Farmers say water allowed will not be sufficient for Samba crop

Cauvery delta has switched over to direct sowing method where the land will be prepared well in advance for the crop

Even though the Karnataka government has released the stipulated quantity of water from Cauvery as ordered by the Supreme Court on Monday, protests on both the sides of the border continue. While farmers and certain groups are agitating in Karnataka, farmers in Tamil Nadu claim that the water released will not be adequate to save crops.

Amid the protests, the Karnataka government on Tuesday evening decided to comply with the Supreme Court order, to release 15,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu for 10 days. Karnataka has earlier said that due to inadequate rainfall during the year, the water in the rivers is inadequate even for drinking and there is no question of sharing water for irrigation.

However, farmers in Cauvery delta says that even if Karnataka releases the 15,000 cusec, it will be sufficient for them to save the Samba crops. They argue that they will require a larger quantity of water to save the crops.

"Fifteen thousand cusecs of water for ten days will not be sufficient to sustain a crop. For the five months duration, you need around 180-220 TMC of water. If 90 feet water is released, which would be around 40-45 TMC, it will irrigate the land till the north-east monsoon comes in. The north-east monsoon will provide 60-70 TMC, and if the monsoon is good in Kerala and Karnataka, there is a possibility to get some more water," said Mannargudi S Ranganathan, general secretary of Cauvery Delta Farmers' Welfare association. With this, one can achieve a reasonably good productivity, he added.

"From 1982 onwards, we have been using the direct sowing method, where the land will be ploughed and kept ready for cultivation during the south-west monsoon, when the Samba season starts, so that we can reduce the usage of water and, with the support of the north-east monsoon, have better yields," he said.

There should be an attitude that if there is no water to irrigate a crop, you have to forget about the crop, he added.

The state has two crops, Kurvai and Samba. Kurvai, a short-duration crop, is best cultivated during south-west monsoon bewteen June and September or early October, while Samba uses the north-east monsoon bewteen late October and December, though the rainfall may also create havoc on the fields some time.

The Cauvery delta has been producing rice for almost 2,000 years now and is still fertile and apt for paddy cultivation. Ranganathan added that if each area starts producing crops which are naturally suitable for cultivation in the geographical condition, there will not be any dispute and the dispute could be resolved if there is political consensus and will.

The lack of water often affects the Kurvai, which is now restricted mostly in 120,000-150,000 acres. Tamil Nadu produces over around 8-9 million tonnes of paddy, he added.

The issue has also triggered political debate on the responsibilities of the State government, with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M Karunanidhi raised questions on what the State government's action would be on the Supreme Court order.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Karunanidhi said that the water allocated by the Court is not adequate for the crops. The water was released to save the samba crops in Tamil Nadu. The State had sought release of 50.52 thousand million cubic feet (Tmc ft) of water for the farmers.

He said that the State government should lead an all party delegation to the centre seeking it to put pressure on Karnataka to release the water.