Steps taken to capture wild boars in Nagapattinam, says Collector

District Collector P. Akash distributed awareness calendar on different types of pests affecting crops at farmers’ grievance meeting on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Steps are being taken to capture wild boars and ensure the availability of additional harvesters in the district, said District Collector P. Akash at a farmers’ grievance meeting here on Thursday.

Mr. Akash said the district administration would submit a proposal to deploy additional harvester machines ahead of the State Budget. Awareness programmes would be conducted to promote integrated farming methods, he said.

Highlighting the efforts to boost millet exports and value-added products, particularly to Sri Lanka, he said farmers and interested individuals would be trained to navigate the international certification process. He said pending insurance claims for kuruvaï paddy farmers would be resolved within the week.

Olichandiran, a farmer from Vedaranyam, requested permission to cull wild boars, citing significant crop losses. He raised concerns about peacocks damaging small vegetable crops and urged the Forest department to intervene to safeguard farmers.

Cauvery S. Dhanapalan, general secretary of the Cauvery Farmers’ Protection Association, alleged irregularities in direct purchase centres (DPCs).

“Despite the formation of monitoring committees, illegal charges of ₹40 per bag persist. At present, over 170 DPCs are operational in the district and farmers have no alternative but to pay these extra charges. There are issues with weighing as 1 kg to 1.5 kg for every 40 kg bag goes unaccounted, increasing the losses of farmers. We need strict penalties and more mobile DPCs for large farmers as a single centre procures only 1,000 bags a day,” he said.

S.R. Tamil Selvan of the Thamizhaga Vivasayigal Pathukappu Sangam highlighted the impact of erratic rainfall on samba paddy, green gram, and black gram crops. “The northeast monsoon has caused significant damage and compensation and insurance payout must be secured for affected farmers. Additionally, the district has only three belt-type harvesters. The government must allocate 18 more — three per union — through the Engineering Department,” he said.

N. Sambandham, State Executive Committee member of the Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Association (CPI), urged the State government to extend 50% subsidy for barbed wire fencing and include it in the 2025-26 agricultural budget to protect small millet crops against cattle grazing.

“Of the 10,000-odd acres of black gram cultivated this year, nearly half were affected by rain. The remaining fields are being damaged because of unrestricted livestock grazing after the paddy harvest, which reduces millet productivity.”