Ignored farmer protests and the biggest drought in 140 years- why Tamil Nadu must concern us all.
With all the 32 districts being declared as drought hit, livestock too have failed to provide farmers financial support as the districts does not even have any drinking water left for any living organisms.
Water mismanagement and scanty rainfall are the prime reasons for farmer crises In the past four years, Tamil Nadu have witnessed the wrath of nature in varying forms— it saw the devastating floods in 2015, touted as the worst heavy rainfall witnessed in over 100 years; followed by the cyclones and in the present year, the failed monsoons have has resulted in drought.
Tamil Nadu depends largely on the North-East monsoon, from October to December, for its water requirement.
These alarming figures have rendered the farmer helpless with widespread crop failures, and rising debt has resulted in a wave of farmer suicides.
However, lack of rainfall alone cannot be blamed for the current crises.
Science has to connect with the society,” says B Jayashree, Head of the Media Resource Centre at MS Swaminathan Research Foundation Technological safety net needs to be adopted With the increase in farmer suicides, the state can no longer afford to blame poor monsoons for failed crops year after year.
“We, also, request the BJP government to fulfil the promises it made during the elections— implementation of the MS Swaminathan Committee report,” says Ayyakannu who led the farmers protest in New Delhi.
A provision of proper risk assessment system will benefit both the insurance companies and the farmers.
Through satellite, big data, cloud computing and IoT technology, the farmer can assess the crop stress level and cultivate crops according to the resource available.