More farmers in T.N. districts to get seed material of drought-resistant cassava

ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute will provide Sree Athulya variety to them

More farmers in Karur, Salem and Namakkal districts are to get seed material for the drought-resistant Sree Athulya variety of cassava or maravalli kizhangu. 

Farmers in Salem, who got 18 tonnes of cassava per acre in place of their usual 12-15 tonnes, said they did not at first believe this variety would be bug resistant.

M. Subramanian, a farmer of Goodamalai in Salem said he had also planted the popular Thailand variety in another plot and that pests had attacked it. However, the variety provided by ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, had proved to be more pest-resistant and had also brought in a bountiful harvest.

“It did not require much work either. A spell of rain helped me with the pest attack and I managed without much loss,” he said. 

This was the first harvest of the Sree Athulya variety in Salem district and the seven farmers, who had agreed to plant it, were able to get higher yield but spent considerably less than what they would usually since they saved on pesticide, explained D. Jaganathan, Senior Scientist, ICAR-CTCRI. 

R. Muthuraj, Principal Scientist, said the stem of the plants that grow up to 10 feet would now be divided into smaller pieces and given to more farmers. Recently, in Karur district 10 farmers were provided the seed material of this variety that is heat-resistant, can survive drought conditions and can give good harvest despite soil not being very fertile. 

P. Prakash, a scientist, said this variety had starch content of 34% and was well over the threshold limit used by the buyers.