Farmers from Thoothukudi district have urged the government to provide appropriate drought relief, as subpar rainfall during the last northeast monsoon has affected the crop yield of the rain-fed agriculture region in the district.

The demand was raised at the farmers grievance redress meeting held at Thoothukudi District Collectorate on Thursday. The meeting was chaired by Thoothukudi District Collector Vishu Mahajan.

At the meeting, farmers stated that the northeast monsoon failed in the district last year, leading to more than a 50% drop in the yield for rain-fed crops such as black gram, green gram, maize and chillies. This has led to financial loss for many farmers in the district, they said.

They added that a request had already been made to declare five blocks in the district as drought-affected areas and provide relief funds. The previous District Collector K. Elambahavath has ordered the formation of committees to assess the damage. The farmers asked about the status of those reports and demanded immediate action to ensure compensation for affected farmers.

Farmers also demanded the immediate procurement of paddy stocks lying unsold at procurement centres and management of paddy procurement centres by farmers’ associations instead of political parties.

The farmers urged immediate steps to recover and return the pledged gold at Kurumbur Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS).

Other demands including permanent solution for wild boar menace, immediate release of water from Kadambakulam tank and removal of invasive Prosopis juliflora were also raised.

Farmers also proposed creating a new water canal from Marudhur Melakkal to Karumeniyar River to divert the surplus rainwater to drought prone areas.

Responding to the grievances, Mr. Mahajan and other officials stated that an assessment report on drought damage has already been submitted, noting that delays occurred due to change in collector and assembly elections.

The officials added that paddy procurement is being carried out properly at all centres and investigation into Kurumbur PACS fraud is ongoing.

The proposal to create a 29 km new canal route from Marudhur Melakkal to Karumeniyar river is under consideration, and further studies will be conducted, the officials said.

District Revenue Officer M. Guruchandran, Joint Director (agriculture) Krishnakumar and other officials were present.