Tamil Nadu: Agriculture dept asks farmers to take measures to protect crop

Chennai: With farmlands in coastal district suffering water-logging, agriculture department on Thursday urged farmers to take preventive measures to protect their crops. Assistant directors in agriculture department serving in Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Villupuram were also sounded alert to enrol maximum farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) crop insurance scheme.

“There are complaints from Delta districts that several hectares of farmlands had been submerged and are on the verge of withering. We have instructed the agricultural department officials to campaign for insurance and ensure that they insure their crops before November 30, the last date for insuring crops,” a senior state official said. Further, the department had also started screening short films that educate farmers on the advantages of insuring their crops and the evils of usury. “Crops in Nagapattinam are facing threat due to severe water logging and taluks like Sirkali has already started showing signs of crop damages,” said S. Kothandam, a farmer in Nagapittanam.

A press communiqué from the secretariat urged the farmers to enrich the content of urea used for paddy crops. In case of heavy rains lashing the paddy fields, the crops will suffer from malnutrition. Further, the erosion of micro nutrients from the soil will also weaken the crops and this needs to be supplemented by providing gypsum mixture, the release said. To prevent insect attack and monsoon related infections farmers should spray Zinc Sulphate mixed with urea mixture. Neem mixed with oil cake should also be sprayed over the crops, the release added.