All parties sing the same tune during elections in the home town of saint composer Thyagaraja

Explore Thiruvaiyaru's electoral dynamics, agricultural challenges, and the impact of recent cold storage initiatives on local farmers.

An Assembly segment that exists right from the first elections after the formation of the States on linquistic-basis and known for the annual Sri Thyagarajaswamy Aradhana festival on the banks of the Cauvery, Thiruvaiyaru, still remains an agrarian belt though some urbanisation has taken place in towns such as Thiruvaiyaru, Thirukkattupalli, and Melathirupoonthuruthi.

Like any other agrarian belt, the constituency is bogged down by the problems relating to the cultivation of paddy, cereals, and other crops. Some of the farmers feel that the potential for horticulture crops such as banana and betelvine has not been fully tapped.

In the recent past, an attempt was made to encourage banana cultivation with the establishment of a cold storage-cum-ripening chamber of 100-tonne capacity at Mannarsamudram near Thiruvaiyaru in 2017. To reduce the dependence on grid power, this unit was conceived and set up as a solar-assisted cold storage facility by the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi (NIT-T), with the support of the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, Thanjavur (formerly Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology, Thanjavur).

However, the facility has been largely underutilised though during the peak harvest season, prices plummet and put the banana growers at the mercy of middlemen.

Holding the authorities responsible for the debacle, V. Jeevakumar of CPI(M)-affiliated Agriculture Labour Union, said cold storage-cum-ripening or pure cold storage facilities were the need of the hour in this region where banana cultivation, was taken up in about 3,000 hectares. Sensitisation of banana cultivators would have avoided wastage of public funds, he said.

Another attempt at promotion of inter-cropping of banana in palm groves by Horticulture Department at Nadupadugai, Vadugakudi, Thulsendra Maharajapuram, Kaduveli, and other hamlets failed to pick up, said Sugumaran of Nadupadugai.