Poor monsoon and no Cauvery water: distress in Tamil Nadu’s delta region
Farmers in Tamil Nadu's Cauvery delta are facing a severe agricultural crisis due to a weak monsoon and insufficient water sharing from Karnataka. The lack of water has forced a significant reduction in paddy cultivation, leaving many fields fallow and threatening the upcoming samba crop.
Why it matters
The Cauvery water dispute is a long-standing inter-state conflict that directly impacts food security and the livelihoods of millions of farmers in Southern India.
The hot winds sweeping across the ancient Kallanai, which should be brimming with water by now, are raising temperatures across the Cauvery delta this year. A weak southwest monsoon and the vexed inter-State river water sharing dispute with Karnataka have left farmers in the region in distress yet again.
As the Stanley Reservoir at Mettur could not be opened on the customary date of June 12 owing to insufficient storage, a majority of farmers in the delta, for whom the Cauvery is the lifeline, have not been able to cultivate paddy this kuruvai (kharif) season. With the Super El Nino effect looming large, farmers are worried about the prospects of the forthcoming samba crop too.
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