Summer showers bring cheer to banana growers in Tiruchi, Karur districts

The recent spell of moderate and widespread rain across Tiruchi and Karur districts has brought cheer to farmers who raised cash crops, especially banana, in the context of the Cauvery remaining dry for an extended period

The recent spell of moderate and widespread rain across Tiruchi and Karur districts has brought cheer to farmers who raised cash crops, especially banana, in the context of the Cauvery remaining dry for an extended period.

The Thottiyam-Musiri region and the Krishnarayapuram-Kulithalai areas, on either side of the Cauvery, are a major banana-growing areas in the State. Various varieties of banana are raised in the region, including nendran, which are widely supplied to Kerala from here.

Over the past couple of weeks, the region had been receiving good spell of summer showers. On Thursday, both the districts received widespread rainfall with Karur recording 47 mm during the 24-hour period ending 8 a.m. on Friday. K. Paramathi (44.8 mm); Mayanur (42); Krishnarayapuram (29), Aravakuruchi (25.6), and Kulithalai (14.6) received moderate showers.

In Tiruchi, Koppampatti recorded the maximum of 43 mm during the same period. Navalurkuttapattu (39.5), Musiri (37), Pullampadi (33), Marungapuri (36.4), Tiruchi Airport (34.3), and Thuvakudi (22.2) received good summer showers.

The spells of rain had brought cheer to farmers who had raised cash crops such as banana, sugarcane, and betelvine across the two districts. Given the scorching summer till the early part of May and the Cauvery going without substantial water flow since mid-October last year, farmers were worried over the fate of the crops.

The rains are welcome for the banana crop, which is raised on one lakh acres in the Kulithalai-Krishnarayapuram-Thottiyam belt, said Mahadhanapuram V. Rajaram, president, Cauvery Irrigation Farmers Welfare Association. “The good thing about the summer rain was that it was largely not very heavy. It was sporadic and widespread. With the water table going down even in filter point areas, farmers were worried. Now things are looking up,” Mr. Rajaram said.

“The standing banana crop was wilting under severe heat since March; the spells of summer rain have come as a relief and the crops are looking better now,” said A. Subramanian, treasurer of the Thottiyam-based Tamil Nadu Banana Farmers Producers Company Ltd.