It would not be a cliché to say the Cauvery delta farmers are at a crossroads. Their list of woes is long: widening gap between the cost of cultivation and the returns; continuous fragmentation of landholdings; vagaries of monsoons (southwest and northeast); lack of water; depleting groundwater table; changing dynamics of labour market perceived to be due to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS); and the increasing involvement of “outsider-workers”. The ever-shrinking farmland and the reluctance of the next generation to take up agriculture complete the picture. Brahmanavayal, 60 km from the picturesque 17th Century Thirumayam Fort and in the Manalmelkudi block of Pudukkottai district, reflects the condition of farmers in the delta. It is in the tail end of the system, depending entirely on the river or the rain. The groundwater table has sunk below 1,000 feet. “We cannot afford the cost of installing a borewell,” says K.S. Subramanian, a farmer.
No silt removal either
The village comes under the Grand Anicut Canal System. (There is no water in the canal this year as water release did not start from the Mettur dam on the scheduled date of June 12 for the short-term kuruvai cultivation season). “Even when the water is released, we do not realise the optimal quantity,” say farmers S. Shanmugasundaram and S. Thangavel. “Somehow, the canal that passes through our village has been left out of the government scheme for silt removal. A number of petitions have been given to any number of officials, but to no avail,” they say.
The villagers say private traders buy their paddy for more than what is paid at the nearby direct purchase centres (DPCs). Perhaps, a silver lining is that “at our DPCs, no one demands extra money — ₹30 or ₹40 a bag,” says K. Chandran, another farmer.
In Karaikal in the Union Territory of Puducherry, another tail end of the delta, P. Rajendran, president of the Karaikal Mavatta Delta Vivasayigal Nala Sangam, explains how his area was adversely affected when the authorities adopted the conventional turn system of water distribution. In recent years, a change in the turn system has made the situation less burdensome.
Impact of MGNREGS
Concurring with many of his colleagues in the Tamil Nadu part of the delta on the impact of the MGNREGS on the availability of farm workers, he cites, for instance, the picking of fully bloomed cotton flowers. “I am not against NREGA or 100 naal thittam [which are how the MGNREGS is popularly called], but the authorities should ensure that at the time of cotton-picking, there should be no work under NREGA. If there is no clash between the scheme and agricultural work, there won’t be any issue. Otherwise, there will not only be a labour shortage but also a steep hike in wages.”
A spell of heavy rain in May brought down the price of cotton from ₹110 a kg to ₹45. “When the price crashed, the wage component itself was around ₹20. Consider the other components. How can a grower sustain himself or herself,” he asks, adding that the price has gone up again to ₹62-₹72.
Though Karaikal’s veteran farmer says “north Indian” workers have not yet taken over the manual work (transplanting) in his areas, the other parts of the delta, especially in Tamil Nadu, seem to have found a solution to labour shortage by hiring them. “Today, there would not be farming in the delta, but for the north Indians,” says a farmer of Thiruvarur district.
“Once upon a time, this region had reacted violently when people from one village went to work at another,” says V. Dhanapalan, president of the Joint Movement of Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Associations, who operates from Kilvelur in Nagapattinam district. Mechanisation has also brought about a sea change in harvesting, once a labour-intensive process.
“In my place [Thirumanur in Ariyalur district where the Cauvery forms part of the southern boundary], we don’t get north Indians, but people from Andhra Pradesh, at the time of transplanting,” says N. Dhanapal, a prominent figure of the area.
Protection of delta
His grievance is that though the Ariyalur, T. Palur, and Jayankondam blocks are considered part of the Cauvery delta, they have been left out of the Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone Development Act, 2020. In October last, the government decided to bring the newly formed Mayiladuthurai district under the law.
However, a cross-section of the farmers in the delta feels that the law has not brought about any substantive change. In fact, in the Policy Note of the Agriculture Department for 2024-25, there is not even a mention of the law. Last year’s document talked of sanctioning a project for promoting crop diversification and improved agricultural practices in saline-affected districts in the Protected Agricultural Development Zone for ₹5 lakh. In addition, ₹5 lakh was sanctioned for undertaking research for improving crop diversification and increasing water use efficiency. The status of these projects is not yet known. However, K. Senthilkumar, secretary of the People’s Awareness and Legal Aid Movement, a voluntary organisation functioning from Thiruthuraipoondi in Thiruvarur district, says further damage to the ecosystem, through oil and natural gas exploration by new players, seems to have been stalled.
The Act came after the 2017 Neduvasal and Kadiramangalam protests, which took place immediately after a massive agitation in the State in support of jallikattu. The protests had only confirmed that hydrocarbon projects would not be welcome in the area. The substance of the law is that while any new project such as zinc, copper, and aluminium smelters, tanneries, and oil and natural gas exploration and extraction has been prohibited, the Act will not come in the way of infrastructure development.
At Nannilam in Thiruvarur lives V. Ravichandran, who is in his sixties and a member of the Global Farmer Network, an organisation based out of Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. It works to highlight the cause of farmers in trade, technology, sustainable farming, economic growth, and food security. Calling upon companies such as ONGC to engage themselves more in ecosystem restoration and preservation of the Cauvery delta, he says ONGC can complement and supplement the State government’s efforts at the removal of silt from rivers, canals, tanks, and lakes all over the region in phases and in a sustained manner. While no farmer is against the Act, the priority should be for protecting waterbodies and water courses from encroachment; preserving them; and strengthening them, he says.
R. Ramesh, general secretary of the Thiruvarur-based Tamil Nadu Consumer Protection and Environmental Research Centre, and his colleagues N. Kalimuthu, C. Selvakumar, and V. Dharmadoss, are of the view that the law needs to be tightened as the conversion of farmland into housing plots, or its use for non-agricultural purpose, is going on unhindered. V. Sathyanarayanan of Kottur in Thiruvarur, who is the general secretary of the Consortium of Cauvery Delta Farmers, insists on proper implementation of groundwater-recharge programmes. They all underscore the need to fine-tune the methodology for assessment of damage to or failure of crops under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme).
However, an official of the Agriculture Department says the process of introducing changes has begun.
The reluctance of youth to take up agriculture is an important topic in the entire delta. Prakash, a young farmer who is part of the Joint Movement, says that if it is demonstrated that farming can be carried out successfully, the youth will be drawn towards farming. He is not off the mark, as this writer came across a senior citizen in Thanjavur, who has got about two dozen acres and is aided by his two sons. But what farmers point out is that income from farming alone cannot sustain their families. “You should have diversified your activity. Otherwise, I cannot even meet the educational expenses of my children,” says G. Sither, a specialist in natural farming.
Will natural farming help?
Some have taken to natural farming, organic farming, and cultivation of traditional varieties of paddy. No one claims there has been success. But a section of farmers seems to be determined to go back to the age-old practices. Mr. Senthilkumar, who identifies himself with G. Nammalvar (1938-2013), a prominent advocate of organic farming and a critic of genetically modified crops, urges the government to procure organically produced rice for anganwadis, to start with.
A drive from Thanjavur to Tiruchi through Thiruvaiyaru can be misleading, given the endless green paddy fields on either side of the road. Lack of water seems to be a non-issue for those raising the paddy during the kuruvai season as they extract water with borewells or filter points. But what farmers and officials alike should keep in mind is that the future of the traditional source of livelihood is tied to a judicious use of water and other inputs even in the delta — where cultivation has been going on uninterrupted for over 2,000 years.
