Nagapattinam, Sep 16 (IANS) Farmers in the Cauvery delta who were unable to cultivate paddy during the kuruvai season or lost their standing crops because of inadequate water have urged the Tamil Nadu government to provide compensation and extend special package benefits to samba cultivation.
The government had announced a Rs 134-crore kuruvai special package after water could not be released from the Mettur dam on the customary date of June 12.
The assistance was intended to encourage paddy cultivation using alternative irrigation sources, including filter-point wells. However, farmers who could not undertake cultivation because of water scarcity were excluded from the scheme, leaving thousands of agricultural families without income during the short-term cropping season.
Official data highlight a steep decline in kuruvai cultivation across the delta districts.
In Nagapattinam, nearly 28,000 farmers cultivated paddy on about 30,000 hectares in 2025. This year, only around 1,100 farmers raised the crop across approximately 1,720 hectares.
The situation was also serious in Tiruvarur, where the number of farmers cultivating kuruvai declined from 59,885 in 2025 to 38,330 in 2026. The area under cultivation fell from 77,573 hectares to 46,338 hectares during the same period.
The figures indicate that about 26,900 farmers in Nagapattinam and 21,555 farmers in Tiruvarur were unable to access the benefits offered under the kuruvai package because they could not begin cultivation.
Farmers’ organisations have sought financial assistance for those who lost their seasonal livelihood and demanded a separate package for samba cultivation following the release of water from the Mettur reservoir.
They warned that the continuing shortage of water and rising cultivation expenses could affect the samba season as well. Several farmers reported losing around Rs 10,000 per acre after failing to cultivate kuruvai paddy. Others said crops sown using groundwater withered because of intense summer heat, deficient rainfall and rapidly falling groundwater levels.
Farmer representatives have asked the government to declare the delta districts agriculturally distressed and grant compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre. They want the relief to cover both farmers who could not sow kuruvai paddy and those whose crops failed after cultivation.
In Tirumarugal, crops cultivated on three of five acres reportedly withered because irrigation sources dried up. Farmers said immediate government intervention was necessary to help them resume cultivation and prevent further livelihood losses during the samba season.
–IANS
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