The Hindu
Jan 06, 2005

TAMIL NADU : TSUNAMI HAS NOT SPARED NAGAPATTINAM FARMERS

By S. Ganesan

NAGAPATTINAM, JAN. 5 . Even as the government machinery is focussed on relief and rehabilitation in the tsunami-hit areas of this district, the damage caused by seawater incursion to paddy and groundnut crops on thousands of acres has almost gone unnoticed.

Thousands of farmers in the vicinity of the seashore have been hit hard by the December 26 seismic waves. Paddy and groundnut raised within one or two km of the coast have withered after salty water inundated the fields. Farmers fear that their fields can become barren.The farmers are demanding, besides compensation, immediate release of water from the Mettur dam to help them "wash away" salinity. "Seawater will affect crops as well as the soil," they say.

The farmers are sore that the government agencies have ignored their plight. In some places, they have even taken to the streets.

"Though the Government and relief agencies are right in concentrating on relief works in the coastal areas, the Agriculture department should
have paid attention to our sufferings," is their refrain.

A traumatic period

The farmers in the district have gone through a traumatic period: first because of drought, then due to floods during the monsoon and now inundation. "We could raise only one crop owing to water shortage and even this has been lost now," they say.

Paddy and groundnut on over 15,000 hectares have withered along the 130- km-long coast from Vedaranyam to Kollidam, claims Arupathi Kalyanam, general secretary, Federation of Farmers Associations of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and
Nagapattinam. He wants the Government to immediately release water as the fields should be washed at least thrice.

Paddy and groundnut crops in large tracts at Manikampangu, Erukatancheri, Kaliappanallur, Therkasu and other villages have been destroyed.

`Even goats won't graze'

Though seawater receded within a few hours of the tsunami strike, the crops withered within 24 hours, says Kaliayamurthy, a farmer at Therkasu.

The crop in the grain-forming stage could not be used even as fodder, as it tasted salty. "Even our goats do not graze on these fields." The crops have been scorched because of "physiological dehydration" caused by sodium and
magnesium salts, says V. Mariappan, former head of the Department of Plant Pathology, Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University.

Mr. Mariappan, who has worked with the International Rice Research Institute,
Philippines, says crops in the flowering and grain-filling stages have been destroyed. The soil has turned saline. Hence, urgent steps are needed to wash the fields and apply gypsum to save fertility.

The Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association secretary, S. Ranganathan, has urged the Government to depute a team of agricultural scientists to assess the damage and recommend ways of soil reclamation.