The agriculture department is confident of achieving a bumper harvest during the kuruvai season as cultivation is likely to increase by a little over 50,000 acres in core delta districts.
Normally, kuruvai cultivation is taken up in around 3 lakh acres in delta districts with Mayiladuthurai (bifurcated from Nagapattinam district) and Thanjavur districts having more filter-point irrigation facilities in the Cauvery sub-basin below Grand Anicut, contributing to major portion of cultivation.
This year, with water for irrigation from Stanley Reservoir at Mettur to be released on June 12, the extent of cultivation is likely to increase by 27,500 acres in the combined Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts where cultivation was taken up in around one lakh acres last season.
Similarly, the department expects around 15,000 acres to be added to the total extent of around 92,000 acres cultivated in Thanjavur district last season. It expects an addition of 10,000 acres to the last year’s 82,500 acres in Tiruvarur district.
Kuruvai cultivation is to be taken up in around 3.50 lakh acres in delta region and the agriculture department is confident of achieving a bumper harvest of around 5 lakh tonnes of paddy, Director of Agriculture V. Dakshinamoorthy told reporters here on Tuesday.
In order to increase the harvest, farmers have been advised to adopt the system of rice intensification methodology.
As far as seed distribution is concerned, 1,962 tonnes of seed paddy have been distributed to cultivators in delta districts and around 1,600 tonnes is available with cooperative societies and private sellers. In case of an increase in demand, the required quantity will be sourced from Dharapuram.
Adequate stock of short-term paddy seeds is available with societies and private traders. Around 200 to 300 tonnes of TKM9 variety seed paddy has been procured and distributed to delta farmers, who prefer to tap the market for ‘red rice’ in neighbouring Kerala, he added.
Desert locusts
On the issue of desert locusts, special committees, headed by Collectors, have been formed in districts bordering Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The dangerous desert locusts normally move in the direction of the wind, Mr. Dakshinamoorthy pointed out.
The locusts that have invaded Maharashtra and from there the northern part of Madhya Pradesh is all set to move towards Odisha since the wind blows towards the east. The Locusts Warning Centre set up by the Centre at Jodhpur has confirmed it.
Farmers need not worry about reports of the presence of grasshoppers in large numbers in Vayanadu in Kerala and Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu as these are indigenous species that do not cause any harm to the crop, he added.