Tamil Nadu: Delta farmers urge early completion of crop damage assessment soon

TIRUCHY: After the withdrawal of app-based GPS verification of crop damage assessment and the introduction of the conventional method across the Delta region, after prolonged protests, was welcomed by the farmers. But now they are sceptical about the completion of the entire process and the compensation disbursement. They are sitting with fingers crossed and wondering whether to rework their lands, as only the completion of the assessment will pave the way for the next level of agricultural activities.

The heavy rains due to the northeast monsoon and the rains after Cyclone Ditwah had devastated the samba and thalady crops across the Cauvery Delta region. Around 90,000 hectares (2.22 lakh acres) of early samba and thalady had submerged across the region and decayed after the water failed to recede from the fields even one week after the rains.

The state government had ordered the crop damage assessment during the last week of October, but with the upgraded App-based GPS verification method. As the process had several issues, including network problems, this further delayed the assessment, and the farmers kept demanding to withdraw the new method and to continue with the conventional (manual) method.

“The entire assessment process was promised to be completed within 10 days ever since it was announced. As the app-based assessment could not move forward for various reasons, the government switched to conventional methods, with a minimum of 10 per cent app-based assessment in every district. Though the assessment has commenced, we are uncertain about the completion of the entire process,” said PS Masilamani, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam Affiliated to CPI.

He said that just 50 per cent of the assessment had been completed in the region. Only completion of the entire process would pave the way for the disbursal of compensation, and so the officials promised to complete it within a week, he said.

While Cauvery S Dhanapalan, General Secretary, Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, said, the farmers have been waiting for the completion of the assessment process to revamp the fields for going ahead with the next cultivation process.

“The farmers are in the intention to rework their fields as they would never allow the land to go barren, for which the officials should ensure the time of the completion of the assessment process”, Dhanapalan said.

Dhanapalan claimed that the Assistant Agriculture Officer, who is entitled to assess the crop damage, has been allotted as many as 14 revenue villages, but it is very difficult for the officer to assess during such times of disaster.

“An officer can take care of only three villages for a proper and fast survey process,” Dhanapalan said.

He also said that the districts of Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur, partly Pudukkottai and partly Tiruchy are affected due to the heavy rains. Among the districts, Nagapattinam was the most affected as 300 mm of rain was recorded in 36 hours, and so the two-week-old tender samba and thalady had submerged. As time passed, the farmers needed to rework their land back to its normal condition so that the assessment could be over at the earliest.

Kakkarai R Sukumaran, president of Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam, said that every farmer would like to restructure his land at the earliest, soon after devastation, to avoid damage to the land.

“The land is still under water for the past 20 days, and the farmers will never let their land go barren. It is time, the land should be rejuvenated with adequate inputs and proper tilling for which the assessment should get over soon,” Sukumaran said.

Meanwhile, agriculture officials said that they were instructed to accelerate the ongoing crop damage assessment process. The officials said that to tackle the staff crunch, the government allowed to depute 250 assistant agriculture officers from non-Delta districts exclusively for the crop damage, and the enumeration has been underway intensively, the officials said.

While an official said that apart from 10 per cent of app-based assessment, which is mandatory, the manual enumeration has been accelerated across the region and now, more than 60 per cent has been covered so far, and the remaining areas would be covered in a couple of days, the official added.