Collector S. Aneesh Sekhar presiding over a farmers’ grievance day meeting in Madurai on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: R. Ashok
Madurai district farmers were advised by officials of the Agriculture Department to take up rice fallow pulses cultivation as it would boost their income. The officials said that this was the practice in the Delta region and the farmers could follow that here.
While PWD officials said that sufficient storage was available in Periyar and Vaigai dams, the farmers demanded that more water should be released for saving the standing crops in some areas. However, Madurai Collector S. Aneesh Sekhar ,who presided over the farmers grievances redressal meeting here on Tuesday, said that water available now would be utilised for drinking purposes till June.
Stating that they got a good harvest of maize in the region, the farmers urged the authorities to set up direct purchase centres for maize. The authorities said that they would look into it.
A farmer from Erkudi Achampathu complained about the sewage water getting mixed into the water channels, which, in turn, affected the agricultural fields. A similar complaint was raised by farmers in the previous farmers grievance meeting. The Collector directed the authorities to take appropriate action.
Further, the farmers also complained about encroachments on waterbodies in Mangalakudi and Boothamangalam and wanted the authorities to remove them. They also stressed the need to desilt the waterbodies. The revenue officials told the Collector that despite taking steps to remove the encroachments, the encroachers kept coming back.
The Collector asked the officials to lodge a police complaint against the offenders.
Some of the other complaints raised by the farmers at the grievance meeting were on the menace of wild animals destroying crops and the need for better roads. Some farmers sought the disbursement of crop insurance compensation.
Taking into account that the United Nations had declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets, millet porridge was served to farmers and officials at the meeting. Impressed with the preparation, the farmers sought the recipe of millet porridge.