Date:10/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/03/10/stories/2008031050591500.htm

Back Pulses raised on 86,000 ha in Nagapattinam

Our Bureau

Nagapattinam, March 9 Farmers in the Cauvery delta region of Nagapattinam district have raised pulses like blackgram and greengram on about 86,000 hectares this year, against the normal cultivation area of 84,000 hectares, and the crops are in good condition.

Most of the farmers have raised high-yielding variety pulses, which will come up for harvest by end of this month or in the first week of next month.

A senior official of the Agriculture Department told Business Line that it had advised the farmers on methods of cultivating the pulses in time and that most of the farmers had adopted the latest farming techniques. An average yield of 400 kg of pulses per hectare was expected this year in the district.

Samba harvest over

Harvest of samba and thaladi paddy crops were completed in the first week of this month. The paddy yield was very poor at an average 3 tonnes per hectare compared to the anticipated 6 tonnes per hectare.

Farmers in the district have incurred heavy losses in the samba paddy crop this time as crops were affected by two spells of heavy northeast monsoon rains in December last year.

Samba and thaladi paddy crops were raised in 1.32 lakh hectares — samba in 1.07 lakh hectares and thaladi in 25,000 hectares. The farmers raised blackgram and greengram in the fallow lands after harvesting the samba and thaladi paddy crops.