Thirty-four-year-old R. Pandithurai, an organic farmer of Seelathanallur in the Kottur block of Tiruvarur district, looks wistful as he surveys the paddy nursery that he had raised for the samba season. The lush green seedlings are ready for transplantation; but his field is not — for want of water.
“This is ‘karuppu kavuni’, a traditional variety. I had raised nurseries of three other traditional varieties too, spending about ₹10,000. The nurseries would cover about seven acres; I had planned to share the seedlings with my friends who are into organic farming too. But we haven’t got water and could not transplant the seedlings,” rues Mr. Pandithurai, a first-generation graduate of his family, who quit his job to take up organic farming eight years ago. The seedlings should have been transplanted in 22 days; they are 33 days old now, he says.
There is virtually no hope of sustaining the medium-term traditional varieties with crop duration of about 145 days as the Salvanaru canal, the only source of irrigation for the villagers, has gone bone dry. “There has been water flow in the canal only thrice since water release started from the Mettur dam this year,” complain the villagers. Feeder channels that carry water to the fields in the village lie in neglect.
