so far," he said. 

He farms on the upper side of Vandichira Thodu which is the major source of water for irrigation purposes. The land is also on an elevated region which closes a lot of avenues for them."Earlier, we used to pump water from the ponds. However, because of the water shortage, there is nothing to be done. Earlier, I used to have four fields, now I have limited cultivation to one. We use the water after bringing it from other places. That was how I managed to plant the crops this time. When there was water in the canal, the seepage from it helped," he added.

There is paddy cultivation in about 66.5 hectares in Chenkal, banana cultivation in 280 hectares and vegetable cultivation aimed at Onam in 30 hectares. "In Karikkakari, where there is cultivation in 13 hectares of paddy, we are currently pumping water from a nearby water body. Ploughing the land and planting got late because of the unavailability of water. In general, there is a lack of water supply in many of our fields. We had got in touch with the irrigation department, but they said they did not have any instructions from the higher authorities," said Balachandran Nair, agriculture officer.

Farmers are also using water that leaks from the Vandichira canal from where water was being supplied for drinking purposes. "The paddy cultivation in Keezhebhagom, Arayoor and Porannoor, next to the Vandichira canal, survives because of this water. After a terrible summer, such a monsoon is worrisome. There is banana farming too on a massive scale. Those, too, are struggling. However, the advantage they have over paddy farmers is that they do not need a constant supply of water," added Balachandran.

If the rain continues to play truant, there wouldn't be many options for the farmers. Despite being a project region of Haritha Kerala Mission, the water shortage sees no end. Close to 70 ponds had been dug or renovated across the panchayat for agricultural purposes, but the proximity and feasibility of using these ponds, their water-holding capacity and many other factors are up for debate.