An inter-ministerial central team visited three villages in Madurai district on Monday to assess the damage to crops caused by drought.
Director (trade, extension & drought management) at ministry of agriculture Vijay Rajmohan and assistant advisor, ministry of drinking water and sanitation Santosh, along with the managing director of the Tamil Nadu water supply and drainage board, Dheeraj Kumar visited Alampalacheri, Poosalapuram and Kuppalnatham.
The officials interacted with farmers and enquired about crop loss. Most of the rain-fed crops in Usilampatti division has suffered extensive damage due to poor rains, a district official told the team. The northeast monsoon should have brought 419mm rainfall but the region received only 70mm rainfall, he added.
Explaining about their losses, farmers at Alampalacheri said that they spent 15,000 per acre to cultivate maize, but the entire crop withered. Instead of the 20 quintals of usual yield, they hardly got two quintals of maize.
Showing the withered crop at Poosalapuram, farmers said that they had a bumper harvest last year. "Many of us cultivated maize with the hope of good returns this year. But, the drought took a heavy toll. Now, the withered crop is used as cattle feed," S Neethirajan, a farmer, told the team.
At Kuppalnatham, the team visited an abandoned paddy field full of withered crops. "We could not raise paddy beyond the planting stage after the rains failed," said N Subramanian, a farmer. Farmers were expecting at least 40 to 50 bags of paddy per acre, he added.
The central team queried the farmers about the availability of drinking water in the region. "The region receives drinking water from the Vaigai dam under drinking water schemes. As of now, we are getting water to drink, but the reservoir level is also depleting steadily," a farmer said.
When enquired about ground water, farmers said they have to sink bore wells to 400 to 500 feet depth to get water.
As the team could not visit Allikundam to study about cotton crop loss, agriculture department officials from Usilampatti presented documents about the status of cotton crop that suffered damage due to drought.
Talking to reporters after assessing the drought situation, the central team members said that crops have suffered 80-90 % damage due to water shortage. A report will soon be presented to the central government, they said.
District collector K Veera Raghava Rao said drought has affected all 645 villages of the district and a report has been presented to the state government. Revenue and agriculture departments have been asked to assess the crop loss at village level, he added.
Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
