In the Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu, farmers no longer consider the summer crop to be viable.
He said those were the days when he and his family donated several bags of their paddy harvest to the Apathsahayar temple in the village every season.
“The severe drought made it impossible for farmers to take up farming,” the official added.
Officials said there has been a significant drop in the production of other major crops as well, though data for these crops is yet to be put together at the state level.
The State Directorate of Agriculture has set a target of 4.85 lakh hectares coverage for the Kuruvai crop.
One official in Thanjavur said that farmers in the region reported sowing by the third week of May in the hope of getting water for their crops from the Mettur dam, the entry point of the Cauvery river in Tamil Nadu.
Sekar, a farmer in Mannargudi, in Tiruvarur district, said if the situation improved in the coming weeks, farmers would opt for direct sowing rather than raising a nursery [for paddy].
Sekar said that last year he took the help of his neighbour, who owns a borewell, to irrigate his groundnut crop during Kuruvai.
“But I was in no position to pay.” He added that the cost of doing this would have touched Rs 2 lakh.
This apart, farmers are also miffed about lakes and ponds not being de-silted on time for the monsoon.