Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday announced a grant of ₹600 an acre to farmers who take up direct sowing. A sum of ₹ 30 crore has been set aside for the scheme. Initially, five lakh acres of land will be covered throughout the State, according to a statement by Mr. Palaniswami.
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The government’s decision reflects the fact that it has taken a conservative view of the water availability rather than getting carried away by the present storage in the Mettur dam where the water level is short of the maximum by about 3.5 ft, according to an official of the Agriculture department. On Friday morning, water level at Mettur dam stood at 116.53 ft against the full reservoir level of 120 ft. The storage was about 88 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) against the capacity of 93.47 tmc ft. The inflow was around 13,300 cubic feet per second (cusecs) while the discharge was 10,500 cusecs.
As on Thursday (August 22), the State realised around 91 tmc ft since June 1. It received about 18 tmc ft more than its share for the given period. Between September and November, it should get around 70 tmc ft, after which the Cauvery flow will go down drastically. Annually (June-May), Tamil Nadu should get 177.25 tmc ft.
A substantial portion of the area identified for direct sowing will be in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts in the delta. Paddy is raised on 43.5 lakh acres of land annually in the State. Of this, Cauvery delta accounts for 13 lakh acres.