After dry years, Tamil Nadu farmers cheer first showers

With widespread rains in Tamil Nadu, there is perceptible buoyancy in farmers’ mood as the North-East monsoon sets in strongly.

After a few years of deficient monsoons and last year’s drought, which was among the worst in over a century, the recent rains have given rural areas a much-needed boost.

In the Cauvery Delta areas, land preparation is on for the long-term Samba season, even though it is a late start. With most of the previous short-term summer crop, Kuruvai curtailed, the current long-term crop will give farmers a much-needed lift.

S Ranganathan, General Secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, said direct sowing has taken hold in Tiruvarur district, and paddy crop is ready to set well with the monsoons. After a dry phase when Delta farmers lost consecutive crops, they now look forward to a normal season.

Though the Met Department had said the South West Monsoons previously had been a surplus, Tamil Nadu farmers had not seen the benefit in the form of a flow in the river or ground water recharge, he said.

Typically during the Samba season, about 14.93-lakh acres of paddy is cultivated. In September about 533 mm rain was received against a normal 480 mm. This had prompted the State government to open the Mettur dam on October 2 for irrigation when the water level had reached about 88 ft.

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