Tamil Nadu: Huge dip in pulses, oilseeds cultivation in Madurai

Despite the agriculture department carrying out a series of awareness programmes on improving pulses and oil seeds cultivation in Madurai district, the cultivation area of both crops have faced a major drop. Farmers cite lack of demand in the market as the reason.

According to the agriculture department, paddy and millet are the largely cultivated crops in Madurai, with over 87,000 hectares of utilised land. Pulses and oil seeds are the second majorly cultivated crops in the district, especially in rainfed areas.

Despite a series of promotion and awareness programmes, the pulses, cotton and oil seeds cultivation remains well below the target in Rabi and Kharif seasons. Though officials said that farmers would begin cultivation of the crops in the month of Aadi, farmers point out other issues for opting out of the crops.

According to the data received from the agriculture department, during Rabi and Kharif seasons, only 6,643 hectares is utilised of the targeted 11,090 hectares, which is nearly a 50% drop for pulses. Similarly, 1,500 hectares is used for oil seed cultivation and over 5,000 hectares in cotton cultivation.

On the flip side, cultivation of paddy and millets for Rabi and Kharif seasons has greatly increased. For paddy, of the targeted 42,238 hectares, over 54,948 hectares was cultivated. The target for millet was set at 32,459 hectares but more than 34,753 hectares have been cultivated.

Collector M S Sangeetha noted the drop in pulses and oil seeds cultivation at the agriculture grievances meeting. She advised farmers to opt for crop rotation to improve pulses and oil seeds cultivation, which could increase production and improve soil quality.

“When compared with other crops, there has been a notable drop in prices of cotton, and some varieties of pulses. Hence, farmers have moved to paddy and millet crops this season. As availability of water was decent, farmers opted for crops like paddy,” said Manikandan, a farmer.

This article has been republished from The New Indian Express.