The Hindu Business Line : Wheat found to be suitable crop in TN

CAN Tamil Nadu, where paddy cultivation is the main source of sustenance to a large number of farmers but which is becoming increasingly difficult due to failure of monsoon during successive seasons in the last few years, look for an alternative crop to provide succour at least in select areas?

Yes, says the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), whose regional station in Wellington in the Nilgiris has developed wheat varieties for cultivation in the State. And the advantage is that the crop is not water intensive, unlike the wheat grown in Punjab, though the yield is somewhat less.Dr K.A. Nayeem, Head, IARI Regional Station, Wellington, told Business Line that wheat cultivation had been found to be suitable in Tamil Nadu in areas such as Coimbatore district, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Sathyamangalam (Erode district), Palani in Dindigul district, Theni etc.

He said for the first time, wheat cultivation had been taken up in these regions in the last two years.

He said last year, IARI conducted 75 trials and this year, in 15 districts, 75 small-scale and 20 large-scale trials - the latter on one-acre plots - have been conducted.

He said the yield was around 2.5 tonne to 3 tonne per hectare. Normally, in the traditional wheat-growing areas in the North, the yield is in the 4-5 tonnes range.

He said a crucial fact to be noted was that the while wheat crop was harvested in Tamil Nadu in 90 days, in the North, the duration was about 140 days.

Flour mills in Tamil Nadu also would benefit since, at present, wheat has to be transported from the North. It was the issue of off-take of wheat grown in Tamil Nadu that had been deterring farmers from cultivating it. But the flour mill owners were willing to buy it from the farmers directly at Rs 9 a kg, he said.

Asked about the quality of wheat crop cultivated in Tamil Nadu, he said the wheat grown in trial plots were as good as in Punjab. The two wheat varieties developed by IARI, Wellington - HW 3070 and HW 3094 - had been found suitable for cultivation in the State.

The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is releasing the HW 3094 variety for cultivation by the farmers in Tamil Nadu.

Commenting on the advantages of growing wheat compared to paddy in the State, Dr Nayeem said while paddy required 12 irrigations, the wheat variety recommended for Tamil Nadu would need to be irrigated only four to five times since the crop was of 90 days duration and this was a crucial advantage in view of scarcity of water for irrigation.

To commemorate the Golden Jubilee of IARI, Wellington, a National Symposium on `Wheat Improvement for the Tropical Areas' is being organised on September 23 and 24 in Coimbatore jointly by IARI and TNAU. The Director of IARI, New Delhi, Mr S. Nagarajan, would deliver a special address on Thursday at the symposium to be inaugurated by the Tamil Nadu Minister for Agriculture, Mr K. Pandurangan.