Mettur dam to open for kuruvai cultivation on June 12

For the first since 2011, the sluices of the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur will be opened for the cultivation of kuruvai (short-term crop) in the Cauvery Delta region in the month of June. An announcement by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday has enthused farmers’ in the region as they are hoping for a bumper crop this season as water from Mettur will reach them by the third week of June.

Water from the 87-year-old reservoir is usually opened on June 12, the date which was set keeping in mind the arrival of monsoon in Karnataka, but Delta has missed the date for the past eight years as the sluices could not be opened in June. In 2011, the dam was on June 6, a week ahead of the scheduled date, and this year, the water will flow out of the reservoir at 10 am on June 12.

The water level at the Stanley Reservoir in Mettur stands at over 100 feet with the storage capacity reaching 65 tmcft. In 2011, kuruvai was cultivated in an area of about 5.5 lakh acres which reduced to 1 to 1.5 lakhs in the past few years due to the non-availability of Cauvery water. Only farmers who have borewell facilities go for kuruvai cultivation.

P R Pandian, President of Tamil Nadu All Farmers Organisations Committee, has asked the state government to ensure uninterrupted water from Mettur Dam till the onset of North-East monsoon in October to ensure farmers cultivate paddy in an area of 10 lakh acres.

“The government should desilt all lakes and tanks before June 12 and ensure that Cauvery water reaches the tail end. Only then, farmers in the entire Delta region will be happy. We welcome the decision to open the dam on June 12 which will ensure kuruvai cultivation,” he told DH.

‘Mannargudi’ S Ranganathan, general secretary of Cauvery Delta Farmers Association, said the release of Cauvery water from Mettur in June would ensure that the sowing for kuruvai is over by the end of June and crop is harvest in early October. “If all goes well, Cauvery Delta will have a bumper kuruvai harvest this season,” he added.

Veera Rajendran, a farmer in the Thiruvayaru area near Thanjavur, told DH that the government should make all efforts to ensure the water reaches all parts of the Delta region. “Only if the water reaches every region, including the tail-end areas, farmers will be happy. And once the water reaches the Delta, we can all begin cultivation. We hope everything will be fine this year,” he added.

The Cauvery Delta, which was used to three-crop formula – samba, kuruvai and thaladi – had come down to just one crop a year. Till about a decade ago, cultivation would take place in three seasons – Kuruvai (short-term crop) from June to September, Samba (long-term crop) from August to January and Thaladi from January to May – keeping the farmer busy for the whole year.

While the first two seasons primarily cultivated paddy, farmers utilised the third season to cultivate pulses for centuries together by the progressive farming community.