Aggrieved over immature banana crop, the affected farmers have sought compensation during grievances redressal meeting convened here on Thursday. Farmers from Servaikaranmadam, Sivathaiyapuram, Sakammalpuram and Pulianagar turned up at the meeting with the banana and alleged crop failure due to inundation of banana fields in the wake of heavy rains.
Collector M. Ravikumar, who presided over the grievance meet, said action would be taken based on a report submitted by officials. He said the district received good amount of rainfall this year and added that urea was being distributed to farmers through cooperative societies sans hindrance. So far, 9,600 tonnes of urea had been distributed and a fresh consignment of 1,600 more tonnes was expected to arrive in Tirunelveli soon. A bag of urea should be sold only at Rs.270 as per government norms. Flying squad, during a surprise raid, found nine private dealers selling urea at higher price and subsequently action was taken against them. If any dealer was found overpricing fertilizers, farmers could lodge complaint through SMS either on Collector or Joint Director of Agriculture’s cell phone for action.
Crop insurance to the tune of Rs.100.03 crore had been extended to 47,862 farmers, recently. Meanwhile, the Collector said new-agro super markets have been established at six locations to sell farm inputs including urea, seeds, bio-fertilizer, micro-nutrient mixture, implements and machineries. Besides, efforts were underway to set up an auction centre to sell farm vegetables directly to benefit the farmers. The farm fresh vegetable outlet being managed by the Cooperative Department in Tuticorin was making good business. The 112-day-old outlet recorded sales of around Rs.1.5 crore. On an average, sale of fresh vegetables procured from farmers touched Rs.1.33 lakh in a day.
Further, he said borewells would have solar powered motors to draw water for agricultural activities. Tamilmani, a farmer from Kurumbur, said about 10,000 to 20,000 cusecs of surplus water was flowing into the sea following rains and such quantum of water should be prevented from being wasted. Hence, it was essential to construct check dams.